Essendon champion Dustin Fletcher will become only the third player to reach 400 VFL/ AFL games in the league’s history when his Bombers meet Richmond on Saturday night.

It’s an incredible achievement, made more meritorious by the fact that 12,358 players have registered at least one game since 1897.

When scouring the history books, you have to flip your way back to a Friday night in July 1993 to locate Fletcher’s first game against Collingwood.

To put this into context, six of the Magpies’ 22 players selected to take on North Melbourne at the MCG this Sunday were not yet born when this match was played.

Schoolboy Fletcher was the youngest man on the field back in ’93, 178 days younger than his fellow Baby Bomber Smokin' Joe Misiti.

The game itself was nothing to write home about for Leigh Matthews’ Magpies, who were trounced by 68 points in front of an enormous crowd of 87,575.

Only wayward kicking limited the Dons from posting a larger score, winning 18.15 (123) to Collingwood’s 7.13 (55).

Sav Rocca, himself only 19 years of age, was the team’s only multiple goal scorer with three majors.

Tony Woods, better remembered for his days as a Hawthorn onballer, enjoyed his finest outing as a Magpie, winning a match-high 31 disposals.

The chasm between the two teams is underlined on the stat sheet.

Seven Bombers won 20 or more disposals, while the Magpies’ next best ball winner was Mick McGuane with 19.

“Without the classy little man Tony Francis to feed them, the supply lines to both Mick McGuane and Scott Russell were reduced to a trickle,” Rohan Connolly wrote in The Age.

“Their lack of ball in turn meant less for the likes of Mark Fraser and Paul Williams.

“Toughness in the centre square, even earlier this season, was once a Collingwood forte. At the moment, it is closer to its Achilles heel.”

As Connolly noted, Kevin Sheedy’s Baby Bombers revolution was well under way.

“Essendon's second-quarter introduction of a second-gamer, David Calthorpe, into the centre square set-up, saw the Bomber small man immediately having a big impact on the centre breaks.

“Not the first time this season an Essendon "bolter" has left opposition players scratching their heads. But names like Mark Mercuri, Dustin Fletcher, Michael Symons and Rick Olarenshaw are well entrenched in the Bomber game plan these days, while Joe Misiti has taken all before him.”

Fletcher won just four disposals that night and missed the boat the following week.

But he returned in time to feature in Essendon’s finals wins over West Coast, Adelaide and, most famously, Carlton on Grand Final day.

Collingwood dips its lid to Fletcher in acknowledgement of his milestone.

To put it into perspective, just two of Collingwood’s 1,122 players have played more than 300 senior games (Tony Shaw played 313 games, while Gordon Coventry notched 306).

Thirty-five of Fletcher’s 399 games were played against Collingwood, with a 19-15 win-loss ratio (not to mention to the famous ANZAC Day draw of 1995).

Round 18 1993
Collingwood 7.13 (55) def. by Essendon 18.15 (123)
Crowd: 87, 575
Venue: MCG

Goals – Collingwood: Rocca 3, Watson, Rowe, Russell, McGuane
Essendon: Bewick 4, Salmon 3, Kickett 3, Watson 3, Symons 2, Long, Calthorpe, Mercuri

Disposals – Collingwood: Woods 31, McGuane 19, Mitchell 18, A.Richardson 18, Williams 16
Essendon: Long 28, Mercuri 27, Misiti 26, Thompson 25, Harvey 23

Did You Know?
Of Collingwood’s 20-man team that evening, six players are still involved in the AFL system. Damian Monkhorst (Hawthorn’s ruck coach), Gary Pert (Collingwood CEO), Alan Richardson (St Kilda’s coach), Graham Wright (Hawthorn’s Recruiting Manager), Craig Starcevich (Western Bulldogs’ women’s team coach) and Sav Rocca (Carlton goal kicking coach) each hold positions at AFL clubs.