MORE than 13,200 players have played at least one game at the highest level since the VFL started in 1897, but only a small collection can claim to have played more games than anyone else at a moment in history.
Just two men – Michael Tuck and Brent Harvey – have held the mantle as the games record-holder this century, and only five players in total across the past 50 years.
But that will change on Saturday when Scott Pendlebury charts new territory by playing his 433rd game for Collingwood at the MCG.
SP433 MEMORABILIA See the official Scott Pendlebury range here
But the 38-year-old won't be the first iconic Magpie to have held the games record.
There have been 14 recognised record-holders in VFL/AFL history dating back to Pies legend Charlie Pannam – the great, great grandfather of current Western Bulldogs star Ed Richards and the starting point of one of football's most famous family trees – who was the first to reach 100 games in 1902 and retired on 193 games (plus more at VFA level).
Five consecutive record-holders - from Jack Dyer in 1949 to Kevin Murray, who held the record until 1980 - were members of the AFL Team of the Century, while only six previous record-holders are still alive today.
Ahead of SP433, AFL.com.au has tracked how many players have held the title and for how long, while pinpointing the moment the milestone became the celebration it is today.
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Fred Elliott (Melbourne and Carlton) topped Pannam's original record in the 1910 Grand Final, then went past the 200-game barrier before setting a new mark at 209 games when he retired the following season.
Magpies legend Jock McHale (210 games) then held the mark for more than a decade - before he became one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game - until Richmond's Vic Thorp went past him in 1925 and set a new record at 263.
Another Collingwood icon, Gordon Coventry, would eclipse that in 1935 before becoming the first player in VFL history to reach 300 games in 1937, before retiring on 306 with the goals record to his name as well.
Jack Dyer, Richmond's 'Captain Blood', would eventually surpass Coventry in 1949 before retiring that year on 312 games. One year later, triple Brownlow Medallist and Essendon legend Dick Reynolds would set a new mark at 320.
That record would stand for almost 20 years until Footscray immortal Ted Whitten retired after he broke the record at the Western Oval, five rounds into the 1970 season. That was the first time in the game's history that a banner referenced the record, with the number '321' prominent as the Bulldogs ran onto the ground.
Then in 1974, three men held the record in the same year; Carlton's John Nicholls (322) went past Whitten in round 10, but only held the mark for eight rounds before Fitzroy great Kevin Murray chased him down late in his final season in the game.
Unlike the weeks of daily coverage for Pendlebury we've seen in the past month, there wasn't much focus on the record in 1974. Iconic media figure Harry Beitzel mentioned it in his Sunday Sport newspaper column, but other than that, the VFL didn't focus on it.
"No, no, not a lot. It was probably maybe mentioned in one small story, but that was it. It was over and done with that week," Nicholls recalls to AFL.com.au.
"300 was the target from a long way out. Dick Reynolds and Ted Whitten were the two to chase, but team success mattered much more.
"If you ask all those blokes about what they were more interested in, it was clearly their club winning premierships and winning club best-and-fairests. You were always looking ahead to see what was coming up.
"But I sort of knew as soon as I got to it, others would go past me pretty easily."
Nicholls, one of the inaugural Legends in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, sits comfortably among the game's titans. He won three premierships for the Blues, including one as captain-coach, and claimed Carlton's best and fairest five times. By his own admission, it is those achievements – rather than his fleeting stint as the league's longest-serving player – that has helped define his legacy.
"I guess, I had an image of being a very good player, very good captain and good leader and good coach. They were the things I strove for, not to break the games record. That was just a bonus."
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In 1980, for the second time in just over a handful of seasons, the record fell twice in a year.
Sydney and North Melbourne Team of the Century member John Rantall had retired on 330 games at the end of 1979, three short of Murray's record (333). But it was a short-lived absence from the game before he moved to Fitzroy and played six more matches to take his tally to 336, going past Murray in the process.
