Huddersfield Giants’ Adam Swift is Super League’s best winger: and the stats prove it

It’s been some start to life in a Huddersfield Giants for Adam Swift: in fact, it’s been some 18 months or so for the 31-year-old.

Swift stood out in an underwhelming Hull FC team last year, and it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s continued where he left off in 2023 this time around with his new club.

Swift is earning rave reviews for his performances in the Huddersfield side so far in 2024, with the Giants’ fine run of form lately in no small part thanks to Swift’s displays.

It has even led some to suggest an England debut could be in the offing this year. And Swift’s metrics stack up to the elite wingers in the competition, underlining how, right now, he might be the best wingers in Super League.

Tries

The most obvious metric when it comes to ranking wingers is tries scored – and no player has scored more in Super League in 2023 than Swift.

His nine in Super League is only matched by Wigan’s Liam Marshall, and Swift also has five in the Challenge Cup too, taking his tally to 14 in all competitions in 2024.

But he also scored 19 league tries last year – 22 in total – in a Hull FC side that were some way off the play-off race, meaning he has 36 tries to his name since the beginning of last season at a phenomenal strike rate.

Swift is ahead of the likes of Ash Handley (seven) and Tommy Makinson (five) this year for tries scored.

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Tackle busts

Swift also ranks highly in Super League for tackle busts – in fact, there’s only two wingers in the competition who has made more. Swift’s tally of 39 is only bettered by Warrington’s Josh Thewlis (42) and Hull KR’s Ryan Hall (44), and he is eighth overall in the entire competition.

It is a figure that shows how important he is at getting Huddersfield on the front foot, and how explosive he can be when carrying the ball. Interestingly, one of the other players just above him in the list is his centre at the Giants: Esan Marsters.

Carries

Swift’s importance to Huddersfield is underlined in another key metric: the amount of carries he has made so far in 2024. Swift is 6th in the competition-wide list for carries with 137: an impressive tally that is bettered by only a handful of men.

Only one winger sits above him in that regard – Hall with 152. But again, his Giants team-mate, Marsters, is another who has excelled, with 146 carries – making Swift and Marsters one of the most important centre-wing pairings in Super League this year for the amount of work they take on for their pack.

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Metres

Swift’s numbers continue to impress when looking at metres made this season. He has run for 1,139 metres so far in a Giants shirt in Super League – putting him fourth on the list across the whole competition.

Only three players can beat that tally, Matt Dufty (1,411), Ash Handley (1,193) and.. you guessed it, Marsters (1,314).

Clean breaks

And finally, another aspect of Swift’s game that has caught the eye so far this year is his ability to puncture the line and get Huddersfield into attacking positions.

He’s one of the best in Super League at it: no winger has done it more than the nine times Swift have and in fact, only Dufty, with ten, has done it more.

It’s another astonishing statistic for a player who is beginning to look every inch a possible England call-up in mid-season..

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