Errol Gulden, set to become the 147^th 100-gamer in Swans history against Essendon at the SCG on Saturday, is a statistical marvel.

Pick #32 in the 2020 AFL National Draft, he is on track to become the best pick #32 in draft history.

He is first of 109 first-time draftees from 2020 to reach 100 games, heads the 2020 draft for Brownlow Medal votes and possessions, is the only dual All-Australian and one of only three club best & fairest winners.

And he is the 12^th member of a mega-exclusive group of Swans which includes Brownlow Medallists Bob Skilton, Herbie Matthews, Ron Clegg, Fred Goldsmith, Peter Bedford, Graham Teasdale and Greg Williams, goal-kicking greats Lance Franklin and Barry Hall,  and Hall of Famers Jack Graham and Bill Gunn.

What’s the connection? They are the only Swans to have polled 50-plus Brownlow Medal votes in their first 100 games with the club.

Using all available data (including votes per game averages where necessary in the early years), Gulden is 7^th on a votes list headed by Franklin (79) from Skilton (75.25), Williams (62), Teasdale (60), Graham (58.71), Clegg (58.33), Gulden (57-plus), Matthews (53.25), and Gunn, Goldsmith, Bedford and Hall (51).

And that’s without counting votes that Gulden could pick up in seven games this year which have belatedly taken him to 100 games after a broken leg pre-season delayed his return until Round 15.

A product of Maroubra Saints and the UNSW Bulldogs, Gulden has been a bargain-plus pick-up which even club recruiters admit came with a touch of luck.

Why? Because he was drafted in the Covid year of 2020 in which there was very little football – especially in Sydney – which meant interstate clubs had limited opportunities to assess the QBE Sydney Swans Academy star.

At #32 Gulden has beaten Essendon pick #9 Archie Perkins (96 games) to the 100-game milestone, along with Geelong #20 Max Holmes, Hawthorn mid-season rookie Jai Newcombe (95), Collingwood #44 Beau McCreery (92), Sydney #5 Braeden Campbell (90), North #13 Tom Powell and Essendon mid-season rookie Sam Durham (87), Collingwood rookie #13 (83) games) and Melbourne #21 Jack Bowey (80).

Gulden’s 2258 possessions heads Newcombe (2154), Holmes (1910), Powell (1628), Bowey (1420) and Perkins (1310) while no other 2020 draftee has even half as many.

Gulden (57) and Newcombe (53) head the Class of 2020 Brownlow vote count from Holmes (13) and pick #1 Jamara Ugle-Hagan (10), and, despite playing primarily through the midfield, Gulden’s goal count of 72 is behind only Collingwood pick #17 (now at Geelong) Ollie Henry (120), Ginnivan (now at Hawthorn) 107), Fremantle rookie #7 Josh Treacy (106), Ugle-Hagan and Adelaide #2 Riley Thilthorpe (103) and injured Sydney pick #4 Logan McDonald (93).

Gulden’s eight finals is equal best among 2020 draftees with Ginnivan, ahead of teammates Campbell (7) and McDonald (6), Holmes (6) and McCreery (6), and his 2023 Bob Skilton Medal win before he was runner-up to Isaac Heeney in 2024 puts him in exclusive company with 2024 Geelong B&F Holmes and 2024 Hawthorn B&F Newcombe, who was runner-up in 2023-23.

And Gulden (2023-24) and Holmes (2024) are the only 2020 draftees to win All-Australian selection.

Among all Swans since the introduction of possession statistics in 1965, Gulden’s 99-game possession total of 2258 is behind only the 100-game tally Greg Williams (2864), Josh Kennedy (2446), Norm Goss (2378), Barry Mitchell (2287) and Bedford (2258). And Williams and Kennedy played two years at Geelong and Hawthorn respectively before donning the red and white.

Set to play his 100^th game 15 days beyond his 23^rd birthday, Gulden will be younger than every Swans 100-gamer except Mark Bayes (22/170), Michael O’Loughlin (22/190), Dan Hannebery (22/202), Jason Saddington (22/228), Luke Parker (22/287), Bob Pratt (22/309) and Tony Morwood (22/322).

And if he hadn’t broken his leg and had played the first seven games of the year he would have been fifth-youngest between Saddington and Parker.

The only ‘Errol’ and the only ‘Gulden’ among 1457 Swans players all-time and the fifth Swan to play 100 games in jumper #21 behind Leo Barry (237), Tony Morwood (229), John Heriot (153) and Ben McGlynn (127), Gulden has come a long way since at ‘six or seven’ he would march to swimming to the tune of the Sydney Swans song, and was overjoyed to learn he could “do AFL as a job”.

But from the moment the fresh-faced Sydney-born left-footer walked in the door he had a good perspective about his football, having told the media “the Swans have shaped the footballer I am – there’s no chance I would be the footballer I am without them.”

And since then, it’s like he’s been fixated on repaying the debut.

Among 39 players taken at #32 in the National Draft since 1986, Gulden will join 12 others, including current Swan Joel Hamling and ex-Swans Kurt Tippett and George Hewett, to play 100 games.  

Other pick #32 100-gamers, listed with their game totals (current players in bold), clubs and their draft year, are:

265 – Daniel Giansiracusa (WB) – 1999
229 – Bernie Vince (Adel/Melb) - 2005
205 – Campbell Brown (Haw/GC) -2001
205 - Liam Jones (WB/Carl) – 2008
179 – George Hewett (Syd/Carl) - 2013
178 – Kurt Tippett (Adel/Syd) – 2006
169 – Brad Sholl (NM/Geel) - 1988
160 – Levi Greenwood (NM/Coll) – 160
151 – Paul Barnard (Haw/Melb) - 1993
119 – Trent Rivers (Melb) - 2019
105 – Josh Green (Bris/Ess) – 2010
105 – Joel Hamling (WB/Frem/Syd) – 2011

Of the 12 predecessors only Campbell Brown has an All-Australian blazer. Only Bernie Vince (56) and Brad Sholl (54) polled more than 50 Brownlow Medal votes. And only Vince, who won a best and fairest at Adelaide and Melbourne, has been a club champion.

Gulden’s equal fourth-placing in the 2023 Brownlow Medal is the highest by a pick #32 after  Sholl finished 7^th in 1997 (16 votes), equal 21^st in 1998 (11 votes), and18^th in 2000 (12 votes). And Vince was 14^th in 2009 (13 votes) and 16^th in 2015 (14 votes).

And Gulden’s 27 votes in 2023, when he polled a Swans record 12 times for the third-highest single season total in Swans history, is the most in a season by a pick #32.

So good was his third season, when he turned 21 at Round 18, it was the third-highest single season total in Swans history. Only Herbie Matthews’ 32 votes to share the medal in 1940 and Teasdale’s winning 1977 total of 29.5, was adjusted after two umpires had originally voted 3-2-1 separately, were higher.