The new record wasn't to stand for long, though. Kevin Bartlett broke it in Richmond's 1980 qualifying final win over Carlton at Waverley Park en route to the premiership that September.
Unlike previous holders, Bartlett would push the record a long way off into the distance, becoming the first player in VFL history to play 400 games before setting the bar at 403.
"300 games was always the target when I was a kid, because there was only a few players that played 300 games," Bartlett tells AFL.com.au. "Gordon Coventry, Jack Dyer, Dick Reynolds and I grew up barracking for the Bulldogs as a kid and Teddy Whitten broke the record.
"It was always beaten by just one or two games, and then it was seen like that was the end, you had to retire. I was always pleased that I was able to break that mould and not break the record by one game or two games or three games, but to break it by 67 games.
"People said to me at the time, 'Oh gee, this record will stand forever'. And I said, 'No, it won't stand forever. Others will come along'. I mean, if I can do it, others will do it as well.
"It's a bit like climbing Mount Everest; (Sir Edmund) Hillary climbed Mount Everest, and since then there's been a thousand people climb Mount Everest ... it's always there for people to come and break it. We saw that when Tucky came along and played, and then Boomer came along and played.
"I was always pragmatic about those things; everyone went past everyone. Someone was going to go past me ... someone will play 500 one day."
Bartlett kicked 6.3 on the day he broke the record – he then followed it with eight straight in the semi-final over Geelong and 7.4 in the Grand Final win over Collingwood to win the Norm Smith Medal – and remembers the media coverage in the build up.
"It was huge, just huge, to create the new record. Not like it is now, but still big," he says
"But it started that game and my next 67 games were all AFL record games. So it was a bit of fun over the years."
Of all the hoopla about his record-breaking game, a bigger fuss was made when 'KB' became the first player in history to reach 400. Both his Tigers teammates and Collingwood opponents lined up next to the banner as Bartlett ran through it while waving to the crowd of 81,966 at the MCG.
Bartlett retired at the end of that 1983 season at the age of 36, despite still believing he could perform at the highest level for at least another year. But the training programs at the time, which were held after hours following a full day at work, didn't focus on recovery and managing veterans like it does in the modern era.
"I always wanted to play for as long as I possibly could, and I felt that as long as I retained pace and enthusiasm and kept away from injury - which you've got to be a bit lucky with - but I thought I could play deep into my 30s. And I was able to do that," he says.
"I had great support from my wife, Denise. She was keen for me to continue playing on, which was always a great help. If you've got young kids at the time, it was a bit difficult in those days because you went to work early in the morning and got home very late at night, so it was tough on wives looking after young kids and things like that. But she was a marvellous support to me.
"She wanted me to continue to play. And even at the end when I decided to retire, I think I was leading goal kicker that year with Michael Roach. I just felt that the way football was back in those days, it's a bit different than these days because whether you're 38 or whether you're 18, everyone trained exactly the same because there was only a small window to train."
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Michael Tuck played for only two clubs in his career; Berwick and Hawthorn. He - famously - played more than 50 reserves games for the Hawks in his first few years at the club while gradually cementing a spot under John Kennedy Sr.
He spent the entire 1971 season in the twos, then most of 1972 and half of 1973. But by the end of that decade, he had two VFL premierships on his way to a record seven – one more than Gordon Coventry and Ron Barrassi.
By 1990, the VFL had become the AFL, Tuck had become Hawthorn captain, and the record was his in the final game of the home and away season. The banner that day at the MCG read: Michael Tuck 404 Running Into History.
"No one ever thought Kevin would be beaten. It's bigger now, but it was still pretty big then. But not quite as big as it is now, that's for sure," Tuck says.
Tuck played for one more season in 1991 and finished on 426 games to set the bar high. He also held the record for most finals appearances at 39 until Joel Selwood eclipsed that mark in his final game, the 2022 Grand Final.
It would take almost a quarter of a century for someone to catch him.
