Aussie football player just the fourth in AFL's 118-year history to play 400 games

Australian footballer Brent Harvey will on Saturday become just the fourth Australian Football League (AFL) player in the competition's 118-year history to reach the coveted 400-game milestone.

North Melbourne player Harvey, 37, will take to the field in his 400th match - having played every one with the Kangaroos - against the Brisbane Lions in Brisbane on Saturday night, a milestone made all the more remarkable by his diminutive stature.

At 167cms, Harvey is the shortest player in the AFL (along with Western Bulldogs rookie Caleb Daniel) and, in a highly physical sport where the average player stands 188cms, he has been able to make up for his lack of height with great speed, endurance and evasive skills.

Until Daniel began his AFL career this season, Harvey held the mantle as the league's smallest player for 12 years.

He joins current Essendon stalwart Dustin Fletcher and former players, Hawthorn's Michael Tuck and Richmond's Kevin Bartlett, as the only other men to achieve the feat, something that Harvey says is unlikely to happen again.

"I think 400 is a milestone that won't happen again. I honestly believe that I'll be the last player to do that," Harvey told AFL.com.au this week.

"(I don't mean) to sound big-headed or anything like that, but the game has changed so much and certainly if I had started 10 years ago I wouldn't be playing 400 games, there's no way known."

Harvey said the professionalization of the sport meant players would be unable to play more than 20 games per season, for nearly 20 seasons.

"When I first started it was three days a week training. You could certainly come in and do a little bit extra if needed, but there were three days a week of training, two weight sessions and that was pretty much it," he said.

"Now we're at the football club from 8am to 3pm every day expect for one day during that week. Not only physically but mentally, it grinds you down a little bit.

"Things have just got bigger, harder and longer. So for that reason I don't think anyone will reach the 400 milestone again."

His combative, dashing style of play combined with his eagerness to take the game on and inspire his teammates are some of the qualities that Harvey has brought to the AFL over the past two decades.

His longevity is a testament to his ability to adapt to different roles - at time he has played as a midfielder, a deep forward and more recently an attacking half forward and as substitute - coming on to provide a fresh pair of legs in the last quarter of a match.

Harvey has played with the North Melbourne Kangaroos since 1996. In his first season he played just one match, picking up just one touch for the entire match. He watched his teammates win the 1996 premiership, before becoming a crucial part of the team's line up.

As he cemented his place within the Kangaroos' line-up during the late 1990s, he found himself a crucial player in his team's period of dominance - success which culminated in the club's second premiership of the decade in 1999.

Harvey was the club's captain from 2009 until 2011 and represented Australia in the International Rules series on five occasions - including one occasion as captain in 2008.

Should Harvey decide to continue playing in 2016, he could overtake Tuck as the league's games record holder; Tuck played 426 matches for Hawthorn during the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Endi