Kaiden Brand will join an exclusive club at the Sydney Swans when he makes his red-and-white debut on Saturday.
He will wear guernsey number two – the number represented most often in the Swans Team of the Century, worn in most games in Swans history and worn by some of the club’s greatest players.
Fred Goldsmith and Greg Williams wore number two in their Brownlow Medal years, and Goldsmith and Williams are in the Team of the Century with fellow number twos Vic Belcher and Herbie Matthews Sr.
Belcher, Matthews, Paddy Scanlan, Joe Scanlan and Charles Stanbridge wore number two as Swans captains, and Belcher, Matthews, Nick Davis and Rhyce Shaw wore number two in premiership sides.
Shaw, now North Melbourne's coach, holds the Swans record for most games in the number two at 143, ahead of Goldsmith (119), Williams (107), Matthews (106), 1999 Club Champion Wayne Schwass (98), Davis (97) and Belcher (79).
In addition, 1918 premiership captain Jim Caldwell wore the number two most often in his 155-game career and ranks eighth on the list, although he wore the number six in his last two seasons, including the flag year. He played his first three years in the era without numbers and wore the number four in 1912.
Similarly, Team of the Century member Mark Tandy ranks 11th on the list with 49 games in the number two in a 207-game career in which he wore six different numbers: in chronological order, numbers 25, 27, 11, 26, two and 12.
Forty-eight players have worn the Swans number two a total of 1402 games. Only the number 16, worn at one stage by 50 players, has been worn by more, while the number 20 is next on the most-games list at 1391.
Brand, recruited by the Swans as a delisted free agent over summer, wore the number 30 in his 43 games at Hawthorn over the last four years.
He will share his Swans debut with ex-Port Adelaide small forward Sam Gray and former Brisbane Lions Rising Star winner Lewis Taylor.
Gray, third all time in AFL games worn in the number 46 behind Geelong’s Marc Blicavs (158) and Fremantle’s Clancee Pearce (100) with 96, will take on the Swans' number-15 jumper. This had been the 2008-2019 property of Kieren Jack through 254 games after he had played his first two games in 2007 in the number 48.
Taylor will carry the same number-28 moniker he wore in 112 games with Brisbane between 2014 and 2019. This was worn most recently at the Swans by Nic Newman in 2017 and 2018 after Jared Crouch had made it his own throughout his 223-game career.
Sam Naismith, set for his first game since Sydney's 2017 semi-final, will switch from his former number 35 to wear the number-10 guernsey vacated by Zak Jones’ departure.
It was worn more than 100 times by two Swans players: Barry Mitchell (163) and Paul Williams (117). Bob Pratt Sr played 90 of his 158 games in the number 10, and Brian Woodman 99 of his 104 games.
Swans co-captain Josh Kennedy will play an 11th-consecutive Round 1 game. This is an equal league high among current players. He has not missed a season-opener since joining the club.
Adam Goodes holds the Swans record for most Round 1 games at 16. He missed only once in his 17-year career: in his second-last season in 2014.
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