Query 400 Gamers

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Copernicus

Copernicus

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Jul 17, 2004
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In the history of the AFL/VFL there have only been two players to make 400 games over their careers, Tuck and Bartlett.

Given that the 400 mark is the holy grail of longevity, it made me wonder how many other blokes have made it to the 400 mark in other high-level comps such as the SANFL and WAFL, and also whether there are some league-hoppers out there who have amassed 400 games or more over their various clubs?
 
http://www.firstclassfooty.web44.net/RECORDS.htm
528
Craig Bradley (1986-2002). Port Adelaide (98), Carlton (375 premiership & 27 night Series), South Australia (15 State of Origin & 4 state league) & Australia International Rules (9).
470
Barry Round (1970-91). Footscray (135), South Melbourne/Sydney (193), Williamstown (110), Victoria (8) & VFA (3). Also played 21 VFL night series matches.
467
Peter Carey (1971-1988). Glenelg (448) & South Australia (19).
466
Michael Tuck (1972-1991). Hawthorn (426 premiership & 29 n/s) and Victoria (11).
455
Greg Phillips (1976-1993). Port Adelaide (343), Collingwood (84 premiership & 8 n/s) & South Australia (20).
452
Russell Ebert (1968-1985). Port Adelaide (391), North Melbourne (25 premiership & 1 n/s) & South Australia (35).
450*
H.K. ‘Joe’ Littler (1897-1932)*. Littler played for 36 years with South Melbourne, Launceston, City and Wynyard. It is estimated that his games total was 450.
448
Kevin Murray (1955-1976). Fitzroy (333 premiership & 17 night series), East Perth (44), Sandringham (24), Victoria (24) & Western Australia (6)
448
David ‘Dolly’ Christie (1885-1911). Ballarat (102), Melbourne (110), Fremantle (11), Imperials (9), East Fremantle (196) & Interstate (20).
435
Kevin Bartlett (1965-1983). Richmond (403 premiership & 12 n/s) and Victoria (20).
433
Darrel Baldock (1955-74). East Davenport (71), Latrobe (184), New Norfolk (4), St Kilda (123 premiership & 6 n/s), Tasmania (15), Victoria (10). Baldock also played 20 intrastate matches in Tasmania.
431
Chris McDermott (1981-1997). Glenelg (276), Adelaide (119 premiership & 12 n/s), North Adelaide (10) & South Australia (11 state of origin, 3 state league).
423
Simon Madden (1974-1992). Essendon (378 premiership & 26 n/s), Victoria (17) & Australia International Rules (2)
423
Robert Harvey (1988-2008). St Kilda (383 premiership & 30 n/s). Victoria (8), Australia international rules (2).
422
Stephen Kernahan (1981-1997). Glenelg (136), Carlton (251 premiership & 19 n/s), South Australia (13) & Australia International Rules (3).
419
John Platten (1981-1998). Central District (113), Hawthorn (258 premiership & 25 n/s), South Australia(15 state of origin & 2 state league) & Australia International Rules (6)
418
Grantley Fielke (1979-1997). West Adelaide (364), Collingwood (16 premiership & 2 n/s), Adelaide (24 premiership & 3 n/s) & South Australia (9).
407
Darren Jarman (1985-2001). North Adelaide (144), Hawthorn (109), Adelaide (121) & South Australia (9 State of origin & 2 state league). Also played 22 AFL night series games.
406
John Blakey (1985-2002). Fitzroy (135), North Melbourne/Kangaroos (224), Victoria (1) & Australia International Rules (1). Blakey also played 45 night series matches.
405
Barry Cable (1962-1979). Perth (255), North Melbourne (116), East Perth (43), Western Australia (20) and Victoria (1).
403
Brian Peake (1972-1990). East Fremantle (304), Geelong (66 premiership & 1 n/s), Perth (10) & Western Australia (22).
403
Paul Roos (1982-1998). Fitzroy (269), Sydney (87), Victoria (14) & Australia International Rules (6). Roos also played 27 VFL/AFL night series matches.
400*
Peter Burns (1882-1902)*. Ballarat Imperials (56), South Melbourne (142), Geelong (160) & VFA/VFL (15). It is estimated that Burns played 30 games on tour with Geelong and South Melbourne.
400*
H.V. ‘Vic’ Cumberland (1892-1920)*. Melbourne (50), St Kilda (120), Sturt (103). It is estimated that Cumberland played 19 games in WA, 103 in Tasmania, 32 in New Zealand and 27 Representative.
400*
Harry Free (1947-1963)*. Newtown & New South Wales (19). Free is estimated to have played in excess of 380 games with Newtown.
* Approximate, questionable or incomplete record
Click to expand...
http://www.firstclassfooty.web44.net/RECORDS.htm
 

