On Sunday afternoon at Optus Stadium against the Melbourne Demons in our annual Starlight Purple Haze Game, proudly presented by South32, Luke Ryan will play his 150^th AFL game for the Club.

Taken with pick 66 in the 2016 National Draft, the now 28-year-old will become just the 22^nd player to play 150 games or more for Fremantle, joining only Michael Walters (237) and Nat Fyfe (235) in his current crop of teammates to reach the milestone for the Club.

Since debuting in round 11 of 2017, Ryan has picked up an illustrious three top five finishes in the Doig Medal, including taking home his maiden Doig Medal win in 2020, the same year he was selected in the All Australian team for the first time.

The medium defender is yet again putting together another stellar year as part of Fremantle’s stringent defence (second least points scored against in the competition), with Ryan ranked as Elite (rated in the top 10% for players in the same on-field position) for spoils, contested defensive one on ones, intercept marks, marks, score launches, rebound 50s, effective kicks, kicking efficiency, one percenters, metres gained, and many, many more stats so far in season 2024.

It is fitting Ryan will play his 150^th game in front of the Purple Army at a venue where he has played just under half of his career games (72), and where his last five Starlight Purple Haze Game, proudly presented by South32 appearances have seen Ryan average 22.2 disposals and 7.8 marks.

There is no doubt Ryan loves kicking the ball, he’s registered 2431 kicks for his career at an average of 16.32 kicks per game with the 28-year-old holding the Club’s record for the two highest kick counts in a single season (2022 and 2023), and his 2024 season already sits 10^th overall with six games to go!

A stat even more impressive than his kick count is Ryan’s domination of the most rebounds in a season for the Club. Eight years into his career with the Club, Ryan currently holds the first (2023), second (2022), third (2021), fifth (2024) and seventh (2020) highest count for rebounds in the Club’s history at an average of 6.25 per game.

Taken just 25 picks apart in the 2016 National Draft and debuting just one round apart in 2017, Sunday will also be the 101^st time that Ryan will line-up alongside great mate and fellow defender Brennan Cox (Ryan has featured in all but four of the same games as Cox).

Looking at some of the other numbers, Ryan needs just 69 more kicks to hit 2500 for his career, 13 more handballs to reach 700, 69 more rebounds until the 1000 career milestone and seven more goals to reach 10 for his career.

Becoming just the 22^nd player from Fremantle to reach the 150-game milestone, the rebounding defender earns a life membership with the Club.

Here is to 150 games for Ryan, and hopefully many, many more.