Question: Which current Sydney Swans player had most possessions in his first 21 AFL games.
Warning: There are probably three surprises in the top four.
Clue: Josh Kennedy, traditionally the Swans’ No.1 ball magnet. is not No.1 in this left-field statistic.
Answer: At the top of this obscure list is 2019 recruit Ryan Clarke, who had 402 possessions in his first 21 games at North Melbourne in 2016-17.
Second on the list is Callum Mills with 393, just ahead of Kennedy at 391.
The other one? It is not Luke Parker, Isaac Heeney or Jake Lloyd. Not Dane Rampe, George Hewett, Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh, George Hewett, Harry Cunningham, Zak Jones, Tom Papley, Lance Franklin, Aliir Aliir, Callum Sinclair, Will Hayward, Ben Ronke, Lewis Melican or Tom McCartin.
And it’s not another Clarke-type trick question so it’s not Jackson Thurlow or Dan Menzel. Or the retired but still listed Heath Grundy, or the injured Nick Smith or Sam Naismith. Or Kurt Tippett, who started the 2019 season on the list before his formal retirement to create a list spot vacancy.
That’s accounted for 27 players. And given that there are 19 players on the list who have not yet played 21 AFL games it should not be too hard now.
Want another clue?
He is one of only four currently-listed Swans players who had a 30-possession game in his first 21 games?
Given that we have already ruled out Clarke, Parker and Thurlow, who are three of the four players who topped 30 possessions in a game inside their first 21 games, surely it’s not too hard now.
Yes, it is Jordan Dawson.
In a season of mixed fortunes for the Swans, Dawson has been a standout.
Having played just one game in 2017 and four games in 2018, the 22-year-old left-footer has cemented his place in the Swans side and ranks among the most improved players in the competition.
Recruited by Sydney from SANFL club Sturt with selection #56 in the 2015 National Draft, after the club had earlier claimed Swans Academy graduate Mills at #3, Dawson has averaged 18.6 possessions per game this season and kicked 12 goals.
Having impressed enormously with his good decision making and excellent kicking skills, he had a career-best 31 possessions in the Round 5 clash with Richmond, and late last month signed a two-year contract extension locking him in to the club until at least the end of 2021.
Last Saturday against Geelong Dawson had 17 possessions and kicked a career-best three goals to be the only Sydney player to figure in the AFLCA Player of the Year votes.
He has picked up coach’s votes three times this season – only Parker (7), Rampe (6), Papley (5), Heeney (4) and Hewett (4) have polled more often.
With 14 coach’s votes in total he ranks seventh among Swans players beyond Parker (42), Papley (27), Heeney (20), Lloyd (19), Hewett (17) and Kennedy (16) have more.
It’s been a year of firsts for Dawson, and on Saturday he will face another one. With Sydney to play GWS, he will get his first taste of AFL football at the home ground of the cross-town rivals.
