Vice-captain Tom Liberatore and 1990 Brownlow medallist Tony are set to become the 10th father-son pairing to play a combined 500 VFL/AFL games.

Sunday’s round one match against Melbourne will bring up Tom’s 217th career match, adding to his father Tony’s 283 games.

They are the only duo to have reached all 500 games to date in the red, white and blue.

The only other current player still adding to their tally is Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (347 games + father Jack’s 182 games), with Ken and Dustin Fletcher leading the way with a combined 664 matches. 

The Liberatores are one of four father-son pairings on the Dogs’ 2024 list, alongside Rhylee West (father Scott), Sam Darcy (father Luke, grandfather David) and Jordan Croft (father Matthew).

Most games for a father/son pairing

 

Games

Players

Team/s

664 Ken (264) & Dustin Fletcher (400) Essendon
605 Gary Snr (248) & Gary Ablett Jnr (357) Geelong/Gold Coast
599 Michael (426) & Shane Tuck (173) Hawthorn/Richmond
589 David (333) & Travis Cloke (256) Richmond/Collingwood/Western Bulldogs
551 Sergio (239) & Stephen Silvagni (312) Carlton
546 John (246) & Marc Murphy (300) Fitzroy/South Melbourne/North Melbourne/Carlton
531 John (241) & Josh Kennedy (290) Hawthorn/Sydney
529 Jack (182) & Tom Hawkins (347) Geelong
527 Tim (307) & Jobe Watson (220) Essendon
500 Tony (283) & Tom Liberatore (217) Footscray/Western Bulldogs