No player has run out for game number 427 as North Melbourne's Brent Harvey will on Saturday night against St Kilda, but big game milestones are becoming more common than ever.

When Jimmy Bartel reaches 300 games on Friday night, the Cat will become the 77th player to reach that mark and, remarkably, the sixth this season.

In no other season have so many players reached the triple hundred; five players passed 300 games in 2009.

It could have been one more this season if Western Bulldogs skipper Robert Murphy hadn't done his knee in round three, leaving himself stuck on 295 games until he returns next season.

More than half the players who have played 300 games have passed the mark this century.

Although Harvey was right to acknowledge the importance of preparation in enabling him to pass Michael Tuck's record, the opportunities for players to play for longer have grown.

Although the game has become more taxing in a physical sense, being a full-time footballer has theoretically made it easier for players to continue their careers for longer.

Not only did players in previous eras have to combine both football and work demands, they had to be good enough until 1987 to make the grade in just 12 teams.

It's therefore no coincidence that seven of the 14 players to have reached 350 games have done so since 2000, with Fremantle champion Matthew Pavlich about to become the 15th on Sunday against the Sydney Swans. 

The veterans' allowance, which is being disbanded at the end of the season, has also encouraged clubs to keep players on their list who are passing 30 years of age as much as the expansion era, with 88 extra players required on lists from 2012 onwards.

And that is without mentioning the obvious advances made in sports science, preparation and recovery.

Clubs such as Hawthorn – who are being led by their 30-plus players in Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson and Shaun Burgoyne as they attempt to win a fourth consecutive flag – have managed to keep veterans at their peak for longer than many imagined possible.

Players such as Hodge have become fitter as they have grown older, with Hodge revealing to AFL.com.au earlier this season he has lost a kilogram every season since he turned 30, while getting fitter, learning different things and staying stimulated are all secrets to slowing the ageing process.

Such was the Sydney Swans' confidence in keeping players going that it signed Lance Franklin to a nine-year deal that would not expire until the superstar turned 35, and at his current rate, had played about 340 games.

Up until 1994 – when football was semi-professional – the number of 30-year-old plus players sat more often than not at between two and three per cent.

In 1995, the number of players aged 30 or over jumped to seven per cent and has stayed relatively stable since with there being just two seasons – 1998 and 2011 (when Gold Coast began) – when the percentage of players aged 30 or over dipped below five per cent.

In the past four seasons, seven per cent of players on AFL lists have begun the season aged 30 or over (58 between 2013-2015 and 57 in 2016), while those over 30 years of age average between 15-17 games a season in all but one season since 2003.

That's not to diminish 'Boomer's' incredible achievement, which has required unprecedented resilience and form, and is a high mark no player looks likely of catching in the foreseeable future.

His coach Brad Scott had no doubt his player was one of a kind.

"He is the most driven footballer I have seen in my time in footy," Scott said.

"He's like no other in the game."

Statistics supplied by Champion Data