The laconic Essendon stalwart will play his 400th AFL game on Saturday night, when he runs out against Richmond for the Dreamtime at the 'G match.

It will be an important challenge for both teams, who have won and lost four games

and are two of a number of mid-ranked teams jostling for a place in the top eight.

Jake Carlisle was hit by a bout of gastro this week but is fit to play, against a team coach James Hird admitted had significantly improved their defence over the past fortnight.

Fletcher celebrated his 40th birthday just three weeks ago after first pulling on a Bombers jumper as a 16-year-old schoolboy.

At a press conference at the club's home at Tullamarine on Friday, Fletcher said he was not usually keen on the spotlight but had been enjoying the well-wishes.

"It's hit home more over the last three or four days than you realise, because you get a lot of messages and hear from a lot of ex-teammates who you had a fair bit to do with in the early years," he said.

Fletcher compared starting in the AFL in 1993 to playing for a local club.

"You knew you were playing on a Saturday at 2.20pm every week," he said.

"The VFL or your reserves side played before so you watched a half of that before you played, it was two or three days a week training, it was probably a bit easier back then to be honest."

Hird said everyone at the club was proud of Fletcher's achievements, calling him an incredible player and person who did not miss a training session.

"He's very professional about how he trains himself, I think he's taught me more about how to play defence than I've taught him," he said.

"We had a meeting just before and talked to Cale Hooker about what he's learned from Fletch, and his response was 'Everything'.

"Michael Hibberd was the same, Michael Hurley, they learned how to play by watching, talking to Fletch, not only has he been a great player, he's been a great tutor at our football club as well."

Richmond will come into the game after consecutive wins against Collingwood and Port Adelaide, and Hird said they had been safer with the ball.

"Seems to us from the outside they've been more conservative with the ball, and tried to protect the ball a bit better," he said.

"Their contested football has been very good, their ground balls have been very good, they're playing some really good football at the moment."

Hird was less eager to speak on dramatic sacking of Carlton coach Mick Malthouse on Tuesday. Asked what he thought about it, he was blunt. "I didn't think about it," he said.