"You're never really sure how many games you will play, because you could get an injury tomorrow," Tuck says. "Like poor old Sam Darcy; you're just going to be a bloody champion (and) next minute you're out for 12 months. So you just don't know for sure and that's why I never thought too far ahead.
"But I just kept choofing along and they just added up. Then when they got to the time it was there, and I basically had it for 25 years. So it wasn't too bad.
"But records are made to be broken, as they say."
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After the game gradually elevated how the milestone was celebrated, Brent Harvey reset how the games-record should be marked. Game No.427 was a full-blown party.
North Melbourne wore commemorative guernseys with 427 across the middle and the AFL replaced the 50m signs on the arc with Harvey's No.29 inside what was then known as Etihad Stadium.
"I didn't think anyone would break my record, and I don't think think anyone will break this one," Harvey said on Monday at a media opportunity with the six members of the 400-club, who will all - apart from Pendlebury - be at the president's lunch inside the Olympic Room at the MCG on Saturday, watching a moment of history.
North Melbourne beat St Kilda on the night 'Boomer' broke the record, but their season ended a month later on the first weekend of September – and so did Harvey's AFL career.
The then 38-year-old wanted to keep playing, but the Kangaroos decided his time was up, despite him kicking 36 goals that season and averaging 22 disposals from 23 games to finish fifth in the best-and-fairest. His form warranted another contract, but the Kangaroos made a decision to transition the list.
"I still felt like I had a little bit of football in me, no doubt. I made that pretty public at the time that I was more than happy to play on," he says.
"I think my footy was doing the talking for me; I finished fifth in our best-and-fairest in my last year, so the coaches rated me still."
Since then, North Melbourne hasn't played in another final, but Harvey is still playing. Since departing Arden Street, he has played another 79 senior games; 72 for North Heidelberg in the Northern Football League and seven for Trentham in Maryborough Castlemaine District Football League.
Records are made to be broken, but after holding it for almost 10 years, Harvey will pass the baton to Pendlebury, following weeks of Collingwood supporters cheekily reminding him that his days as the record-holder were coming to an end.
"Everywhere I go people have come up to me," Harvey says. "It doesn't help that Collingwood has a billion supporters, so everywhere I go people let me know that it's happening.
"If I am to hand the baton over and can't choose a North Melbourne player, Scott Pendlebury is a pretty good candidate, I think.
"He has been a star for so long, he can still do what he was doing 10 or 15 years ago."
VFL/AFL games record progression
100 games – Charlie Pannam (Collingwood/Richmond). Retired in 1902 after 193 games
194 games – Fred Elliott (Melbourne/Carlton). Grand Final, 1910. Retired in 1911 after 209 games.
210 games – Jock McHale (Collingwood). Round Nine, 1914. Retired in 1920 after 261 games.
262 games – Vic Thorp (Richmond). Round 16, 1925. Retired in 1925 after 263 games.
264 games – Gordon Coventry (Collingwood). Round 11, 1935. Retired in 1937 after 306 games.
307 games – Jack Dyer (Richmond). Round Nine, 1949. Retired in 1949 after 312 games.
313 games – Dick Reynolds (Essendon). Round 14, 1950. Retired in 1951 after 320 games.
321 games – Ted Whitten (Footscray). Round Five, 1970. Retired in 1970 after 321 games.
322 games – John Nicholls (Carlton). Round 10, 1974. Retired in 1974 after 328 games.
329 games – Kevin Murray (Fitzroy). Round 18, 1974. Retired in 1974 after 333 games.
334 games – John Rantall (South Melbourne/North Melbourne/Fitzroy). Round Six, 1980. Retired in 1980 after 336 games.
337 games – Kevin Bartlett (Richmond). Qualifying Final, 1980. Retired in 1983 after 403 games.
404 games – Michael Tuck (Hawthorn). Round 22, 1990. Retired in 1991 after 426 games.
427 games – Brent Harvey (North Melbourne). Round 19, 2016. Retired in 2016 after 432 games.