ONE of the Sydney Swans' emerging stars is a Lamb who has cause to be grateful to a wayward Butcher.
Sidelined by hamstring issues for most of his first year in 2011 and stuck in the reserves for much of 2012, 20-year-old Jed Lamb has been making his presence felt in a stacked midfield division since debuting this season.
Following a few games in which he was named substitute, Lamb has finally rid himself of the dreaded green vest, playing six straight matches and racking up double-digit possession tallies in the last five.
"My first two pre-seasons I was probably a bit complacent," admitted Lamb on Wednesday.
"Then last year I went away and had a real crack at the running.
"I came back in pretty good shape and it held me in good stead.
"The previous years I ran about 11 minutes 20 seconds for 3kms....I got it down to 10 minutes 47 seconds this year."
Lamb was Sydney's first pick in the 2010 draft, chosen ahead of Luke Parker and Alex Johnson who both played in the Swans' 2012 grand final-winning team.
"I was a bit jealous, but at the same time I was really happy for them, because they really deserved it," he said.
Lamb wasn't always a midfielder and one of the bigger breaks he got during his junior days with Gippsland Power came when he was shifted to full forward.
"It wasn't till John Butcher, who is (now) at Port Adelaide, got sent off in round three and they sent me to full forward and I ended up kicking five that day," Lamb recalled.
"From there they just left me as a forward and funny enough, at the end of the year presentation when I got up to get the goalkicking award, the coach said if it wasn't for John Butcher I would have been playing for my local club the following week."
Lamb accepts there will be plenty of challengers for his midfield spot in the coming weeks.
"I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I'm out there," Lamb said.
"It's unbelievable running around with guys like Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack and Daniel Hannebery.
"I know there's a lot of hard work to go, I definitely haven't cemented my spot because there's a lot of blokes to come back from injury."
