AFL Top 100: Milestone Twins

In modern AFL football this happens less often than before due to the more active player trade, but often a club will have two player careers that run almost identically and chase each other’s total number of games, never more than five games. In addition to playing together for more than a decade.

These players often reach significant milestones together. I call them ‘milestone twins’ – although they may come from different backgrounds and have significantly different skills and personalities – they are bound together in parallel situations: playing for the same team for a long time and suffering (or not) suffering in a similar form and Fitness situation.

This coincidence came to my attention last week when I noticed that both Daniel Rioli and Jaden Short played their 123rd game in Round 9, tying then-responsible Craig Lambert for their 100th place. Their 124th game in Round 10 tied them with Don ‘Mopsy’ Fraser, who was more memorable for his flamboyant approach than his talent, which was enough, and killed his teammates Havel Rowe and Craig Lambert from Richmond’s top 100 games. Player. This brings Richmond’s current list of top 100 game players back to a significant 11 players, which is more than any other team in the VFL / AFL, and an indication of why the Tigers are still there. An influential force.

Rioli was the 1137th player to make his debut for the Tigers, and only one player (Jacob Townsend) made his debut before Short arrived on the scene in 2016, the same year. Rioli bought his 100th game in Round 6, 2021, and Short had two games. Later in Round 8. Both are expected to continue to climb the ladder of their club players.

Hawthorn Liam Shiels and Luke Breust began their careers in 2009, both injury-free and expected to play their 249th game against the Gold Coast on Saturday night, a game they lost to Grant Burchill and one of Hawthorn legend Shaun Burgoyne. Both players weigh 84 kilograms, but the breasts are one centimeter long, 184 centimeters.

In Brisbane, Charlie Cameron (although Adelaide had four years under his belt before moving to Brisbane) and Oscar McInerney’s Brisbane Lions have surprisingly similar histories. Born in July 1994, just five days apart, Charlie Cameron made his debut as the 195th lion in 2018 and the 199th lion in the same year, Oscar McInerney. Cameron was 30 days younger than McIntyre at the time of his debut. They will both play their 69th game for the Lions against Greater Western Sydney in Gabba on Saturday afternoon.

They vary in height and weight and their age and debut year, but Tom Jonas and Oli Wayne should play their 192nd game for Port Adelaide in the final match of the 11th round against Aceland at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon. This will take them to the level of Michael Wilson as the 11th best game player for their strength. A week later they should jointly join Hamish Hartlett as the tenth best player of all time in the Port Adelaide AFL team.

Other teams in the potential milestone twins include Cameron Guthrie and Mark Billaves of Geelong and Liam Dugan and Jack Reddon of the West Coast, while Western Bulldogs Jason Johannesen and Lachi Hunter are both stuck in the same number of games but for different reasons.