This story could be entirely different but for a brief form lapse and a minor leg injury.

Lewy Taylor will play his 100th AFL game against Carlton at the Gabba on Saturday, having missed just three games since his debut in Round 1, 2014.

Winner of the AFL’s Rising Star Award in his first season, when he pipped the Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli, Taylor was dropped for one game and missed two through injury in 2016.

Otherwise, he would have been lining up for his 100th consecutive game from debut.

It is a feat that only one player among Brisbane’s 314 players has achieved: Jack Redden.

And, to put that achievement into further perspective, the average number of consecutive games played from Club debut is 7.30. And 7.11 for players making their AFL debut.

Redden, now at West Coast, played 112 games in a row from his debut in Round 15, 2009, to rank seventh on the AFL’s all-time list.

It is a statistic close to the hearts of Lions fans via the Fitzroy connection.

John Murphy, centreman in the Fitzroy Team of the Century, ranks second all-time for consecutive games from debut with 158.

Only Sydney’s Jared Crouch, who played 194 games in a row from debut in 1998, played more.

Murphy, a five-time Fitzroy Club Champion and five-year Club Captain, is credited with 158 games in a row by the AFL despite missing one Club game in 1971 due to representative commitments.

Remarkably, third on this list is Sam Gibson, who played 130 games in a row from debut at North Melbourne from 2012-17 before being told at the end of last season he was not part of the Club’s future.

Traded to Adelaide, he had a chance to continue his streak when chosen in the Crows’ Round 1 side but he was a late withdrawal through injury.

Also among the exclusive club of just 10 AFL players all-time who played 100+ consecutive games from debut is ex-Brisbane assistant coach Shane Woewodin. The list is:

  1. Jared Crouch (Syd) – 194 games – 1998-2006
  2. John Murphy (Fitz) – 158 games – 1967-74
  3. Sam Gibson (NM) – 130 games – 2012-17
  4. Dick Taylor (Melb) – 127 games – 1922-29
  5. David Mundy (Frem) – 124 games – 2005-10
  6. Steve Wallis (Foots) – 113 games – 1983-87
  7. Jack Redden (Bris) – 112 games – 2009-14
  8. Allan Woodley (Haw) – 110 games – 1954-59
  9. Shane Woewodin (Melb) – 107 games – 1997-2001
  10. Ian Law (Haw) – 100 games – 1962-65 

Lewis Taylor played 50 games straight from his debut in Round 1 2014 before being dropped and sits fourth on the corresponding Brisbane list behind Redden, Scott McIvor (65) and Dayne Zorko (59).

Others above 30 have been Justin Sherman (48), Mike Richardson (47), Joel Patfull (36), Adam Heuskes (35), Todd Banfield (34), Allen Christensen (33) and the late Phil Walsh (31).

Oddly, Christensen played 33 games in a row after joining the club from Geelong in 2015, and then missed exactly 33 due to injury. He has played 14 straight since returning this year.

Just as the average number of consecutive games from debut for Brisbane is barely a third of a season, the corresponding figure in the Fitzroy record books is similarly low.

Using the 41 players who went on to play 150 games as a sample of the 1156 Fitzroy players, which probably tends to increase the overall figure, the average is 10.78. And that includes Murphy’s 158 games in a row.

Of the others in this sample, only six reached 20. Jimmy Freake, an under-sized full forward who played 174 games from 1912-24, went 82 games in a row from debut to ran second ahead of Wally Johnson (39), David McMahon (25), Fred Hughson (21), Kevin Murray (21) and Leon Harris (20).

Taylor, three times placed in the top 10 in the Merrett/Murray Medal, will be the 49th player to play 100 games for the combines Brisbane Bears/Lions. And, as a further indication of his early career durability, he will be the eighth youngest at 23 years 140 days.

The youngest Brisbane 100-gamer all-time is Nigel Lappin at 22 years 55 days, while Michael Voss (22/286), Marcus Ashcroft (22/308), Jason Akermanis (23/44), Justin Sherrman (23/74), Chris Scott (23/97) and Redden (23/111) are just ahead of Taylor.

Just older than Taylor, in a throwback to the golden era of the early 2000s, are Simon Black (23/178), Luke Power (23/192), Jonathan Brown (23/225) and Justin Leppitsch (23/304).

Taylor, though, has paid a price for playing through a challenging era for the club. He has a 20/79 win/loss record, and even with a win over Carlton on Saturday he will still be the Brisbane player with fewest wins in his first 100 games.

This dubious mark is presently held by dual Bears club champion John Gastev at 22 wins, followed by Roger Merrett (24) and Brad Hardie (25).

Just as Taylor has been a victim of his club’s limited success, so too were Hardie, Merrett and Gastev, who were the first three Brisbane players to 100 games for the club.

At the other end of the scale, Black heads the list with 77 wins in his first 100 games, followed by Brown (75), Mal Michael (73), Martin Pike (72) and Tim Notting (71).

Taylor has averaged 18.22 possessions per game through 99 games. If he maintains that on Saturday it will put him 12th on the list for possessions at 100 games for the Club.

