Elijah Taylor will carry with him a special inspiration as he accepts one of the greatest honours in Sydney Swans history to make his AFL debut against the Gold Coast Suns at the SCG tomorrow.

His ‘secret weapon’ as he dons the famous #37 Swans guernsey of Adam Goodes is a piece of paper on which his grandfather’s eulogy is written. 

Taylor, now 19, has kept it with him since his maternal grandfather Ricky Narkle died a fortnight before his primary school graduation.

As he told “The Age” last November, in a family with extraordinary links to football royalty his grandfather had a profound impact.

"I just want to play footy at the highest level because my pop, he's passed away, he taught me stuff. He always wanted to see me achieve my goals. I just want to do what I can to make the AFL and make him proud," Elijah told The Age.

"We were pretty close," Elijah said. "I take his eulogy wherever I go. He was just a really good bloke, and he taught me a few tricks.

“When I was younger, I always had the footy in my hand. I was always kicking the footy. At my backyard, there was a gap in the tree. I used to just kick from about 20 metres out, both feet, just trying to get better and better.

“It got to the point where he got a shovel and we just tried to hit the shovel from about 20 metres out, both feet. I was about 12. Torpedoes, snaps, every kick, trying to get as good as I can be."

It is all part of the remarkable background story of the player drafted by the Swans with selection #36 in the 2019 AFL National Draft and described by recruiting boss Kinnear Beatson as “an excitement machine”. 

He had been described as ‘Noongar football royalty’ as a family descendent of Indigenous people living in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast.

No less than 14 different groups live in Noongar country, and as a result Taylor, the oldest of five siblings, is linked to some of the AFL’s great Indigenous players.

On his mother’s side, Taylor stems from the Narkles and the Kellys. As in Tim Kelly, West Coast’s prized 2020 recruit from Geelong with whom Taylor used to play Thursday night basketball, and Phil Narkle, a WAFL Sandover Medallist and member of the AFL Indigenous Team of the Century who played with St Kilda and West Coast.

On his father’s side, Taylor is related to the Kickett and Hayden families, which included Dale Kickett, a five-club AFL player, Derek Kickett, who finished his AFL career with the Swans, and Fremantle’s Roger Hayden.

His family even draws a bloodline to Lance Franklin, Nicky Winmar and Paddy Ryder.

But Taylor is always careful not to understate the massive influence of his grandfathers - Narkle and his paternal grandfather Dennis Taylor, a pastor.

In his early years Taylor went to his church with his grandfather every Sunday and last year he lived with his grandfather and grandmother Valda in Fremantle.

A Collingwood supporter growing up, he tried to model his game on his long-time hero, ex-Pie Leon Davis, to maximise his primary strengths of speed, athleticism and goal sense.

Prior to last year’s draft he was likened to Collingwood’s 2017  #1 draft pick Jayden Stephenson by recruiters who talked glowingly of his ‘X Factor’.

An extraordinary Taylor double-blind turn followed by a snapped goal for WA against SA in last year’s Australian Under 18 Championships has become part of recruiter folklore.

Taylor was one of six WA players named in the 2019 All-Australian Under 18 side after the Sandgropers, coached by Peter Sumich, won the national title. 

Also, in the All-Australian side were Dylan Stephens, drafted by the Swans at pick #5 and a debutant against Richmond last week, and Will Gould, claimed with pick #26.

Every member of the 23-man All-Australian side was drafted, from Gold Coast’s #1 pick Matt Rowell, #2 pick Noah Anderson and rookie pick Connor Budarick.

Listed with each player’s AFL club, and those who have already played in bold, the Under 18 All-Australian team was: 

B: Connor Budarick (GC), Sam DeKoning (Carl), Will Gould (Syd)
HB: Lachie Ash (GWS), Fischer McAsey (Adel), Hayden Young (Frem)
C: Matthew Rowell (GC), Deven Robertson (Bris - capt), Noah Anderson (GC)
HF: Jackson Mead (Port), Elijah Taylor (Syd), Sam Flanders (GC)
F: Caleb Sarong (Frem), Brodie Kemp (Carl), Liam Henry (Frem)
R: Luke Jackson (Melb), Mitch O’Neill (WC), Tom Green (GWS).
INT: Dylan Stephens (Syd), Harry Schoenberg (Adel), Cody Weightman (Rich), Jeremy Sharp (GC), Trent Rivers (Melb). 

As the draft approached there was speculation Taylor could go as early as the first round but instead had to be happy for teammates from his All-Australian Under 18 side get picked up ahead of him. 

It was an anxious time. In draft order it went Rowell, Anderson, Jackson, Ash, Stephens, McAsey, Young, Sarong, Henry, Green and Flanders.

Kysaiah Pickett, taken by Melbourne at #12, was the first draftee from outside the All-Australian side and was followed by Will Day (Hawthorn) and Myles Bergman (Port) before Cody Weightman went to Western Bulldogs at #15.

Weightman and Taylor will be the 13^th and 14^th members of their All-Australian side to break into the AFL this weekend.

Cooper Stephens (Geelong) went at #17 ahead of Kemp, Mitch Georgiades (Port) at #19,  Sam Philip (Carlton) at #20, Thomson Dow (Richmond), Robertson, Dylan Williams (Port) at #23, Schoenberg, father/son choice Mead and Gould at #26.

Still no Taylor. Beatson was starting to get hopeful as Jeremy Sharp (Gold Coast) went at #27, Josh Worrell (Adelaide) at #28, father/son Finn Maginness (Hawthorn) at #29, followed by Harry Jones (Essendon), Charlie Comben (North), Rivers and Brock Smith (Brisbane) at #33.

North had the next two picks. The Swans couldn’t be so lucky, could they?

North took Jack Mahony at #34 and Flynn Perez at #35, leaving Taylor for the Swans at #36.

Soon after he arrived at the SCG Taylor was allocated Goodes’ treasured #37 jumper. It had been retired since the dual Brownlow Medallist’s retirement at the end of the 2015 season and the choice went largely unpublicised.

But so highly is Taylor regarded and such is his proud Indigenous heritage that it was seen as the right time to return the Swans #37 guernsey to active duty.

It will be a special moment as Taylor joins Stephens and Chad Warner as Swans debutants this year, proudly wearing the #37 in one of the youngest and least experienced Swans teams in recent years. 

Last weekend, in Round 6 of the 2020 Covid season, the Swans fielded the youngest team with an average age of 24 years 45 days – almost a full year per players younger than the second-youngest team, Western Bulldogs.

Also, the Round 6 Swans side, with a combined AFL experience of 1648 games, was the second-least experienced behind St Kilda’s 1586.

In Round 7 they will be down 273 games in experience and six months per player younger, with Taylor, 20-year-old Tom McCartin, 25-year-old Aliir Aliir and 30-year-old Callum Sinclair replacing 32-year-old 232-gamer Josh Kennedy plus Isaac Heeney, Sam Gray and Hayden McLean.

Aliir will be the seventh oldest member of the side, which will include nine players aged 21 or younger – Taylor, Stephens, Warner and James Rowbottom (19), Nick Blakey, Ryley Stoddart and McCartin (20) and Will Hayward and Ollie Florent (21).