Matt Rowell will set one Gold Coast SUNS record on Saturday as he continues a push for another, which takes in 38 years of the entire AFL competition.

Rowell will be the first SUNS player to post 100 consecutive games in Saturday afternoon’s crucial clash with the GWS Giants at People First Stadium (12.35pm). 

He’ll own the league’s sixth ‘live’ streak of 100-plus, joining Collingwood’s all-time record-holder Jack Crisp (258), St Kilda’s Callum Wilkie (153), Adelaide’s Ben Keays (127), Port Adelaide’s Willem Drew (117), Western Bulldogs’ Bailey Dale (117) and Fremantle’s Luke Ryan (104).

The Rowell ‘ton’ is just the 22nd in the AFL in 15 years since the SUNS entered the competition in 2011, and is 10 games clear of Sam Collins’ 90-game streak which ended with injury in Round 16, and will be 19 games up on Noah Anderson’s ‘live’ streak of 80 consecutive games.

This trio have topped the former SUNS club record of 64 games in a row, set by Jarrod Witts from 2018-21, and David Swallow’s 61-game streak from 2021-24.

The only other 50-game streaks in SUNS history have been Ben King’s run of 53 games from debut in 2019-21, and the 58-game run of Jack Lukosius from 2019-22.

Rowell hasn’t missed a game since Round 13, 2021 after an injury-played start to his career in which he suffered two long-term injuries in his first six games, missing 12 games in his Covid-shortened first season in 2020, and 10 games in 2021.

Rowell and Anderson, in their sixth AFL season, are on track for their fourth season without missing a game which would equal the club best of Miller, Swallow and Witts.

The other big ‘target’ for the blockbusting midfielder as the SUNS push for an historic finals debut is the all-time AFL record for most tackles in an AFL season.

It’s a mark held since 2011 by West Coast’s Scott Selwood, who had 202 tackles in 25 games to top the record held previously by North Melbourne’s Andrew Swallow, older brother of David.

Selwood’s West Coast teammate Matt Priddis had 193 tackles in the same the year to sit second all-time since the league began keeping tackle statistics in 1987.

Already Rowell owns the third-highest completed season, having made 190 tackles in 2023.

But the Selwood aggregate record, and Priddis’ average record of 8.55 tackles per game in 2016, are both under siege this year from Rowell, who has 185 tackles in 20 games, and Geelong’s Tom Atkins, with 191 tackles in 21 games.

Rowell is averaging an all-time league high of 9.25 tackles per game – just ahead of Atkins’ 9.10 tackles per game.

Rowell, who has 793 tackles in 105 career games, has already moved to third spot on the club’s all-time list behind Touk Miller’s 1115 tackles in 209 games, and Swallow’s 992 tackles in 247 games.

Rowell has a double share of the club record for most tackles in a game, having recorded 17 against West Coast in Perth in 2023 and 17 against Essendon at Marvel Stadium this year to match the mark set by Gary Ablett against GWS at People First Stadium in 2015.

Since his early double injury setback he’s ranked 5th in the league for tackles in 2022 behind Adelaide’s Sam Berry and Rory Laird and Sydney’s James Rowbottom and Callum Mills, topped the league in 2023, and was 2nd to Rowbotton last year.

Also, the #1 draft pick of 2019 has nine of the club’s top 25 tackle games of 13-plus all-time. Hugh Greenwood, now on the SUNS’ coaching panel, and Nick Holman have four of the top 25, Ablett and Miller three, and Swallow and Will Graham one.

Only seven players in AFL history have had more tackles in a game than Rowell. Adelaide’s Rory Laird (20) holds the record from Bulldogs’ Tom Liberatore (19), North’s Jack Ziebell (19), Sydney’s Jude Bolton (19), Priddis (18), St Kilda’s Jack Steele (18) and Geelong’s Mitch Duncan (18).

But the hype of his 100th consecutive game and his tackling brutality will be secondary on Saturday to the SUNS want and need to reverse a poor record against the Giants.

They are 5-20 overall against GWS – and 1-11 since 2015 after the SUNS had won four of the first five meetings between the expansion clubs in 2012-14.

The SUNS’ only win since 2015 was in Ballarat in 2021 when, after Hugh Greenwood had blown out his knee early in the game, David Swallow goaled from the top of the goalsquare three minutes from fulltime saw the visitors home by one point after they’d trailed by 11 points inside the last four minutes.

It’s 3-4 head-to-head at People First Stadium – but the Giants have won the last four.

The key fact, though, is that the teams have not played at People First Stadium since 2020. And when they last met in Round 15 at the Sydney Showgrounds the visitors led by 22 points at three-quarter time before four Giants goals in eight minutes.

Three SUNS have had 40-possession games against the Giants. Sam Flanders had a club record 42 for two Brownlow Medal votes at the Sydney Showgrounds last year, while Noah Anderson had 42 at the Showgrounds earlier this year, and Brandon Ellis had 41 in the Ballarat win.

The SUNS record for most goals in a game against GWS goes back to Charlie Dixon’s six in their third meeting in Canberra in 2013.

The equivalent best for GWS against the Gold Coast are Jacob Hopper’s 41 in Ballarat in 2021, and Jeremy Cameron’s nine goals at People First Stadium in 2019.

The record for most Brownlow Medal votes in games between the clubs is held by injured Giants midfielder Josh Kelly, who has polled seven times in 14 games for 11 votes.

In a season of countless one-sides games between the top nine sides and the bottom nine sides, the 21st iteration of the ‘Expansion Cup’ is one of three blockbuster games in Round 23 as nine sides chase eight finals positions.

It will follow Friday night’s Perth clash between Fremantle and Brisbane, precede Saturday night’s meeting between Adelaide and Collingwood in Adelaide.

The SUNS, with games against Port Adelaide (away) and Essendon (home) to follow, need two wins from their last three games to be assured of a spot in the top eight.

The Giants are in an even more desperate battle. Sitting 8th on the ladder with a 14-7 record, they are behind Gold Coast and Hawthorn on percentages, and only half a game ahead of ninth-placed Western Bulldogs.

A Giants loss to the SUNS would mean that, even with a home win over St Kilda in Round 24, they could still miss out.