On Monday night, Alex Wilkinson played his 600th career club match.
It all started back in the NSL with Northern Spirit in 2002 and after spells in Korea and China, Wilkinson returned to Australia to play out the remainder of those matches with Sydney FC.
In playing his 600th club career match, he now moves into equal 8th position in the standing for Australian national league appearances with Mike O’Shea, a defender who played in the NSL from 1977 to 1996, with 406 appearances.
At the top of that list is Alex Tobin who made 522 appearances across his brilliant career.
Wilkinson has created records in the Isuzu UTE A-League Men’s as he is one of the most successful players in the competitions’ short history. He holds the record for most Premierships (5) and also for the most Grand Final appearances (7).
In completing his 600th club career game, he continues to add to his career in the Australian game. He is one of fives players to have an Australian career span more than 20 years. In the Men’s game, only Scott McDonald, Liam Reddy and Kevin Muscat have longer careers than Wilkinson.
Melissa Barbieri holds the record for the longest Australian national league career which spans just over 26 years.
Add to this, Alex Wilkinson’s 16 caps with the Socceroos and you can see why Wilkinson is so well respected in the Australian football circles.
What a player, what a person.
Congratulations on your 600 games Alex Wilkinson.
Stats Credit: Andy Howe
