Jonathan Patton stamping himself as the future spearhead at GWS just in time for finals

JEREMY Cameron has long been tagged as the superstar forward to rival Lance Franklin in Sydney but his forward-line partner is quickly making a name for himself.

Jonathan Patton kicks at goal. Picture: Michael Klein

JEREMY Cameron has long been tagged as the superstar forward to rival the Swans’ Lance Franklin in Sydney.

But leading into next week’s historic cross-town final, the Giants have celebrated Jon Patton’s sudden arrival as their new goalkicking spearhead.

Patton has shown the potential to one day overshadow Cameron as GWS’s No.1 weapon upfront — several years and two devastating knee reconstructions after it seemed he would never realise his potential as the club’s first No.1 draft pick in 2011.

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It’s taken two around-the-world rehabilitation missions to Sweden and the US to rebuild a knee that’s experienced an extraordinary amount of trauma for a player who is just 21.

Patton has been a dominant force in the Giants’ past two wins, kicking 11 goals. GWS believe they’ve unveiled a secret weapon on the eve of the finals.

The Swans and rival clubs have known of Patton’s great promise, but they barely have any guide on how to handle the 198cm giant on the field.

Jeremy Cameron and Jonathon Patton celebrate a goal. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“Definitely. Because he hasn’t played as much footy as he otherwise would have over the past two years,” Giants athletic performance boss David Joyce said.

“We’ve started to see the highlights reel in the last couple of weeks but the reality is that overnight successes are almost never overnight successes. This is something that has been building and building and building and building.

“We’d like to say we’ve planned it (to peak for the finals) but we knew it was going to be a slow burn, as it often is with anyone who has had a knee reconstruction. But he’s certainly come into some really good form at the right time.”

Teammates have witnessed first-hand Patton’s gut-wrenching return from one ­injury disaster to another as he had three of his first four AFL seasons virtually ruined.

Joyce said the support roles played by long-term housemates Stephen Coniglio and Heath Shaw have been immense in helping Patton believe he could return.

Giants star Dylan Shiel describes Patton’s rise from the canvas as an inspiration.

“Jon’s obviously been through some massive adversity through his short career and seeing him go through two ACLs, seeing him there in the early mornings and late finishes at the club, it can be a lonely place,” Shiel said.

“For Jon to come back ... through determination and courage he’s got himself to where he is now and it’s safe to say we’re pretty satisfied with his last two games to finish off the home-and-away season.

“We get behind him and hopefully he can take that form into the finals. If he can keep playing the way he is it’ll definitely work in our favour.”

Joyce said an exhaustive rehabilitation process in Philadelphia last year focused primarily on gymnastics work that slowly worked away at fortifying his knee.

Now Patton is seen as a beacon of hope for fellow athletes.

“We’ve had to take into ­account that he’s basically missed two years of footy with his knees, so we’ve had to try and squeeze in two years of football development into him,” Joyce said.

“We’ve done an awful lot of work with him on the gymnastics floor ... taking him outside his comfort zone so when he runs and jumps into packs and those sorts of things on a field, it’s not nearly as hard as he’s been doing with us.”

Originally published as Jonathan Patton stamping himself as the future spearhead at GWS just in time for finals