As a kid Brandon Jack’s Saturday would often start with a thud, his older brother Kieren tearing into the living room to smack him down with a chokeslam to the tune of ‘The Undertaker’s’ theme song.

And on the cusp of Kieren’s 250^th AFL match, Brandon says the raring competitive streak his brother had always shown in their own World Wrestling Entertainment arena has put him on the path to his milestone game.

Saturday night will see Kieren swap his Cherrybrook living-room arena with the turf of Marvel Stadium, bashing through the banner for Sydney’s duel with Richmond as he again rubber-stamps a remarkable rise to stardom.

Kieren turned his back on a highly promising rugby league career to take up Australian rules football at the late age of 15, and his drafting as a rookie in 2005 drew genuine questions from inside and outside the club.

Being limited in his early days to playing a shutdown role in the back pocket did little to quash doubt, and neither did the fact he still ‘hooked’ the footy like the born and bred rugby league prodigy he had been.

But his brother Brandon says although Kieren was small and lacked talent, his fiercely competitive nature would allow him to not only claw his first game in the AFL, but soldier on to 250.

A fresh-faced Kieren Jack in action for the Sydney Swans in a 2006 pre-season game against North Melbourne.

“We watched a lot of WWE growing up and I was always the ragdoll getting dragged around,” Brandon told Swans Media.

“WWE was always on the TV on Saturday mornings, and it would get to the point where I was maybe four or five and I’d be sitting there doing nothing. And then you’d hear from the speakers ‘The Undertaker’ music come on, and Kieren would come in to the room and do something like a chokeslam on me.

“He’s seven years older than me, so there’s a bit of an age gap, but he never took it easy on me when we were kids. We’d be playing footy or cricket in the backyard and he’d smash me all the time. He was a really tough nut.

“You can see in how he plays that his competitiveness has been huge for him. To play that tagging role that he did for so many years you have to be a true competitor, you have to worry about beating your man and you have to put the team first.

“And he’s shown that fight even in recent times. He was injured for a fair bit of this off-season, he had to work his way back into the team, he played in the NEAFL for a couple of weeks, and to do that you have to be very driven and very competitive.”

Brandon joined Kieren at the Swans when he was drafted as a rookie in 2012, going on to play 28 AFL games before being delisted at the completion of season 2017.

He had already got a taste of Kieren’s full-blooded approach with a Sherrin in hand, having honed his craft alongside his brother at the Pennant Hills Demons in junior footy.

Kieren, Brandon, Jarrad McVeigh, Mark McVeigh and Lenny Hayes all hail from the Pennant Hills club, all of whom bar Brandon have since played a minimum of 232 AFL games, so you could argue there’s something in the water at the Demons.

Kieren, who had become one of the elite midfielders in the AFL, was appointed to the Swans’ co-captaincy alongside Jarrad McVeigh in March 2013. 

His brother Brandon had signed with the club just four months earlier, and he says his relentless approach had played a major hand in his appointment.

Kieren Jack (left) and Brandon Jack (right) celebrating a goal in a 2013 clash with Melbourne.

“When I was at the club everyone was always talking about how competitive he was and that he was always the hardest at training,” Brandon said. 

“From the outside you don’t really have a true grip on that, but when you’re in there training and playing with him you really see it for yourself.” 

Kieren’s 250^th appearance will add to an illustrious resume, with the 31-year-old having shared the Swans’ 2008 Rising Star honour with Craig Bird, claiming the Bob Skilton Medal in 2010 and collecting three Brett Kirk Medals (2012, 2013, 2014).

He was also a 2012 premiership hero, and named an All Australian in 2013, before leading Sydney as a co-captain in the years spanning 2013-2016.

The New South Welshman has played the 10^th-most games of players who began their careers as rookies, with Heath Grundy (256 matches) the only Swan ahead of Jack on the list.

Western Bulldogs champion Matthew Boyd leads the way on 292, while the rest of the top 10 includes Dean Cox (290 games), Aaron Sandilands (265) and a host of other glorified names.

Of players who’ve only represented the Swans, Sydney’s top five consists of Grundy (256 games), Jack (249), Brett Kirk (241), Nick Smith (211) and Tadhg Kennelly (197).

Kieren Jack celebrating one of two goals in the Sydney Swans' 2012 premiership triumph over Hawthorn.

Brandon will be in the Marvel Stadium stands for his brother’s 250^th match, and he says it will make for a night to savour.

“It’ll be emotional,” Brandon said.

“I was his best man at his wedding late last year and that was a really emotional occasion. I don’t think you can put his 250^th on the same level as that, but it’ll be very emotional to see him achieve something so big.”