Jarrad McVeigh is the retiring Sydney Swans champion who could so easily have played at Brisbane. Or even North Melbourne.

As the 34-year-old 325-gamer reflects on finishing his career that began almost half his life ago via the 2002 AFL National Draft on 24 November 2002, a walk back in time reveals a massive sliding doors moment.

McVeigh was drafted by the Swans at #5 in the 2002 AFL National Draft after St Kilda took Brendon Goddard at #1, North Melbourne took Daniel Wells at #2, Brisbane took Jared Brennan at #3, and Western Bulldogs opted for Tim Walsh at #4, and before Port Adelaide took Steven Salopek at #6 and Geelong chose Andrew Mackie at #7.

But this only unfolded after Carlton, who had finished with the 2002 wooden-spoon and were originally granted a priority pick, were stripped of picks 1, 2, 31 and 34 in the 2002 Draft due to salary cap breaches.

So each club moved up two spots. St Kilda grabbed the treasured #1 pick after originally being slotted in at #3, and Sydney went from #7 to #5.

While it is impossible now to predict what may have happened 17 years ago if Carlton were not excluded from the draft, if the players were selected in the same order Goddard and Wells would have gone to Carlton, with Brennan at St Kilda and Walsh at North Melbourne.

McVeigh would then have gone to Brisbane and Mackie, the recently-retired Geelong triple premiership defender, would have ended up at Sydney.

The sticking point in this argument is Walsh, a 196cm forward from the Northern Knights and son of Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh, who played just one game for one goal in an injury-plagued five years at the Western Bulldogs before being de-listed at the end of 2007.

If North Melbourne overlooked Walsh at #4 they may then have taken McVeigh.

There are any number of possible outcomes but the only thing that matters for Swans fans now is that McVeigh did make his way to the SCG to forge a truly wonderful career full of countless fascinating facts and figures.

Jarrad McVeigh – By The Numbers

5 – He was drafted at #5 by the Sydney Swans in the 2002 National Draft behind Brendon Goddard (334 games) Daniel Wells (257+), Jared Brennan (173) and Tim Walsh (1) and ahead of Steven Salopek (121), Andrew Mackie (280), (28) Luke Brennan, Hamish McIntosh (126) and Jason Laycock (58). Other Swans draftees in 2002 were selection #34 Sean Dempster (222), #50 Josh Thewlis (2) and #64 Nick Malceski (210). Kade Simpson, a 324-gamer drafted at #45 by Carlton, is the only player from the 2002 Draft to out-last the Swans champion.

3 – After inheriting the #3 Swans jumper from Nick Daffy, who wore it in his one and only Swans game in 2002 after switching from Richmond, McVeigh has played his entire 325-game career in #3 and worn #3 jumper more than any player in AFL history. He heads a star-studded top 10 that includes Ted Whitten Sr (321), Dick Reynolds (320), Jimmy Bartel (305), Leigh Matthews (287), Michael Voss (283), Chris Grant (265), Marc Murphy (267), Dale Weightman (256) and Jordan Lewis (245 – as he wear #6 at Melbourne). Only two Swans players have worn the same jumper number more often: Adam Goodes 372 games in #37, and Jude Bolton 325 games in #24.

42 – McVeigh had a career-best 42 possessions in his 218th game in the 2013 semi-final against Carlton at Stadium Australia. He also topped 30 possessions a further 27 times for a total of 28 games of 30 or more. This ranks 10th on the all-time Swans list since full statistics were kept for the first time in 1965. Josh Kennedy (78) has most 30+ games from Barry Mitchell (60), Dan Hannebery (57), Greg Williams (51), Daryn Cresswell (44), Bob Skilton (30), Luke Parker (30), Jake Lloyd (30), Gerard Healy (29) and McVeigh (28). Note: Skilton’s 30 games of 30+ came in the last six years and 98 games of his 237-game career. McVeigh’s best year for possessions was in 2013 when he topped 30 nine times and had a total of 688 possessions to rank equal 2nd in the League behind Dane Swan (717), level with Scott Pendlebury (688) and just ahead of teammate Kennedy (678).

55 – McVeigh received 55 Brownlow Medal votes, polling 31 times. He received three votes five times, two votes 14 times, and one vote 12 times. To the end of 2018, only 21 Swans players had polled more votes when wearing red and white: Bob Skilton (180), Adam Goodes (163), Josh Kennedy (125), Herbie Matthews (122), Ron Clegg (121), Dan Hannebery (106), Paul Kelly (103), Barry Round (90), Jude Bolton (89), Lance Franklin (85), Brett Kirk (81), Luke Parker (78), Ryan O’Keefe (77), Peter Bedford (67), Graham Teasdale (64), Barry Hall and Greg Williams (63), Daryn Cresswell and Kieren Jack (61), Bob Pratt (60), and Dennis Carroll (58). Note that votes awarded in 1976-77, when both field umpires lodged 3-2-1 separately, are halved for comparison purposes.

6 – He kicked a career-best six goals to earn three Brownlow votes in a loss to the Western Bulldogs in his 99th game, which was against the Western Bulldogs in Canberra in 2008. He also kicked four goals in a game three times.

10 – He has finished top 10 in the Bob Skilton Medal no less than 10 times, winning the coveted club champion award in 2008 and 2013. He was also 4th in 2010, 5th in 2012, ’14, ‘15, 6th in 2009, 8th in 2018 and 10th in 2006.

