This story could be entirely different but for a brief form lapse and a minor leg injury.

Lewy Taylor will play his 100^th AFL game against Carlton at the Gabba on Saturday, having missed just three games since his debut in Round 1, 2014.

Winner of the AFL’s Rising Star Award in his first season, when he pipped the Western Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli, Taylor was dropped for one game and missed two through injury in 2016.

Otherwise, he would have been lining up for his 100^th consecutive game from debut.

It is a feat that only one player among Brisbane’s 314 players has achieved: Jack Redden.

And, to put that achievement into further perspective, the average number of consecutive games played from Club debut is 7.30. And 7.11 for players making their AFL debut.

Redden, now at West Coast, played 112 games in a row from his debut in Round 15, 2009, to rank seventh on the AFL’s all-time list.

It is a statistic close to the hearts of Lions fans via the Fitzroy connection.

John Murphy, centreman in the Fitzroy Team of the Century, ranks second all-time for consecutive games from debut with 158.

Only Sydney’s Jared Crouch, who played 194 games in a row from debut in 1998, played more.

Murphy, a five-time Fitzroy Club Champion and five-year Club Captain, is credited with 158 games in a row by the AFL despite missing one Club game in 1971 due to representative commitments.

Remarkably, third on this list is Sam Gibson, who played 130 games in a row from debut at North Melbourne from 2012-17 before being told at the end of last season he was not part of the Club’s future.

Traded to Adelaide, he had a chance to continue his streak when chosen in the Crows’ Round 1 side but he was a late withdrawal through injury.

Also among the exclusive club of just 10 AFL players all-time who played 100+ consecutive games from debut is ex-Brisbane assistant coach Shane Woewodin. The list is:

1. Jared Crouch (Syd) – 194 games – 1998-2006
2. John Murphy (Fitz) – 158 games – 1967-74
3. Sam Gibson (NM) – 130 games – 2012-17
4. Dick Taylor (Melb) – 127 games – 1922-29
5. David Mundy (Frem) – 124 games – 2005-10
6. Steve Wallis (Foots) – 113 games – 1983-87
7. Jack Redden (Bris) – 112 games – 2009-14
8. Allan Woodley (Haw) – 110 games – 1954-59
9. Shane Woewodin (Melb) – 107 games – 1997-2001
10. Ian Law (Haw) – 100 games – 1962-65 

Lewis Taylor played 50 games straight from his debut in Round 1 2014 before being dropped and sits fourth on the corresponding Brisbane list behind Redden, Scott McIvor (65) and Dayne Zorko (59).

Others above 30 have been Justin Sherman (48), Mike Richardson (47), Joel Patfull (36), Adam Heuskes (35), Todd Banfield (34), Allen Christensen (33) and the late Phil Walsh (31).

Oddly, Christensen played 33 games in a row after joining the club from Geelong in 2015, and then missed exactly 33 due to injury. He has played 14 straight since returning this year.

Just as the average number of consecutive games from debut for Brisbane is barely a third of a season, the corresponding figure in the Fitzroy record books is similarly low.

Using the 41 players who went on to play 150 games as a sample of the 1156 Fitzroy players, which probably tends to increase the overall figure, the average is 10.78. And that includes Murphy’s 158 games in a row.

Of the others in this sample, only six reached 20. Jimmy Freake, an under-sized full forward who played 174 games from 1912-24, went 82 games in a row from debut to ran second ahead of Wally Johnson (39), David McMahon (25), Fred Hughson (21), Kevin Murray (21) and Leon Harris (20).

Taylor, three times placed in the top 10 in the Merrett/Murray Medal, will be the 49^th player to play 100 games for the combines Brisbane Bears/Lions. And, as a further indication of his early career durability, he will be the eighth youngest at 23 years 140 days.

The youngest Brisbane 100-gamer all-time is Nigel Lappin at 22 years 55 days, while Michael Voss (22/286), Marcus Ashcroft (22/308), Jason Akermanis (23/44), Justin Sherrman (23/74), Chris Scott (23/97) and Redden (23/111) are just ahead of Taylor.

Just older than Taylor, in a throwback to the golden era of the early 2000s, are Simon Black (23/178), Luke Power (23/192), Jonathan Brown (23/225) and Justin Leppitsch (23/304).

Taylor, though, has paid a price for playing through a challenging era for the club. He has a 20/79 win/loss record, and even with a win over Carlton on Saturday he will still be the Brisbane player with fewest wins in his first 100 games.

This dubious mark is presently held by dual Bears club champion John Gastev at 22 wins, followed by Roger Merrett (24) and Brad Hardie (25).

Just as Taylor has been a victim of his club’s limited success, so too were Hardie, Merrett and Gastev, who were the first three Brisbane players to 100 games for the club.

At the other end of the scale, Black heads the list with 77 wins in his first 100 games, followed by Brown (75), Mal Michael (73), Martin Pike (72) and Tim Notting (71).

Taylor has averaged 18.22 possessions per game through 99 games. If he maintains that on Saturday it will put him 12^th on the list for possessions at 100 games for the Club.

Tom Rockliff leads this list at 2648, followed by Adrian Fletcher (2386), Black (2184), Redden (2121), Pearce Hanley (2109), Dayne Zorko (2058), Voss (2045), McIvor (2017), Daniel Rich (1917), Ashcroft (1900) and Gastev (1891).

Daniel Bradshaw kicked most goals for the Club in his first 100 games with 208, followed by Hardie (192), Alastair Lynch (191), Brown (146), Roger Merrett (144), Leppitsch (143), Craig McRae (134), Power (129), Darryl White (109) and Zorko (100). Taylor has 75.

Rockliff polled most Brownlow Medal votes in his first 100 games for the Club at 51, followed by Black (50), Voss (43), Fletcher (36), Brown (30), Matthew Clarke (30), Zorko (27), Roger Merrett (25), Lappin (25), Rich (21), Pearce Hanley (21), Akermanis (20), Pike (20) and Jared Brennan (20).

Following is a table listing each of the Club’s 100-game players, with the order in which they reached triple figures, the round and year in which they did so, and their age, goals, wins, draws, possessions and Brownlow Medal votes in their first 100 games: