Ryan Turnbull never thought he would be a part of the Belconnen Magpies' "200 Club" - that was a group reserved for club legends.
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But he will become the eighth player to reach 200 first-grade games for the Magpies in the AFL Canberra major semi-final against the Ainslie Tricolours at The Nest on Saturday.
Turnbull won't be the only Magpie to reach a milestone this week, with Lexie Bennett set to make his 300th club appearance with a spot in the grand final on the line.
Turnbull made his first grade debut for the Magpies against the Sydney Swans reserves at the Sydney Cricket Ground as a 17-year-old in 2005.
But it's not the AFL-listed opposition or the iconic pavilions that he remembers - it's the Belconnen legends in Steven Mahar and Paul Raadts that he was playing alongside.
It highlights just how much the club means to him.
His passion came to the surface again when the final siren sounded in Belconnen's 2009 grand final win, yelling so loud he "nearly passed out".
"The people that you would picture [playing 200 games] are club legends, and then for you to go and do something like that it just doesn't seem very real," Turnbull said.
"You feel proud of getting 100 games and you feel like that's something you can achieve. Once you get to that you just concentrate on footy and it just comes up out of nowhere really.
"To play in such a lucrative club that's always up there, and always making finals, to be able to play 200 first grade games for a club like that it's pretty important.
"It feels special playing 200 games for this club that I love."
Dual-premiership player Bennett captained the Magpies to their 2009 flag having made his debut as a 17-year-old in 2002.
He becomes the fifth player in club history to play 300 games for the club, a number including first grade, second grade and under 18s matches.
Bennett already sits in the esteemed 200 first grade games club alongside his father David Bennett, who holds the club record with 268 top flight games.
Bennett grew up around the club alongside his brother and Magpies player-coach James, and he's itching to add a third premiership medal to his collection.
"That's why everyone plays football, to win premierships," Bennett said.
"But I've also made a lot of close friends at the football club and that's something else that I'll take away and be really happy with.
"The fact that we've got a lot of local juniors that have all followed in the same path over the last 40 to 50 years is something that our football club certainly takes pride in.
"We've all gone through the same steps in playing junior football and coming through under 18s, reserves and into first grade. It does create a good kind of bond."
Queanbeyan Tigers gun Jeremy Kirkwood will play his 100th first grade game against the Eastlake Demons in a sudden death minor semi-final at Margaret Donoghoe Oval on Sunday.
