most SANFL games... ever

[Media Park]

Spelly...

this might be a silly/dumb question, or one already answered...

but who has played the most SANFL games ever? and is it likely to be broken anytime soon???

[spell_check]

Between 1971 and 1988, Glenelg star Peter Carey played 448 matches. However this of course includes night series matches; and I think it would more likely be around 400 premiership matches. I tried to work out a minimum amount of matches he must have played based on his season by season totals against the total number of matches Glenelg played. That came to 390 or so. In addition, he played 19 State matches. And I think it's safe to say not only that it will never be threatened again, but realistically Tim Weatherald will be the last to 300 (although you can't say never!)

[FlyingHigh]

Spelly, are you predicting no one will beat Carey's record (agree) or that no player will ever play 300 senior SANFL games again? How many games has someone like Nick Wark played, and how old is he, 21-22?

[spell_check]

The Carey record will stand; the 300 game mark I can't see anyone passing again. Unless in the future the salary cap is increased, the lure over more pay rather than the commitment of SANFL with less pay will win out. Add that to the two AFL teams who will use more SANFL players than currently is in the AFL, and the need for "mature age" players in vogue will reduce those chances of a future 300 gamer. I can't rule it out completely, however.

[CK]

FlyingHigh, Nick Wark is 20 and has played 67 games.

I tend to agree with Spelly on this one. 300 is going to be a very large milestone in the context of SANFL nowadays. Bear in mind that there is no pre-season competition to boost numbers, as well as three byes a season. Looking through the SANFL lists at the moment, it's difficult to identify many possibilities. Even if Nick Wark never got drafted, he still has 233 games to go to that mark. If Sturt played finals every year and he didn't miss any games through injury, he would still play a maximum of 23 games a year (assuming no state games - and these are ever reducing also), so would be at least 31 (working on full seasons) before getting to that mark.

[spell_check]

I guess you could use 16 seasons as a template for anyone to reach 300 - this is Weatheralds' 16th season.

[FlyingHigh]

Yeah, they are reasonable arguments against it but I still reckon there will be the occasional one, especially if limits on interstate recruits are introduced.

[spell_check]

I don't disagree with you FlyingHigh, more so on the likelihood of it happening again. Corey AhChee is someone who could have gone close but pulled the pin at 29. It didn't help his cause that he started at 20, however. You really need someone who cracks League at 17; gets drafted or rookied by Crows or Power and gets dropped after a few years without much game time there to have a good base for a future 300 gamer.