When the Sydney Swans decided to target Jackson Thurlow in the recent trade period, list boss Kinnear Beatson didn’t have to work too hard to find him – he simply had to check through his files. Thurlow’s mobile phone number had not changed since his draft year of 2012.

And while a once-only mobile phone number won’t help him become a better player, it is a little something that didn’t go unnoticed by a club that rates character so highly.

“It’s not a big thing but it just tells you he’s a really solid, stable person with nothing to hide,” Beatson, who had always been a fan of the 190-centimetre 24-year-old from Launceston, said.

A deeper background check confirmed what the Swans already believed – that he was a young man of the highest character – and they happily handed over selection 70 in the 2018 National Draft in an exchange that pleased both clubs.

Geelong was genuinely pleased to be able to facilitate a second chance for a player it described as “a popular member of the club, (whose) overall positive nature and commitment to his football is a credit to him".

Thurlow, a 2012 All-Australian under-18 selection, was a first-round pick at No. 16 overall in what has turned out to be a hit-and-miss 2012 AFL National Draft and provides an interesting study for devotees of such matters.

Thurlow is the 10^th of the top 21 picks to have changed clubs, following Jono O’Rourke (pick two), Lachie Plowman (three), Jimmy Toumpas (four), Jake Stringer (five), Sam Mayes (eight), Troy Menzel (11), Kristian Jaksch (12), Ben Kennedy (19) and Nathan Hrovat (21).

And no less than nine of the top 25 are now out of the AFL system.

While No. 1 pick Lachie Whitefield (114 games), Stringer (109), No. 6 Jackson Macrae (118), No. 7 Ollie Wines (129), No. 8 Mayes (104), No. 9 Nick Vlastuin (117), No. 10 Joe Daniher (100), No. 18 Brody Grundy (108) and No. 49 Lachie Hunter (105) have topped 100 games, there have been some significant early picks who have fallen short.

Like O’Rourke (21 games), Toumpas (37), Menzel (44), Jaksch (14), No. 17 pick Josh Simpson (two), Kennedy (40) and No. 25 pick Spencer White (two) who fell out of the AFL without reaching 50 games.

In the 2013 AFL Guide the first scouting report on Thurlow read: “Medium defender from Launceston who reads the play well and has great endurance. Averaged 24.6 disposals and 6.6 marks at the Under-18 championships.”

After 17 disposals on debut in Round 7, 2013 and two finals in his ninth and 10^th games in 2014, he played 46 AFL games for the Cats and was an emergency 24 times.

Wearing the No. 40 jumper made famous at Geelong by 325-game former captain and games record-holder Ian Nankervis and triple premiership 203-gamer David Wojcinski, he missed the entire 2016 campaign with a knee reconstruction.

The knee injury suffered in a pre-season game against Essendon in Shepparton came at just the wrong time after he’d established himself in the top side in his third season.

He missed the first two games of 2015 due to a serious kidney injury that put him in hospital before Christmas but he went straight into the senior side in Round 3 and played every game thereafter.

He had a career-best 30 possessions against Collingwood at the MCG in Round 6 and so impressive was he with his speed and pin-point kicking that he was seen as an automatic long-time replacement for Geelong games record-holder Corey Enright after what would be his final year in the system in 2016.

He did well to get straight back into the top side in 2017 and played up until Round 7 before returning to the VFL to rediscover his form and confidence.

In 2018, he played Rounds 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 20 and 22 and was an emergency in Rounds 1, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 23.

Having never played at the SCG, Thurlow will visit the Swans headquarters on Monday for the first time with long-time partner Laura, ahead of his move to the Harbour City next month.