Somewhere down the track Lions pair Deven Robertson and Sam Skinner might sit down and reminisce about the wait for their second AFL game and associated football matters. It would be something special, especially if they got ex-Lion Richard Hadley involved too.

As the AFL looks forward to a return to football next week Robertson and Skinner are still waiting for their second game.

It is something that Hadley did for a club-record 881 days.

Having debuted in Round 3 2001, on 14 April, the first-round draft pick from East Fremantle didn’t play his second AFL game until the semi-finals of 2003 on 12 September.

In that time, plagued by recurring battles with osteitis pubis, he missed 70 games.

Then 15 days later he was a member of the Lions’ 2003 premiership side, making it all worthwhile. Even if the two knee reconstructions later saw him miss the entire 2005 and 2006 seasons and spend an even longer 932 days between his 27^th game in the 2004 grand final and his 28^th game in Round 3 of 2007.

Skinner, a third-round pick from the Gippsland Power in 2015, already has stitched up second spot on the club list for long waits between game one and game two. He just has to play again.

Having debuted on 30 July 2017, it would be 683 days if he was to return in the club’s next game in the competition restart on Saturday week against Fremantle at the Gabba.

And if he had debuted when he was first selected to play it would be 1048 days and 74 games.

By freakish coincidence, Skinner was set to play his first AFL game with Archie Smith on 30 July 2016 – exactly one year to the day before he finally did so.

In his false start he suffered a serious knee injury that required a reconstruction when, after completing the team’s final training session, he went in search of some extra work and landed awkwardly in a marking drill.

It was his second knee blow-out after he did it for the first time midway through his 2015 draft year.

The now 22-year-old underwent his third knee reconstruction after a similar mishap to his supposed good knee playing in the NEAFL in August 2017.

If there’s a positive to all that, at least the three-time reconstruction veteran would have bragging rights over two-timer Hadley if ever the aforementioned chat did take place.

Robertson isn’t even in the knee reconstruction conversation or the long break conversation. He’s got two original knees, and if he plays against Fremantle it will be only 83 days between his first game and his second game, and he won’t have missed anything.

But it will be one of the most extraordinary 83-day waits in football history.

This is where the Robertson and Skinner chat with Hadley would take a twist. While the Hadley numbers are greater he didn’t go through a catastrophic world-changing medical pandemic between games one and two.

Robertson has his own debut story to throw into the conversation, too.

Unlike Skinner, he was on the good end of a late selection change when he made his debut on the Sunday of Round 1 against Hawthorn at the MCG back on 22 March. Except it wasn’t as late as it seemed at the time.

Officially, Robertson only came into the Brisbane side when Grant Birchall was a late withdrawal before the game. But in fact Birchall was ruled out before selection on Thursday and didn’t even travel.

Robertson was told of his inclusion by coach Chris Fagan before the side was even announced but, with Birchall scheduled to play his first game for Brisbane against his old club, the Lions opted for a not unusual selection ‘blind’.

So, roll all that in together and there would be plenty for Hadley, Skinner and Robertson to keep each other entertained for a while. And that’s before Skinner and Robertson play their second game.

FOR THE RECORD BOOKS …

• Hadley and potentially Skinner are not the only Lions players to wait more than a full season between their first and second AFL games. Cameron Wood missed 28 games from 2005 to 2006, and Aaron Cornelius missed 27 games from 2009 to 2010.
• Hadley’s 70-game absence between games one and two is also a record for the most games missed between any games in club history. But his time lag of 881 days is not. And nor is the 932-day wait for his two knee reconstructions. The record for the longest time between any games belongs to 2001-02 premiership ruckman Beau McDonald, who played his 75th game in Round 14 2003 and his 76th game in Round 5 2006. He waited 1029 days. Chris Scott was 728 days between his 213^th game in 2005 and his 214^th in 2007, and in the Bears era Steven Lawrence was 706 days between his 13^th game in 1995 and his 14^th game in 1997.
• The overall record for the longest wait between game one and game two in AFL history is 10 years 302 days by the otherwise largely known Ted Fisher more than 100 years ago. He played his first game for StKilda in Round 17 1907 against Fitzroy at Junction Oval aged 20, and his second game for Richmond against Essendon at East Melbourne in Round 8 1918 aged 30. His only other three games were in Rounds 9-10-11 in the following weeks.