The past season was filled with milestones for Bolton, who played a part in his second premiership and became just the third Swan to reach 300 games. 

Similar to 2011, he played terrific football – including a career-high 41 disposals against the Western Bulldogs in round 10 – before being slowed down by a knee injury. 

He returned just before the finals and played more than 20 games for the 11th time in his past 12 seasons. 

He is just two games behind Michael O’Loughlin for second place on the club’s all-time list

Draft history: 1998 National AFL Draft 1st round selection (Sydney) No. 8 traded by Geelong for Jason Mooney.

2013 Coaches Call

2012 was outstanding for Jude. It’s great to watch him train and he sets such a good example to the younger players and it’s great to have him around the club. He does everything right on and off the field and on the field he is still giving tremendous value. 2012 was a great year and it was terrific to see him playing so well.

Pre-season has been really good. We’re always the ones trying to hold him back a bit, but he wants to do everything. He has done everything we’ve asked of him and he still wants to do more! He’s a total pro and he’ll be ready to go for round 1.

We hope in 2013...if we can get the same Jude we’ve been getting for the last few years we’ll be really happy. He’s inspirational to the other boys in the way he just plays his role every week and his attack on the ball, and if he can keep that up we’ll be really happy.