Callum Mills’ switch to the midfield this season has catapulted him into an elite section of the Swans record books … the ‘ball magnets’.

Without a 30-possession game in his first 92 games, Mills has had seven this season, including a ‘live’ streak of four in a row in the last month.

Only six players in club history have had more consecutive 30-possession games than the 24-year-old QBE Sydney Swans Academy graduate since possession counts were introduced in 1965.

Josh Kennedy holds the club record at 11 in a row in 2015 when he went 33-41-30-31-32-32-35-35-33-31-39. He also had a run of five 30+ games in a row in 2016.

Barry Mitchell had eight in a row across 1991-92, plus a run of five in 1991, while Dan Hannebery had consecutive streaks of six and seven 30+ games in 2016 which gave him a combined streak of 13 in 14 games.

Bob Skilton, who played nine years and 139 games without official possession counts, had five 30+ games in a row in 1965, while Daryn Cresswell did likewise in 1997, and Jake Lloyd in 2019.

Kennedy, who polled 18 Brownlow Medal votes including five best afield ratings during his astonishing run in 2015, heads the club aggregate count of 30+ possession games with 80.

Barry Mitchell (61), Hannebery (57), Greg Williams (51), Cresswell (44), Luke Parker (32), Skilton (30), Jake Lloyd (30), Gerard Healy (29) and Jarrad McVeigh (28) make up the top 10.

Other current players in the 30-Possession Club are Isaac Heeney (3), Jordan Dawson (2), Harry Cunningham (1) and George Hewett (1).

Astonishingly, Brownlow Medallist Williams topped 30 possessions in 51 of 107 Swans games – 47.66 percent. But his longest streak of 30+ games in red and white was just four.

Williams is a clear leader on a percentage basis for the Swans from Barry Mitchell (35.88%), Healy (35.80%), Kennedy (30.65%), Skilton (30.61%), Tom Mitchell (29.23%), Hannebery (27.40%) and Wayne Schwass (21.43%).

Skilton is the wildcard member of the 30-Possession Club. He had turned 26 and won two Brownlow Medals and six club champion awards before the introduction of possession counts.

He had the club’s first official 30-possession game – 37 plus a team-high two goals in a 10-point win over North Melbourne at Coburg Oval in Round 1, 1965. It was also his first game as captain-coach.

Stuart Magee, an 84-game Swan from 1962-68 before he captained Footscray during a 132-game stint at Whitten Oval, was the second member of the Swans 30+ Club in Round 15. Skilton had 34 in the same game – his sixth 30+ game.

What Skilton’s numbers might be had statisticians been on duty through his career is unfathomable.

Dawson, who posted his first 30-possession game in his ninth AFL outing, and Parker, who did so in his 16^th game, rank top 10 in the ‘quickest’ 30-possession game for the club among AFL debutants.

Tom Mitchell, who had 31 possessions in his second game, has been quickest. Others up to 20 games have been Steve Hoffman (3), Dale Lewis (4), Nic Newman (5), Dawson (9), Greg Smith (10), Norm Goss and Neil Brunton (13), Scott Direen (15), Parker (16), Shannon Grant and Greg Lambert (19), Bernie Evans and Simon Garlick (20).

Twelve Swans players had to wait 100 games or more for their first 30-possesion game - Tadhg Kennelly (170), Adam Goodes (153), Mark Bayes (152), Russell Cook (133), Lewis Jetta (111), Ryan O’Keefe (111), Harry Cunningham (109), McVeigh (107), David Ackerly (105), Jude Bolton (103), Michael O’Loughlin (102) and Colin Hounsell (100).

Hannebery’s 17 games of 30+ in the 26-game season of 2016 is the club best in a season from Tom Mitchell’s 16 in the same year. Kennedy had 15 in 2015 (24 games) and 2016, Hannebery had 14 in 2015, Barry Mitchell 13 in the 22-game seasons of 1991-92 and Cresswell’s 12 in 1998 (24 games). Four players have had 10 games of 30+ in a season – Skilton in the 20-game season of 1968, Williams in 1987 (24 games) and 1988 (22 games), Healy and Barry Mitchell 10 each in 1988.

Eight Swans played 200 games in the post-1965 era without registering 30 possessions in a game. Leo Barry tops this list at 237 games and a career-best possession count of 29. Tony Morwood played 229 games with a best of 28 and Ted Richards 228 and a best of 23. Others were Jared Crouch (223/25), Rod Carter (217/22), Andrew Dunkley (217/22) and Nick Smith (211/25). Stuart Maxfield went 200 games for the Swans with a best of 29 possessions after topping 30 once in 89 games at Richmond – he had 35 touches in just his 17^th game at 20.

A total of 94 Swans players have at least one 30-possession game in their career statistics. They are:-

80 – Josh Kennedy
61 – Barry Mitchell
57 – Daniel Hannebery
51 – Greg Williams
44 – Daryn Cresswell
32 – Luke Parker
30 – Jake Lloyd, Bob Skilton
29 – Gerard Healy
28 – Jarrad McVeigh
24 – Norm Goss
21 – Wayne Schwass
20 – Peter Bedford, Kieren Jack, Paul Kelly
19 – Tom Mitchell, Ryan O’Keefe
14 – Dennis Carroll
11 – Jude Bolton, Haydn McAuliffe
10 – Brett Kirk, Peter Morrison, Ricky Quade
9 – Mark Browning
8 – Adam Goodes, Rhyce Shaw
7 – Steve Hoffman, Callum Mills, Greg Smith
6 – Dale Lewis, Nick Malceski, John Pitura
5 – Bernie Evans, Neville Fields, David Murphy, Paul Roos, Wayne Walsh, Stevie Wright
4 – Greg Lambert, Dane Rampe, Scott Watters, Paul Williams
3 – Craig Bird, Heath Grundy, Isaac Heeney, Stuart Magee, Ben Mathews, David McLeish, John Murphy, Barry Round
2 – Amon Buchanan, Jayson Daniels, Jordan Dawson, Paul Hawke, Zak Jones, Paul Morwood, Merv Neagle, Nic Newman, Max Papley
1 – David Ackerly, Mark Athorn, Keith Baskin, Mark Bayes, Neil Brunton, Russell Cook, Harry Cunningham, Scott Direen, Ben Doolan, Mark Eustice, Peter Filandia, Ollie Florent, Nic Fosdike, Simon Garlick, Shannon Grant, George Hewett, Leon Higgins, Craig Holden, Colin Hounsell, Francis Jackson, Lewis Jetta, Graeme John, Darren Kappler, Tadhg Kennelly, Jamie Lawson, Terry Leahy, Martin Mattner, Ben McGlynn, Matthew Nicks, Michael O’Loughlin, Craig Potter, David Rhys-Jones, Eric Sarich, Brett Scott, Graham Teasdale