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fabulousphil said:
A very good player, no doubt about it, and this is not intended to in any way slight his playing career, but exactly how many hard ball gets did he get.
Click to expand...

More than you'd think.

I don't know why it's become so frowned upon to be a predominantly outside player. He was an elite runner who could destroy teams in the blink of an eye. One of the best finishers from top speed in the history of the game.
 
fabulousphil said:
A very good player, no doubt about it, and this is not intended to in any way slight his playing career, but exactly how many hard ball gets did he get.

A more likeable Bryce Gibbs ?.
Click to expand...
That's a bit like asking a surgeon "but how many of these patients did you anesthetise?"
And Bradley was a surgeon, he could cut you up.
But he had Greg Williams to go and get the footy for him. Why would you get in his way?
 
Mero said:
That's a bit like asking a surgeon "but how many of these patients did you anesthetise?"
And Bradley was a surgeon, he could cut you up.
But he had Greg Williams to go and get the footy for him. Why would you get in his way?
Click to expand...

TBH after i posted it, i regretted posting it in the history section, not really the right board and obviously you can't play 400 games and be soft.
 
Mero said:
Craig Bradley played 98 SANFL games, then 375 VFL/AFL games.
Click to expand...
bradely's effort was amazing considering he, originally knocked back a Essendon, at age 17 in 1981 because he wanted to focus on his cricketing career, he played 4 first class games for SA, & several games for Australian junior sides. after he moved to Victoria to play for Carlton in 1986, he continued to play top level cricket, playing for the Melbourne cricket club, but eventually gave it up to concentrate on his AFL career.

he could of easily held the record for most games ever in the VFL/AFL by an individual
 
bomber6 said:
bradely's effort was amazing considering he, originally knocked back a Essendon, at age 17 in 1981 because he wanted to focus on his cricketing career, he played 4 first class games for SA, & several games for Australian junior sides. after he moved to Victoria to play for Carlton in 1986, he continued to play top level cricket, playing for the Melbourne cricket club, but eventually gave it up to concentrate on his AFL career.

he could of easily held the record for most games ever in the VFL/AFL by an individual
Click to expand...
I believe he would have come over but Sheedy, who had been a promising district cricketer himself told him he would have to concentrate on footy if he came over.
As soon as the Form 4 expired he signed with Carlton.
And played State cricket for Victoria in the 89-90 season.

I went to a breakfast one time where Sheedy was asked his biggest regret, with the guy asking it fishing for a Derek Kickett anecdote, but Sheedy said he was picked to play in the District Cricket final for Richmond and would have played but the Football club wouldn't let him because they had a practice match. He always wished he had been more forceful in explaining that he wanted to play in the cricket final.
 
