The laconic backman said during the week that he had enjoyed some of the attention that had come with the milestone game, particularly well-wishes from former teammates from his two decades-plus of top-level football.

But afterwards said it had made him "a bit anxious to be honest", which perhaps showed on the ground.

Former champion Bomber midfielder Joe Misiti presented Fletcher with a jumper in the rooms before the match, and Essendon's banner celebrated his achievement.

Misiti started out in the AFL just a year before Fletcher and is only one year older, but he retired in 2004 with a very respectable 236 games under his belt.

Eleven years later Fletcher was still turning up to training each week, at a time when football had become fiercer and more professional than ever before.

And if that was not enough to make him feel old, the veteran defender is captained by his former teammate's son, Jobe Watson.

Where once he played beside James Hird, he is now coached by him, and the Bombers' up-and-coming forward Joe Daniher is Anthony's son.

Fletcher lined up against Ben Griffiths, but played most of the game against the 20-year-old Liam McBean.

McBean stands 202centimetres, Fletcher 198, but the comparisons ended there.

McBean was in just his second AFL game, after being picked at 33 in the 2012 draft and playing in the VFL for all of 2013 and 2014.

The crowd roared whenever Fletcher touched the football – the stirring bellow of more than 83,800 excited fans at the MCG, at least half of whom wanted to celebrate his every move.

They cheered even when he kicked it out on the full late in the first quarter – it was that kind of night.

There were flashes of the intelligent play that has made Fletcher such a stalwart of the Essendon backline for so many years.

About 18 minutes into the first quarter, as the ball bounced towards Richmond's goal, Fletcher chased his much younger opponent, both circling a post as the ball remained in play.

Fletcher hit the ground but managed desperately to tap the ball through for a rushed behind, still athletic and determined at an age when many men are settling into a comfortable middle-aged paunch.

But for the most part it was not Fletcher's night.

McBean kept him largely deep in the backline and he did not get as much of the ball as he would have liked.

Halfway through the last quarter he was sitting on the bench wearing the red vest.

He said after the game in his usual understated fashion, that he will have to see how he feels during the week, not badly injured but not yet sure if it will be his 401st.