Playing Career
Dustin Fletcher was a member of the "Baby Bombers" (Essendon's 1993 premiership team) in his first AFL season. He also played in Essendon's 2000 premiership win and received the club's "Best and Fairest" award (the Crichton Medal). He is the only member of either of those premiership winning sides still playing AFL football. He was selected as an All-Australian player in both 2000 and 2007.
Fletcher was the goalkeeper for Australia in the International Rules series in 2005, 2006 (as co-captain) and 2010.
In Round 13 of 2008, Fletcher and his father, Ken, claimed the record of most VFL/AFL games played by a father-son combination, with 552 games between them. Fletcher played his 300th game in Round 5, 2009. Many regard him to be one of the top defenders in AFL/VFL history.
In Round 9, 2010, Fletcher played in his 322nd AFL game, overtaking a long-standing record for the second most games for the Essendon team, held by Dick Reynolds; however, at that stage, he still needed 57 games to overtake the outright record holder, Simon Madden. Fletcher also holds the record of being the most watched AFL footballer of all time, with a cumulative attendance of 16,832,416 spectators at matches in which Fletcher played between 1993 to 2011. He played his 350th AFL match in Round 3, 2012, against the Gold Coast Suns.
At 37, Fletcher is currently the oldest player in the AFL and is also the only player remaining from Essendon's 1993 and 2000 premiership sides still playing. He is due to play his 21th AFL season in 2013 after signing a one year contract.
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