Newly-acquired Saint Dan Hannebery has been honoured with the No. 10 locker at Moorabbin, the ex-Swans star confirmed at a press conference on Thursday morning.
Hannebery becomes the latest name in a long list of decorated Saints to wear the famous number, regarded by many as the most prestigious at the football club.
A total of seven Saints have won the club best-and-fairest wearing the No. 10, including champion forward Bill Mohr, Brownlow medallist Neil Roberts, star ruckman Carl Ditterich and more recently hard nut Steven Baker.
But the weight of expectation is unlikely to overawe Hannebery, who was presented with the great Tony Lockett's old No. 4 guernsey at the Swans as a 17-year-old.
"It’s obviously a pretty famous number here at the Saints," he said at
"There's a lot of history around it, and I’m pretty proud and privileged to have the opportunity to wear it, I’m looking forward to it."
Dan Hannebery models his new number.
In 1915, the No. 10 jumper was worn by the famous Roy Cazaly for a season, but its true folklore began in 1929 when an untried young forward from Wagga was handed the jumper for his first game.
Bill Mohr went on to enjoy a mighty career spanning 13 seasons. The first Saint to score 100 goals in a season, he was the club’s greatest full-forward before Tony Lockett.
Keith Rosewarne first wore the jumper in 1946 and heralded his arrival with a Best and Fairest win. After Rosewarne’s departure, Neil Roberts was elevated from Number 33, and in 1958, he won the Brownlow Medal, the high point in a storied career.
READ: The No. 10
In later years, Roberts’ son Michael “inherited” the jumper.
From 1986, it was bestowed upon ruckmen Warren Jones, Paul Harding and Darren Flanigan. After Flanigan’s sole season at the club, it was handed to a young bloke from the under-19s – Peter Everitt.
Like Ditterich 30 years earlier, the kid made a stunning debut and went on to win a Best and Fairest.
Everitt, Ditterich, Rosewarne and Mohr had all been brand new to league football when they first wore the number 10.
Along the way, it was also worn briefly by Sam Loxton, a dual sportsman who was part of Don Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles.
It is a special jumper, proven when it was briefly handed to a battling ruckman David Granger in 1979, and after just a single game, it was retrieved and he was allocated Number 37.
And Hannebery will be hoping to resurrect the No. 10 jumper to all its former glory, after a quiet few years for the famous number.
