THEY won’t help you win a tipping competition or nail your SuperCoach line-up, but here are 10 AFL facts you can put in your pocket.

MCG SWAN’S SECOND HOME

Dane Swan has played on the MCG more times than any other Collingwood player in history. The veteran midfielder overtook Scott Burns (150) when he played his 151st game at the home of footy last weekend. Dustin Fletcher owns the record among all current AFL footballers, with 184 MCG games, while Kevin Bartlett tops the all-time list at 200.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

There are no prizes for creativity down at Geelong, where 14 of the club’s 46 listed players have a first name starting with the letter J.

WHAT’S IN A DATE?

More AFL players are born in March than in any other month. From 1990 to 2014, 10.3 per cent of players celebrated their birthdays in March, ahead of January at 9.5 per cent and June at 9.2 per cent.

But if you want your son to bring home a Brownlow Medal one day, ensure he pops out between July and September, with more than 42 per cent of the winners from the last 20 seasons born in winter.

WHAT’S IN ANOTHER NAME?

There are hundreds and hundreds of players on AFL lists in 2015, but only one is named John. That’d be Port Adelaide’s John Butcher, who was drafted by the Power in 2011 and has played 24 games.

THE POMS DO IT BETTER

An English football team toured Australia in 1888, beating our boys in 14 of the 25 games they played. That hurts.

A TWO-YEAR BAN

Martin Pyke, look away now. The longest AFL suspension in history is 99 weeks and is held by two men, Doug Fraser and Alex Laing, who were found guilty of bribery in 1910.

NOVEMBER’S LONE SOLDIER

Collingwood young gun Adam Oxley is the only current AFL player who has a birthday on November 1.

U KNOW IT’S UNIQUE

Only 21 AFL players with a surname starting with the letter U have ever played AFL. No AFL player’s surname has ever started with X.

COLLINGWOOD’S SEPTEMBER CURSE

Collingwood hasn’t won on the last Saturday in September since 1958. Their 1990 Grand Final victory came on October 6 because of earlier drawn finals, while their 2010 success was on October 2.

FLETCH’S FOOD PHOBIA

Dustin Fletcher lists avocado as the one food he simply cannot eat.