There was a time he was seemingly hurtling towards it, but the 100-game milestone has been a long time coming for Thirroul stalwart Luke Dodge.
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The hard-nosed back-rower will chalk up the milestone on Saturday as the competition leaders face third-placed De La Salle in a blockbuster showdown with third-placed De La Salle.
He'll join a distinguished club, but admits the overwhelming feeling is one of relief after two COVID-interrupted seasons, and a nasty broken leg suffered in early 2020, threatened to leave him stranded in the 90s.
"It's been a long time coming to be honest," Dodge said.
"It was three or four years ago I first got told how many games I had and it got me excited, then COVID and some injuries slowed it all up.
"Even this year I got to 99 games and hurt my wrist and started thinking 'this is just ridiculous'.
I'm very proud to say that I've done it. I played at Thirroul the day Beathy (Aaron Beath) got his 300th. I remember playing in Joel Johnson's hundredth and that was a great day.
"Being part of that definitely gets you keen [to reach a hundred games].
"It's awesome to finally be able to tick it off, especially for a club like Thirroul. The club's been nothing but great to me and my family from day dot.
"It was pretty early on I thought to myself 'this is where I want to be until I hang them up'."
He came a lot closer to doing just that much earlier than planned when a gruesome ankle injury ended his 2020 campaign.
With COVID casting its ugly shadow on the year that followed, plenty of other would've pulled the pin, but it's not something he gave a lot of thought to.
"It was a dislocated ankle and broken leg so at the time it was pretty grim, especially when I saw the X-ray and all the plates and screws that are in there," he said.
"It was hard at times, I've got a family now and work and things like that. It looked pretty dire but it kind of made me more keen to get back because I just thought 'nah, I'm not finishing like that'.
"I got back to work, got back to running again. At the time I only had 11-12 games left, so I was keen to get back and get it. Unless the doctor had told me 'look, you're no good', I was never not going to come back and try to get them."
The burning desire to claim another premiership played no small part in his effort to return. Dodge is one of just two current Butchers to have played in the club's 2014 grand final victory, the last time Thirroul claimed the ultimate prize.
Just 20 years old, the thought he'd still be looking for his second flag a decade on would have been difficult the fathom.
Both he and the Butchers have learned the hard way that it's rarely that simple despite going close under Jarrod Costello in the 2018 grand final, while their push at redemption a yera later ended at the prelim final stage.
"If you looked at that [2014] team on paper it was a belter of a side," Dodge said.
"It wasn't easy that year by any stretch, but it was my first year in first grade and we won the comp. I thought 'how good's this' and now it's nine years later and we're still chasing that next one.
"We've had a couple of opportunities. In 2018 we kind of let it slip, probably in 2019 as well, so we've had our chances. Let's hope we can do it in 2022."
The Butchers have given themselves every chance, climbing a win clear at the top of the ladder with three games to play despite nursing a heavy injury toll through the middle stretch of the season.
It's not a squad peppered with the big names that claimed the 2014 title, but Dodge feels the DNA is the same.
"If you obviously take Stevie Marsters out of the equation, we don't have any superstar names in our side this year," he said.
"It's just a group of local blokes who just want to play for the club and you know they're going to turn up for you every week.
"We've had those injuries but there's some pretty good belief in the side because we beat Wests at Wests very undermanned and the boys that came in just wanted to play for each other and play for the jersey.
"When you look at that, guys who haven't played a lot of first grade, and they step up for you like that it's unreal. If we can get our full strength side back on the park, we should be hitting our stride coming into the semis."
Dodge's return from injury this week helps in that regard, with Harry Leddy also returning from a hand injury suffered against Wests six weeks ago.
It's a boost ahead of the showdown with a De La Salle outfit high on confidence after defeating Collegians 23-16 last week.
De La and the Butchers played arguably the game of the season so far in round five, the latter escaping with a 28-24 win on the back of a 78th minute try to Hayden Crosland. The rematch shapes as a finals preview just three weeks out from the playoffs.
"In previous years there's been three top sides but there's definitely four this year with De La in the equation," Dodge said.
"They're a red-hot side. You look back at the game we played against them at Cronulla, that was one of the toughest games I've been a part of.
"They're young and fit across the park and they come to play every week, that's for sure. We definitely won't be taking them lightly."
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