Collingwood ironman Jack Crisp insists there's no end in sight to his remarkable streak as he prepares to break Jim Stynes' AFL/VFL record for consecutive games played.
Crisp will pass the legendary Irishman's mark when he makes his 245th consecutive appearance in the Magpies' clash with Geelong at the MCG on Saturday night.
"As long as the club keeps giving me a contract I reckon I can keep going for a while," the 31-year-old said.
"I feel really good physically. I've got a couple more years left and then we'll see what happens after that."
Crisp's record-breaking run began in 2014 when he played with Brisbane, before he was traded to Collingwood as part of a deal for Dayne Beams.
He has since played 238 games for the Magpies without missing, claiming the club's 2021 and 2022 best-and-fairest awards along the way and adding a premiership in 2023.
In that time, a total of 914 players have made their AFL debuts and 339 of those are no longer on club lists.
Breaking the record became a serious goal for Crisp about two years ago as he passed durable greats Jack Titus (202 consecutive games), Adam Goodes (204) and Adem Yze (226) on the list behind Stynes.
"I'm just very humbled and grateful to have my name up against his in the history books and it's something that I'm definitely not taking for granted," Crisp said.
"As a little kid all I wanted to do was play one AFL game, so to be able to put 10 to 11 years together in a row, I'm very proud."
Collingwood players had an emotional address on Thursday from Sam Stynes - Jim's widow - ahead of Crisp breaking the record.
"We had a bit of a joke that Jim would be a bit narky about this happening because he was competitive," Sam Stynes said.
"But having said that, he would be the first to want to take Jack out for a meal and shout him a beer and congratulate him.
"Knowing how difficult it is to achieve this record, he would just have so much admiration for Jack doing that."
Collingwood coach Craig McRae said it was a "massive achievement" to play so many consecutive games.
"We'll make sure we celebrate that appropriately," McRae said.
"We celebrate these things because on our journey of trying to reach the (top) of the mountain we want to appreciate the journey we're on."
McRae lauded Crisp's ability to play while injured and also noted the two-time Copeland Trophy winner rarely missed training sessions.
McRae added there had been times when Crisp almost had to miss games, including at least once because of illness.
"At one stage he might've had symptoms of Covid, but maybe he didn't have Covid," McRae said.
"Maybe he might have, but he didn't."
Crisp felt injuries had been a bigger threat to the record.
"I've had sore hips, back, feet ... I ended up having a stress fracture in my lower back at the end of 2018 and had my hip cleaned out, so I didn't run for three months," he said.
"I know the club was a bit cautious after that because Jamie Elliott had just missed a whole year with a back (injury).
"I was lucky the timing was end of season, but I get managed pretty well at different times of the year when I need to.
"I put a lot of time into my body now to make sure none of those niggles are going to progress any further and cause big injuries."
Crisp said wife Mikayla and the couple's three daughters had been crucial to his successful career by helping him to switch off away from football.
