Rising Star nominee Jake Lloyd is effectively keeping his mentor Ryan O'Keefe out of the Sydney Swans side and is on track to continue an amazing run of success.
Midfielder Lloyd, 20, has played 16 straight games since making his debut, no mean feat for someone who started the season on the rookie list.
He was introduced at the lowest ebb of the Swans' season when they were struggling at 1-3.
That same week, midfield stalwart O'Keefe, a dual premiership winner, 2009 club best and fairest and 2012 Norm Smith Medalist, was dropped and hasn't added to his 286 games.
He is the club-appointed mentor to Lloyd, who was only six-years-old when O'Keefe played his first senior game back in 2000.
Lloyd said O'Keefe had been a great help to him, but baulked at the suggestion he was effectively replacing him in the side.
He stressed O'Keefe was one of several players in the reserves keeping him and the other incumbent senior side players on their toes.
"We can't get too complacent and we've got to perform each week to keep our positions," Lloyd said on Tuesday.
Lloyd is no stranger to keeping his place in more senior company.
He broke into the Horsham Demons senior team as a 15-year-old and held his spot in a premiership-winning team.
It was the start of five successive flag wins for him, four with Horsham and one with the Swans reserves in the NEAFL last year.
Since his elevation, Lloyd has only tasted defeat once and that was a narrow loss to reigning premiers Hawthorn.
He downplayed suggestions he could be part of a premiership-winning team for a sixth straight year.
"I don't want to think too far ahead, but I've been pretty lucky," Lloyd said.
Despite his run of wins in recent years, Lloyd has also encountered his share of setbacks.
He missed selection in two national drafts and admitted it crossed his mind he might not make it to the AFL.
"After two misses, I guess so, but I really wanted to work hard and it was always my dream to play AFL football," Lloyd said.
"I had to put on a few kilos and the defensive side of my game is something that I've really worked on and it's certainly held me in good stead and given me these opportunities."
Share
