Player Watch #16 Braeden Campbell

[Kennedy Parker]

Braeden Campbell
Braeden Campbell was drafted with the fifth overall pick of the 2020 AFL Draft and has enjoyed an exciting start to life as a Swan. Recruited from Pennant Hills Demons, Campbell is revered for his brilliant versatility and exceptional left-foot kick. He made his AFL debut in Round 1 of the 2021 season and was voted as the Round 2 NAB Rising Star nominee after recording 25 disposals and six marks against the Adelaide Crows. The 21-year-old has improved year on year missing just one match in 2023 and set several career-best performances in the process.
Pick 5

Braeden Campbell | AFL

Follow Braeden Campbell's progress through AFL

www.sydneyswans.com.au

 

[elastic]

Longmire has mentioned in a presser that Braeden was training in the midfield group until Foxy went down and he was the obvious replacement in defense. Will be interesting to see what happens when Fox returns and whether they push him up the ground and if there is a place for him there. Has had an excellent start to the season

 

[Maximumlnsanity]

Longmire has mentioned in a presser that Braeden was training in the midfield group until Foxy went down and he was the obvious replacement in defense. Will be interesting to see what happens when Fox returns and whether they push him up the ground and if there is a place for him there. Has had an excellent start to the season

If he keeps playing well I think we'll find room. We played with 3 wingers last year, it wouldn't be that hard to make it work again

 

[Millky95]

Longmire has mentioned in a presser that Braeden was training in the midfield group until Foxy went down and he was the obvious replacement in defense. Will be interesting to see what happens when Fox returns and whether they push him up the ground and if there is a place for him there. Has had an excellent start to the season

Thinking something similar. Can see Fox coming in for Campbell

 

[the hypnotoad]

Again creating a nightmare for the Match Committee to leave out our best player from the Grand Final or one of two other young stars. Nice problem to have but....

our best player from the gf was warner, yes? there's no chance he's left out of any swans team in the immediate future, unless he's injured

 

[Superstar swan]

If they want to get Campbell up the ground I wouldn't be shocked to see jmac move back

 

[Kiama Chris]

our best player from the gf was warner, yes? there's no chance he's left out of any swans team in the immediate future, unless he's injured

Arguably Fox. If you prefer "one of....".
But you knew that.

 

[caesar88]

Arguably Fox. If you prefer "one of....".
But you knew that.

It's not arguably. It definitely was Fox. He was the only one who stood up when the game was on the line and I am sick of reading in the media that Warner was the only Swans player who could hold his head high on the day just because he padded his stats in junktime. What a massive disrespect to Fox's game which was far and away the most impressive on the day for us, and was so good IMO he was actually better than most Geelong players even.

 

[the hypnotoad]

Arguably Fox. If you prefer "one of....".
But you knew that.

i spose i was aware fox had a good game ... i didn't watch enough of it after quarter time ... and what i saw still haunts me

 

[the hypnotoad]

It's not arguably. It definitely was Fox. He was the only one who stood up when the game was on the line and I am sick of reading in the media that Warner was the only Swans player who could hold his head high on the day just because he padded his stats in junktime. What a massive disrespect to Fox's game which was far and away the most impressive on the day for us, and was so good IMO he was actually better than most Geelong players even.

you pick some weird sh1te to get fired up about

 

[caesar88]

you pick some weird sh1te to get fired up about

As the kettle said to the pot.

 

[Jewelsbon]

agreed ... and i've also been a fan from the start last season
maybe it's the haircut but he looks tougher ... ok, he also looks to have strengthened up a bit ...
but i think he's in the team to stay, and i think that development will come quite quickly

I didn't recognise Campbell when I saw him on Sunday. When I first got to my seat and looked onto the ground, I saw this guy with short cropped blond hair practising his kicking with a few of the other boys and it wasn't until he turned around and I saw 16 on his back I realised it was Braeden. He looks like he's bulked up, in a good way, like Ollie did a couple of years ago, kinda suddenly.

