Once the invitations popped on the website, I’d accept only one.

A unique opportunity awaited Freo Dockers fans: Pick one player and literally have his back, by emailing your mug shot to fill in the space of your player’s jumper number for Saturday’s Membership Round clash at Patersons Stadium.

I’m climbing onto my Chosen One’s back, ready for a rollercoaster ride.

How does he roll? Like an inflated purple party balloon untied at the end, suddenly released through fingertips – zipping, zooming and zig zagging everywhere. He’s a ball-hunting, kick-smothering, tackle-laying, goal-snapping dynamo who often leaves frustrated, falling chasers face down, eating grass in his wake.

It’s safe to say most footballers don’t wear numbers they think may reflect their personalities. But not my adopted Freo Docker.

“With him, the number does say something,” says Neil McLean, prominent sport psychologist and University of Western Australia lecturer who for many years was a consultant to the Freo Dockers, West Coast Eagles, the NBL’s Perth Wildcats and the 2004 Olympic gold medal-winning Kookaburras national men’s field hockey team. “Some players wouldn’t want his number because it draws attention. Chutzpah is the right word for someone who chooses to wear it. He has an extroverted, bring-it-on mentality. He has an attitude that says, ‘I’m happy to have the ball in my hands.’”

When he’s got the Sherrin – and even when he hasn’t – take your eyes off him at your own peril. You may miss a match-winning goal, a game-breaking run and carry, or a timely, momentum-changing free kick he coaxes from an opponent or an umpire.

“There was a real question mark before he was drafted about whether he had the right temperament for the AFL,” McLean says. “But Freo saw what he could become.”

Sure, some AFL footballers swap out originally issued high numbers for lower ones when they’re available, as traditionally, the lower the player’s number, the bigger his reputation. Freo Dockers’ skipper and club legend Matthew Pavlich is a notable exception.

But some fans project onto players who wear the particular high-profile, low guernsey number of my Docker-for-the-day, a spotlight not everyone wants. Only three other players in Freo’s history have worn it. McLean says the Freo Docker who previously did is the on-field “polar opposite” of its current wearer.

“He was a midfielder and defender and wasn’t quick,” McLean says. “But he was a salt of the earth guy, reliable and very nice. He was workmanlike and had admirable leadership qualities. But his injuries had him on the fringe.”

The first Freo Docker ever to wear the number played on the wing for parts of the inaugural and second seasons. He even kicked one of his two career goals in Freo's first-ever home-and-away match, a narrow 90-85 loss to Richmond at the MCG. The second to wear the number was a midfielder/rover who played for seven seasons in purple, who actually shares the same first name with the third. The second number holder, McLean says, has something in common with the current one, besides being a leading goal-kicker for his respective WAFL side before joining Fremantle. McLean says these two would’ve got on well because of their similar on-field demeanours.

The current Freo Docker, his teammates and coaches say, has made great strides harnessing intensity without sacrificing discipline. Despite his sometimes jaw-dropping feats, he has learned to be just one in the team’s best 22, despite standing out.

“He looks like a 16-year-old boy playing the game against men, which is often what a country player does in amateur football,” McLean says. “He’s a country boy.”

That shone through last year on a Seven News segment on his Serpentine farm, on which he sported the same Cheshire cat grin patrolling the paddock as he does prowling the oval.

Before him, Luke Webster wore the number. Luke Toia was the second and Scott Edwards was the original. But the current owner of the single digit – who says he wore it for Peel Thunder and Baldivis in junior footy because it was the only one which fit his small frame – is a singular sensation.

Just one player was good enough to win the 2008 Sandover Medal. Just one bagged 2011 AFL Goal of the Year honours. But no one else is as reviled by rivals and their supporters for his penchant for popping off, pushing, provoking and pestering.

Yet no one in purple is more revered by teammates and fans. He was actually assigned No. 17 when Webster had the lower number that soon would, deservedly, become his.

In numerology, the “personality” of this number is described as “a powerful force that produces results and doesn’t allow anything or anyone to limit its potential.”

But, McLean says, “he would do what he does on the ground even if he wore No. 93. It’s well within his DNA. His number is just icing on the cake.”

Hayden Ballantyne is unquestionably one of a kind. The No. 1 jumper perfectly fits.