ROBBIE GRAY will play his 250th AFL game on Saturday when Port Adelaide faces the Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium.
Into his 15th season, Gray has become an absolute star of the club and of the AFL competition and he will be regarded among the greats of Port Adelaide for his innate ability to find himself in the right place during the big moments – a skill that has defined his career.
Gray has seen off a serious knee injury and testicular cancer to forge an incredible career.
Here is a summary of the 33-year-old’s career by the numbers:
55 - Gray was taken at pick 55 in the famous 2006 AFL National Draft which saw Port Adelaide also claim Travis Boak at pick 5, Paul Stewart at Pick 23, Nathan Krakouer at pick 39 and Justin Westhoff at 71.
100 - Gray was the 100th player to represent Port Adelaide at AFL level. His debut came in a 34-point loss to Hawthorn in Round 10, 2007 at Football Park. That day he debuted alongside beanpole Justin Westhoff and finished with just two behinds from 13 disposals. He ended up with seven goals from five games that first season.
17 – Gray started his career in the number 17 but switched to number nine after some retched injury luck including a season-ending knee injury requiring a reconstruction in 2012.
348 – Gray has booted 348 goals for Port Adelaide, ranking him second in the club’s AFL history behind former captain Warren Tredrea (who finished with 549 in 255 games)
3 – Gray is a three-time club best and fairest, winning the John Cahill Medal on three consecutive occasions (2014, 2015, 2016). Only Tredrea and Kane Cornes have won it more times (four times each) in the AFL era.
47.28 - Gray is a three-time club leading goal kicker across the regular season (2011, 2017, 2018), with his best season haul of 47.28 coming in 2017. His best individual haul of goals has been six goals in a game, achieved on three separate occasions – most recently against Adelaide in 2018.
96 - He has polled a total of 96 Brownlow Medal votes including his best 19 in a season in 2016. He has polled 13 votes against St Kilda – his best against any team – followed by 12 against Adelaide.
4 - Gray has earned All-Australian honours on four occasions (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) as well as playing for Australia on three occasions in the International Rules.
5 – Gray has won a record five Showdown Medals (2010, 2015, 2018x2, 2019).
19.81 – Gray averages 19.81 disposals per game across his 249-game career. His favourite opponent for disposals is Melbourne against whom he averages 21.86 touches.
51.41 – Gray’s winning percentage across his career is just better than 50 per-cent.
6 – Gray has won six hit-outs across his career, the latest coming in a 32-disposal game against Sydney in Round 14, 2015.
33 – Gray holds the record for most goal assists by a Port Adelaide player in a single AFL season with 33 back in 2014. Warren Tredrea also had 33 assists back in 2003.
2 – Gray’s 250th game will come with him aged 33 and 81 days. This means he will be ranked second in terms of the oldest players to feature for the club at AFL level, behind good mate Justin Westhoff, who was aged 33 and 333 days at his final game.
