Ben Paton

Ben Paton (born 19 October 1998) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Junior career Paton is from Tallangatta.

In 2015, he played 18 games in the Tallangatta & District Football League for Mitta United aged 16, winning their best and fairest.

Paton played for the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup in 2016, and was in their losing grand final team. He also played for North Albury. Although eligible for the 2016 AFL draft, Paton was not invited to the AFL Draft Combine that year.

In 2017, he returned to the Bushrangers and moved from the midfield to defence. Paton played for Vic Country in the 2017 AFL Under 18 Championships and was selected in the All-Australian side. He played two games in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for . Paton tested at the 2017 AFL Draft Combine, recording the second-best running vertical jump of . He also recorded the third-best standing vertical jump of and the sixth-best sprint with a time of 2.95 seconds.

AFL career St Kilda Paton was recruited by St Kilda with pick 46 in the 2017 national draft. He suffered a thumb injury in a practice match against the Northern Blues; he was expected to miss about six weeks. Paton was named as an emergency 10 times before he was selected in the senior side against in round 21. He signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him at St Kilda until 2020, after playing the remaining two matches of the season.

Paton was delisted by St Kilda following the 2024 AFL season.

Sydney Following his delisting at St Kilda, Paton was selected in the rookie draft by the Sydney Swans. He made his club debut for the Swans in their first game of the 2025 AFL season, a 20 point loss to .

Paton played four games for the season, before being delisted by the Swans.

Personal life Paton's father Steve played 190 games for North Albury and captained the club for six seasons. 75 !! 4 !! 2 !! 577 !! 403 !! 980 !! 295 !! 137 !! 0.1 !! 0.0 !! 7.7 !! 5.4 !! 13.1 !! 3.9 !! 1.8 !! 0