 

[the hypnotoad]

As the kettle said to the pot.

you're kidding ...

you know the expression "less is more"? ...

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I didn't recognise Campbell when I saw him on Sunday. When I first got to my seat and looked onto the ground, I saw this guy with short cropped blond hair practising his kicking with a few of the other boys and it wasn't until he turned around and I saw 16 on his back I realised it was Braeden. He looks like he's bulked up, in a good way, like Ollie did a couple of years ago, kinda suddenly.

Still needs to find the ball more, 15 odd possessions again, I agree he looks better but he needs to be getting it 22 times rather than 13-14 times

 

[Dubai Quacker]

Still needs to find the ball more, 15 odd possessions again, I agree he looks better but he needs to be getting it 22 times rather than 13-14 times

The ball rarely made its way into our defensive end on Sunday.

Campbell ended up having a quiet chat with Sir Dane and Tommy Mac whilst the Sherrin (and Hawf’s entire team) camped up the other end.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

The ball rarely made its way into our defensive end on Sunday.

Campbell ended up having a quiet chat with Sir Dane and Tommy Mac whilst the Sherrin (and Hawf’s entire team) camped up the other end.

It did the week before and he again was under 15. Look I like him but the days of sub 15 possession defenders are over, you need to be in the 20's at a minimum.

 

[caesar88]

It did the week before and he again was under 15. Look I like him but the days of sub 15 possession defenders are over, you need to be in the 20's at a minimum.

Says who?

We're a team with plenty of half-back flankers. Campbell is just the fourth or fifth in a line that includes Lloyd, Florent, Blakey and one of McInerney/Stephens the wingmen-flanker hybrids.

There's only so much ball to be won when sharing the load so even amongst so many.

If all of them were getting 20+ in one game then I would be seriously worried about what our midfield is doing to be allowing so much ball to be down there in the first place.

 

[Millky95]

Says who?

We're a team with plenty of half-back flankers. Campbell is just the fourth or fifth in a line that includes Lloyd, Florent, Blakey and one of McInerney/Stephens the wingmen-flanker hybrids.

There's only so much ball to be won when sharing the load so even amongst so many.

If all of them were getting 20+ in one game then I would be seriously worried about what our midfield is doing to be allowing so much ball to be down there in the first place.

I always thought it was a bad sign a few years back when Lloyd was our major ball winner. Not because he is a bad player or user, it just meant the ball was spending way too much time down back

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

I always thought it was a bad sign a few years back when Lloyd was our major ball winner. Not because he is a bad player or user, it just meant the ball was spending way too much time down back

Aye. But he was out safest and smartest kick, so would invariably take kick ins.
L
How different now? Any of our defenders can take the kick in and do a great job.

I cannot remember a group of Bloods defenders who were such great kicks.

 

[Millky95]

Aye. But he was out safest and smartest kick, so would invariably take kick ins.
L
How different now? Any of our defenders can take the kick in and do a great job.

I cannot remember a group of Bloods defenders who were such great kicks.

Even with kick outs though he was still getting in the 30s, with Rampe next before a midfielder

 

[Citrus22]

Played a fantastic game tonight. 94% time on ground shows how much he’s built his fitness base. Defended hard all night and flicks the switch into offense with great intuition- starting to show real signs of the player he could become!

 

[Borgan]

Need him up on the wing/half forward to fully utilise his skills, also harder at it and a better ball winner than say Dyl

 

[elastic]

One of his better games tonight and kicked the sealer with confidence.
His one on one competitiveness and strength has improved significantly this year. Definitely a lot of potential still to be unlocked

 

[the hypnotoad]

watching him launch that left boot makes me almost forget about dawson ...

 

[Superstar swan]

I still think his best footy is going to be forward of the backline but at least now he's starting to have to confidence to showcase his foot skills

 

[Jimbo OZ]

I just realised that Braeden ran the most distance for the Swans (15.9km) and second most for the game behind Taranto. 94% TOG too. Tank must be building.