1325 – He was the 1325th player on the all-time Swans playing list when he debuted in Round 1, 2004 against Brisbane at the Gabba, sharing his debut with player #1324 Paul Bevan in what was Jason Ball’s 150th AFL game. He had 12 disposals and kicked a goal in a thriller. After McVeigh’s goal put the Swans 20 points up late in the second term the Lions, coming off three consecutive premierships, hit back. The lead changed hands six times in the final quarter via goals from Adam Goodes, Martin Pike, Jude Bolton, Craig McRae, Michael O’Loughlin and finally Blake Caracella. Ball had a chance to win the game for the Swans 90 sec from full-time but missed.

139 – He captained the Swans 139 times from 2011-16, including the 2012 premiership, to rank third on the club’s all-time captaincy list behind Paul Kelly (182) and Bob Skilton (165), and ahead of Dennis Carroll (131), Brett Kirk (119), Ron Clegg (105), Herbie Matthews (99) and Barry Round (99). He was co-captain with Adam Goodes in 2011-12 and with Kieren Jack in 20013-16.

4 – He played in four grand finals in 2006, ’12, ’14 and ‘16. Only Vic Belcher, Herbie Matthews and Laurie Nash, each with five grand final appearances in red and white, have played in more among Swans players. John Austin, Jack Bissett, Bill Faul, Adam Goodes and Dinny Kelleher also played in four grand finals.

21 – He had 21 possessions to star in Sydney’s 10-point 2012 grand final win over Hawthorn. This included 12 contested possessions to go with an equal team-high two goals, nine tackles, four clearances, two contested marks and a goal assist. He was one of five players who polled in the Norm Smith Medal. He polled one vote to finish behind Ryan O’Keefe (12), Brad Sewell (7), Dan Hannebery (5) and Lance Franklin (5).

202 – He has played in 203 wins for the Swans, second only to Adam Goodes (216) and ahead of  Jude Bolton (184), Michael O’Loughlin (171), Ryan O’Keefe (164), Heath Grundy (160), Kieren Jack (159) and Vic Belcher (151), Josh Kennedy (147) and Ted Richards (141).

107 – McVeigh has seen 107 players or 7.5% of the entire Swans playing list of 1254 players make their debut in red and white, starting with Craig Bolton in Round 1, 2002 and going right through to James Bell in Round 21 this year.

230 – His most common teammate through 17 years in red and white was Heath Grundy, who retired earlier in 2019. The pair played together 230 times after McVeigh played his 49th game in Grundy’s debut in 2006.  Next best on the McVeigh teammate list was Kieren Jack at 227.

 28 – He played an equal club record 28 finals over 13 finals campaigns against 12 different opposition clubs, with four finals against Fremantle and Hawthorn. Only Brisbane, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Richmond are missing from his finals opposition list. He played six elimination finals, six qualifying finals, eight semi-finals, four preliminary finals and four grand finals. He ranks 7th in all-time AFL finals behind Michael Tuck (39), Shaun Burgoyne (35), Gordon Coventry (31), Wayne Schimmelbusch (29), Leigh Matthews (29) and Bruce Doull (29). Adam Goodes, too, played 28 finals along with Bill Hutchison, Chris Mew, Gary Ayres, Jimmy Bartel and Jason Akermanis. Only four players in AFL history have played in more finals campaigns – Tuck (15), Dick Lee (15), Coventry (14) and Rod McGregor (14). Goodes, Jock McHale, Jack Titus and Burgoyne played in 13.

14 – He has a break even or better career record against 14 of 17 opposition clubs. He is a perfect 7-0 against Gold Coast, and is 17-3 (85%) against Carlton. He also has a better than 75% win record against Essendon (11-3), Port Adelaide (14-4) and Brisbane (17-1-3). The only three clubs against which McVeigh has lost more often than he’s won are Collingwood (6-12), Geelong (9-16) and Hawthorn (13-15). He’s played most often against Hawthorn (28), Geelong (25), St Kilda (23) and Western Bulldogs (22).

121 – McVeigh has played 122 game at the SCG to rank sixth at the Swans home ground behind Adam Goodes (143), Michael O’Loughlin (136), Jude Bolton (128), Mark Bayes (125) and Daryn Cresswell (123). He is also ranked 16th in goals at the SCG with 86.

17 – He has played at 17 different AFL venues across each Australian State plus the ACT and Wellington in New Zealand. After the SCG, he has played most often at Stadium Australia (43), MCG (41), Marvel Stadium (35), Subiaco (17), Kardinia Park (13), and the Gabba, Football Park and Manuka Oval in Canberra (11). He has visited Adelaide Oval, Carrara and Sydney Showgrounds five times,  Bellerive Oval in Hobart twice, and has played once each at Carlton’s old Princes Park headquarters, York Park in Launceston, Westpac Stadium in Wellington (NZ) and at the new Perth Stadium. The only other Swans-only player to have played at 17 different grounds is Adam Goodes. Anthony Daniher, who began his career at Sydney before switching to Essendon, played at 18 different venues to head the different venue list among Swans players, while Paul Roos, Tony Lockett, Terry Daniher and Lewis Jetta have also played at 17 different venues.

180 – Sydney’s highest score during McVeigh’s career was 28.12 (180) against Richmond 9.8 (62) at Marvel Stadium in Round 7, 2006. It was Paul Williams’ 300th AFL game, Ryan O’Keefe’s 100th game and McVeigh’s 40th game. McVeigh had eight disposals and kicked two goals as Barry Hall kicked five goals and Mick O’Loughlin four, and Ryan O’Keefe had 24 disposals and kicked four goals for three Brownlow votes.

129 – Sydney’s biggest win during McVeigh’s career was 129 points when they kicked 24.27 (171) to thump GWS 5.12 (42) at the SCG in the fourth meeting between the two NSW teams in Round 16, 2013. It was McVeigh’s 209th game and Craig Bird’s 100th game. He had 35 disposals and kicked two goals to earn three Brownlow votes.