A career that spans 20 seasons and counting is always going to present some amazing statistics.

When Brent Harvey made his debut in Round 22, 1996, he became the 10,729th player to appear in a VFL/AFL game.

In the modern day league a club turns over its list with regularity. Therefore Harvey must have outlasted a lot of players, as @JezzaMtG pondered on Twitter.

Tweaking the question slightly, and altering the start date to Harvey’s debut, a task was set.

The most recent AFL debut was Fremantle’s Lachie Weller, in the last game of Round 18.

When Weller ran out onto Domain Stadium, he became player number 12,385. In between Harvey and Weller there have been 1,656 AFL players.

The next step is to find out how many players currently on a team’s list have debuted.

Combing through each team’s senior and rookie lists, it revealed a total of 701 players with AFL experience. Once we subtract Dustin Fletcher from the equation – he’s the only current player who debuted before Harvey – the number becomes an even 700.

Therefore, a simple math equation later, we’re left with 956 – the amount of players Harvey has seen come and go during his career.

There have been some top-line players over the course of the journey; the likes of Darren Glass (2000-2014), Matthew Scarlett (1998-2012), Chris Judd (2002-2015), Simon Goodwin (1997-2010) and Warren Tredrea (1997-2010), just to name a handful.

Assuming Harvey plays on in 2016, there is an outside chance the number could hit four figures.

How the question was solved

Step 1

Start number: 10,729 – Harvey’s AFL cap number
End number: 12,385 – Weller’s AFL cap number

Step 2

Subtract the end number from the start; left with a total of 1,656 players

Step 3

Find out how many current listed players have AFL experience = 700 (excluding Fletcher)

Step 4

Subtract the 700 from the total of 1,656

End result

Harvey has outlasted 956 AFL players since his own debut, not counting those who were unable to manage a game in their respective times on AFL lists.

Players with AFL experience on each list

Adelaide – 37
Brisbane – 40
Carlton – 41
Collingwood – 39
Essendon – 43 (including Fletcher)
Fremantle – 38
Geelong – 39
Gold Coast – 43
GWS – 41
Hawthorn – 36
Melbourne – 39
North Melbourne – 39
Port Adelaide – 36
Richmond – 40
St Kilda – 41
Sydney – 33
West Coast – 37
Western Bulldogs – 39

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