AFL Teaser #3
What do Gary Hardeman and Scott Pendlebury have in common?
After I posted about prime numbers on jumpers last month, I got a question from a reader about players who had started their career playing in one number but then “traded up” (or down) to a lower number once they establish themselves. For example, Jordan De Goey wore number 35 for the first year of his career before wearing number 2 for the least nine seasons.
But who has played the most games in their higher number before switching?
If we look at players (from 1912 onwards) who wore two different numbers over the course of their career (regardless of how many different teams they played for) who switched from a higher number to a lower number there are a few potential answers, depending on how stringent you want to be.
Former Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak is one of many players who can claim to hold the record. Boak played the first 108 games of his career in number 10 and 134 games wearing the traditional number 1 while captaining the club. After giving up the captaincy Boak has played a further 118 games in his original number 10¹. So, 227 games in number 10 and 134 games in number 1 – but should this record count given Boak had multiple stints in the number 10 jumper?
Hugh Mitchell, who played for Essendon between 1953 and 1967 is also a potential record holder after running around in jumper number 31 for his first 203 games, wearing number 30 for one game in 165, and then playing his final 20 games back in the original number 31. I can’t find any record or explanation for why Mitchell had his one-off number change, but this puts him in a similar situation to Boak.
The next – and most legitimate – claim to the record can be made by Gary Hardeman, who played 219 games for Melbourne between 1967 and 1981. Hardeman played 210 games wearing number 33 from his debut to his first retirement after the 1977 season, and then wore number 11 for the nine games he played in his final season for Melbourne a few years later.
Other honourable mentions include Warren Tredrea, who played 207 of his 255 games in number 16 before playing the final 48 in number 1, and Ron Barassi, who played all but one of his 254 games in his famous number 31. The one game he didn’t wear number 31? The 1958 Grand Final, where he wore number 2.
On the other end of the spectrum – that is, players who have played the most games in the lower number they changed to – Scott Pendlebury stands alone at the top, playing nine games in number 16 and 386 (and counting) in number 10.
Pendlebury sits ahead of St Kilda legend Robert Harvey, who played four games wearing number 52 before playing the remaining 379 games of his career in number 35.
¹ Boak gave up the captaincy and wore number 10 for a special charity event for a young fan who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Round 18, 2018.
The timeframe of this stat is limited based on what data are freely/easily available and/or accessible. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you spot any errors in what I have presented.