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In the SANFL, Peter Carey (not the umpire nor the novelist) played 448 games for Glenelg between 1971-1988, plus another 19 State games.
Russell Ebert played 391 games for Port in the SANFL between 1968-85, as well as 25 for North Melbourne in 1979 and 29 State games
 

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How did they work it before the VFL expanded.
Lets say it is 1978 and Joe Bloggs has played 82 league games for a WAFL or SANFL side and then goes to play in the VFL. Was his 100th game celebrated after he played 18 for the VFL club or did the VFL clubs only acknowledge games in the VFL?
I am talking about the individual clubs not the VFL admin.
Ken Hunter for example played 99 games for Claremont then 147 games for Carlton. His first game for Carlton was his 100th game of League football. He has played 246 games of League football First tier.
 
I would say milestones such as Ken Hunter's 100th game of League football for both clubs were not celebrated in the media or with writing on the team banner on the day of the game. His 100th game for Carlton would have been celebrated but it is doubtful his 100th game for Claremont and Carlton would have been. The only instance I know of where this occurred was for Barry Cable in WA when he notched his 400th game of senior football. This was considered such a momentous achievement as not many make it to 400, and the milestone included his games with North Melbourne as well as interstate appearances.
 
cross post from the Stats forum: http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/stats-observations.982508/page-111#post-34159442

MOST SENIOR GAMES (current to R20, 2018)
(Main Sources (were): http://www.firstclassfooty.web44.net/RECORDS.htm and http://www.oocities.org/jsmooth_00001/Footyfacts.html)
LEGEND:
- AFL (was VFL), VFL (was VFA), SANFL, WAFL, Tasmania, NSW, New Zealand
- Night Series (or Pre-Season), State of Origin, State/Intra-state League, International
|| A | V | S | W | T | N | NZ | NS | SoO | SL | Int | TOTAL
\ 1|Craig Bradley | 375 | 0 | 98 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 528
\ 2|Brent Harvey | 431 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 489
\ 3|Barry Round | 328 | 110 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 470
\ 4|Peter Carey | 0 | 0 | 448 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 467
\ 5|Michael Tuck | 426 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 466
\ 6|Greg Phillips | 84 | 0 | 343 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 455
\ 7|Russell Ebert | 25 | 0 | 391 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 452
\ 8|HK 'Joe' Littler | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 450#
\ 9|David 'Dolly' Christy | 0 | 212 | 0 | 213* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 445
\ 10|Dustin Fletcher | 400 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 441
\ 11|Kevin Murray | 333 | 12 | 0 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 436
\ 12|Kevin Bartlett | 403 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 435
\ 13|Darrell Baldock | 123 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 259 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 25 | 20 | 0 | 433
\ 14|Chris McDermott | 119 | 0 | 286 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 431
\ 15|Simon Madden | 378 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 423
\ 15|Robert Harvey | 383 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 423
\ 17|Stephen Kernahan | 251 | 0 | 136 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 422
\ 18|John Platten | 258 | 0 | 113 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 419
\ 19|Grantley Fielke | 40 | 0 | 364 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 418
\ 20|Shaun Burgoyne | 353 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 410
\ 21|Darren Jarman | 230 | 0 | 144 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 407
\ 22|John Blakey | 359 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 406
\ 23|Barry Cable | 116 | 0 | 0 | 268 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 405
\ 24|Brian Peake | 66 | 0 | 0 | 315** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 404
\ 25|Paul Roos | 356 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 403
\ 26|Peter Burns | 89 | 269 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45^ | 0 | 403#
\ 27|Harry Free | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 381+ | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 400#
\ 27|HV 'Vic' Cumberland | 176 | 0 | 39? | 19? | 103? | 0 | 32? | 0 | 27? | 0 | 0 | 400#
\|| A | V | S | W | T | N | NZ | NS | SoO | SL | Int | TOTAL
* - verified by WA officials and historians. David Christy played 5 games for Fremantle, 11 for Imperials and 197 for East Fremantle.
** - verified by WA officials and historians. Brian Peake played 10 games for Perth and 305 (not 304) for East Fremantle.
^ - Peter Burns reportedly played 15 games representing the VFA or VFL, and 30 tour games with South Melbourne and Geelong.
# - Approximate, questionable or incomplete record
 
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