Tom Rockliff leads this list at 2648, followed by Adrian Fletcher (2386), Black (2184), Redden (2121), Pearce Hanley (2109), Dayne Zorko (2058), Voss (2045), McIvor (2017), Daniel Rich (1917), Ashcroft (1900) and Gastev (1891).

Daniel Bradshaw kicked most goals for the Club in his first 100 games with 208, followed by Hardie (192), Alastair Lynch (191), Brown (146), Roger Merrett (144), Leppitsch (143), Craig McRae (134), Power (129), Darryl White (109) and Zorko (100). Taylor has 75.

Rockliff polled most Brownlow Medal votes in his first 100 games for the Club at 51, followed by Black (50), Voss (43), Fletcher (36), Brown (30), Matthew Clarke (30), Zorko (27), Roger Merrett (25), Lappin (25), Rich (21), Pearce Hanley (21), Akermanis (20), Pike (20) and Jared Brennan (20).

Following is a table listing each of the Club’s 100-game players, with the order in which they reached triple figures, the round and year in which they did so, and their age, goals, wins, draws, possessions and Brownlow Medal votes in their first 100 games:

BRISBANE FOOTBALL CLUB - 100-GAMERS

Order

Player

Rd/Yr

Years

Days

Goals

Wins

Draws

Poss

Brownlow
Votes

1

Brad Hardie

21/91

28

304

192

25

0

1632

13

2

Roger Merrett

6/93

33

13

144

24

1

1763

25

3

John Gastev

8/94

29

276

39

22

1

1891

11

4

Scott McIvor

12/94

27

307

49

27

0

2017

13

5

Marcus Ashcroft

19/94

22

308

64

26

1

1900

11

Martin Leslie

31

255

11

27

1

1770

7

7

Richard Champion

6/96

28

21

34

32

1

1436

14

8

Matthew Kennedy

11/96

26

132

24

30

1

1243

5

9

Shaun Hart

QF/96

25

112

78

36

1

1652

6

10

Darryl White

14/97

24

24

109

45

2

1314

10

11

Adrian Fletcher

16/97

27

281

53

45

1

2386

36

12

Michael Voss

4/98

22

286

82

47

1

2045

43

13

Matthew Clarke

13/98

24

275

15

46

2

1121

30

14

Nigel Lappin

20/98

22

55

63

46

3

1718

25

15

Justin Leppitsch

18/99

23

304

143

47

3

1102

8

16

Chris Scott

19/99

23

97

43

49

2

1678

9

17

Craig McRae

4/00

26

193

134

52

2

1426

7

18

Jason Akermanis

5/00

23

44

95

55

3

1604

20

19

Alastair Lynch

18/00

32

20

191

51

2

1049

12

20

Chris Johnson

6/02

25

339

66

58

2

1254

13

21

Simon Black

GF/02

23

178

70

77

0

2184

50

22

Daniel Bradshaw

7/03

24

171

208

61

2

854

17

23

Luke Power

16/03

23

192

129

67

1

1660

11

24

Clark Keating

20/03

27

151

66

67

2

738

10

25

Brad Scott

4/04

27

350

34

65

2

1629

7

26

Tim Notting

12/04

25

235

76

71

1

1250

9

27

Mal Michael

3/05

27

289

3

73

1

880

1

Martin Pike

32

146

66

72

1

1437

20

29

Jonathan Brown

12/05

23

225

146

75

0

1392

30

30

Robert Copeland

12/06

25

22

19

66

0

961

0

31

Jamie Charman

15/07

24

363

40

61

2

956

3

32

Ash McGrath

7/08

24

349

98

56

1

849

6

33

Jared Brennan

EF/09

25

39

66

50

3

1409

20

34

Justin Sherman

3/10

23

74

78

45

3

1551

6

35

 Michael Rischitelli

11/10

24

148

43

47

3

1675

14

36

Daniel Merrett

19/10

25

238

17

44

3

909

6

37

Jed Adcock

22/10

24

286

29

44

2

1690

8

38

Joel Patfull

1/11

26

109

21

43

3

1048

5

39

Cheynee Stiller

15/12

26

65

21

38

3

1723

0

40

Jack Redden

2/14

23

111

44

37

1

2121

8

Daniel Rich

23

296

67

40

1

1917

21

42

Tom Rockliff

21/14

24

175

51

35

0

2648

51

43

Matthew Leuenberger

9/15

26

358

23

35

1

1233

10

44

Pearce Hanley

15/15

26

239

38

33

0

2109

21

45

Dayne Zorko

22/16

27

194

100

32

0

2058

27

46

Rohan Bewick

16/17

27

271

70

31

0

1375

1

47

Ryan Lester

21/17

24

351

45

30

0

1532

1

48

Sam Mayes

12/18

24

21

26

27

0

1744

5*

49

Lewis Taylor

16/18

23

140

75*

20

0

1804*

1*

* Disposals, goals and wins for Lewis are only calculated to 99 games, and his Brownlow votes only include 84 games. Brownlow votes for Mayes only include 95 games - i.e. no votes this year.