Liam Durkin
SALE’s Scott Pendlebury is now a 400-game AFL player.
He is also only 33 games off the all-time record.
North Melbourne midfielder Brent Harvey has the record with 432.
Harvey played for 21 seasons (1996-2016). Pendlebury will enter his 20th next year, having signed on for 2025 just last week.
Pendlebury, who turns 37 next January, has said the thought of breaking the record has not entered his thinking.
Many footy fans however will be wondering if it is in fact a possibility.
Assuming Pendlebury plays the rest of the home-and-away season this year (four games), he will go past Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher, who played a clean 400, and equal Richmond’s Kevin Bartlett on 403.
Should he play every game next year, he will end 2025 on 427 games, five games off Harvey’s total.
Harvey played until he was 38, one year older than Pendlebury will be when his next contract is up.
Harvey played alongside Heyfield’s Leigh Brown during his time with North Melbourne, before Brown joined Collingwood where he played in a premiership with Pendlebury.
Harvey’s first year at North Melbourne coincided with a Kangaroos flag, which featured fellow Sale footballer Stuart Anderson.
The longevity of Harvey and Pendlebury has been remarkable. Harvey more so for his height – he ‘stood’ a mere 175cm, and Pendlebury for his durability in a modern age when the football grind seemingly makes it near impossible for players to go through entire season’s uninterrupted.
There might not be a better example for the notion that ‘premierships are hard to win’ by looking at some members of the 400 club.
Fletcher won two flags across his 400 games, the same as Pendlebury currently.
Harvey won just a single title in 20 years of football.
