{"id":396284,"date":"2026-01-06T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396284\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:24:09","slug":"afl-2026-milestones-scott-pendlebury-all-time-games-record-watch-cameron-in-line-for-pair-of-achievements-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396284\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026 milestones: Scott Pendlebury all-time games record watch, Cameron in line for pair of achievements – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The evergreen Collingwood superstar Scott Pendlebury<\/a> is set to further etch himself into football folklore by taking the crown as the most capped AFL<\/a> player in history, topping North Melbourne champion Brent Harvey’s 432 games.<\/p>\n

Pendlebury currently sits at 425 matches, spread across an incredible 20 seasons at an average of 21.25 outings per year.<\/p>\n

If the 38-year-old plays every game early in 2026, he’ll match Boomer’s record on Anzac Day against Essendon – very fitting – in front of a packed and buzzing MCG.<\/p>\n

The week after, the Pies host Hawthorn at the MCG on Thursday night. However, if Craig McRae<\/a> opts to temper the veteran in the early part of the season, due to a pair of interstate trips (Round 4 – Queensland, Round 5 – South Australia), then Round 9 against Geelong at the home of football looms as another date with destiny.<\/p>\n

The following fortnight will see Collingwood travel to Sydney in Round 10 and then return home against West Coast on a Saturday twilight fixture.<\/p>\n

No players will reach the 400- or 350-game milestone, but a small collective should reach the tri-ton in 2026.<\/p>\n

Mark Blicavs<\/a> (295) and Lachie Neale<\/a> (294) are all but certain to join 110 other players who have featured in 300 or more games.<\/p>\n

Jack Gunston<\/a> (283) and Jeremy Cameron<\/a> (280) are also within a shot of joining Blicavs and Neale, as are Brad Hill (277) and Jack Crisp<\/a> (274). However, the latter two will need more than everything to go right.<\/p>\n

Technically, Ollie Wines<\/a> (273), Dane Rampe<\/a> and Jamie Cripps<\/a> (272) are in reach given the extra game in Wildcard Round.<\/p>\n

The next milestone (250 games) has 19 players closing in, led by the Demons’ trio of Tom McDonald<\/a> (249), Jake Melksham<\/a> (248), and Max Gawn<\/a> (247).<\/p>\n

Another 35 players are inching closer to the double ton.<\/p>\n

As for goal kicking, two of the modern-day elite proponents of the skill will like notch up another landmark occasion.<\/p>\n

Cameron (736 goals) should topple Richmond legend Matthew Richardson’s 800-goal record in 2026, needing just 65 majors. It would place the Cat’s gun 12th on the all-time leaderboard.<\/p>\n

Adelaide’s Taylor Walker<\/a> (680) is also creeping up the tally, and should enter the 700-goal realm this year, which could sit him among the top 25 goal kickers of the sport.<\/p>\n

Jack Darling<\/a> (556) and Jack Gunston<\/a> (554) would need strong seasons to reach 600 goals, while Tiger tall Tom Lynch<\/a> (488) needs 12 majors to hit the 500 mark.<\/p>\n

Players within reach of 300 career games: Mark Blicavs<\/a> (295), Lachie Neale<\/a> (294), Jack Gunston<\/a> (283), Jeremy Cameron<\/a> (280), Brad Hill (277), Jack Crisp<\/a> (274), Ollie Wines<\/a> (273), Dane Rampe<\/a> (272), Jamie Cripps<\/a> (272)<\/p>\n

Players within reach of 250 career games:\u00a0Tom McDonald<\/a> (249), Jake Melksham<\/a> (248), Max Gawn<\/a> (247), Brodie Grundy<\/a> (242), Harris Andrews<\/a> (239), Jack Viney<\/a> (237), Dion Prestia<\/a> (237), Tom Lynch<\/a> (236), Nick Haynes<\/a> (234), Ryan Lester<\/a> (233), Patrick Cripps<\/a> (230), Josh Kelly<\/a> (230), Brayden Maynard<\/a> (229), Taylor Adams<\/a> (229), Rhys Stanley<\/a> (229), Jake Stringer<\/a> (227), Stephen Coniglio<\/a> (227), Isaac Heeney<\/a> (224)<\/p>\n

Players within reach of 200 career games:\u00a0Eric Hipwood<\/a> (199), Christian Salem<\/a> (199), Rory Lobb<\/a> (199), Daniel McStay<\/a> (198), Jake Kolodjashnij<\/a> (198), Blake Hardwick<\/a> (198), Darcy Moore<\/a> (195), Karl Amon<\/a> (195), Josh Dunkley<\/a> (194), Tom Stewart<\/a> (191), Jayden Short<\/a> (190), Dan Houston (189), Blake Acres<\/a> (187), Jake Lever<\/a> (186), Jarrod Berry<\/a> (184), Ollie Florent (184), Will Hayward<\/a> (184), Darcy Gardiner<\/a> (183), Jordan De Goey<\/a> (182), Jesse Hogan<\/a> (181), Andrew McGrath<\/a> (180), Luke Ryan<\/a> (179), James Sicily<\/a> (179), Toby Nankervis<\/a> (179), Aliir Aliir<\/a> (179), Bailey Dale<\/a> (178), Jade Gresham<\/a> (177), Jed Bews<\/a> (175), Tom Barrass<\/a> (175), Zac Williams<\/a> (174), Callum Mills<\/a> (174), James Harmes<\/a> (174), Bailey Williams<\/a> (174), Jy Simpkin<\/a> (173), Tim Taranto<\/a> (173)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The evergreen Collingwood superstar Scott Pendlebury is set to further etch himself into football folklore by taking the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-396284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}