If playing as teammates in an AFL match creates a life-long bond, as they say, then Hamish Hartlett is about to get a whole lot of new life-time friends.

And just as the 12 players who have debuted for Port Adelaide since Hartlett blew out his knee on 21 April last year, he will feel like something of a new boy as he ends a 420-day absence from the AFL against Fremantle in Perth tomorrow afternoon.

It will be a ‘new” Hartlett. He will play his first game as official vice-captain after being voted into the leadership group despite his prolonged absence. And his first game since he was presented by the club with Life Membership during the off-season.

The 28-year-old utility also will claim a new place in Port history, joining the club’s most travelled players with his first appearance at Perth’s Optus Stadium.

In a measurement of the impact a long-term lay-off like Hartlett’s knee reconstruction can have, Hartlett will run out tomorrow with seven teammates for the first time. Almost a third of the side.

Zak Butters, Ryan Burton, Xavier Duursma, Kane Farrell, Jarrod Lienert, Scott Lycett and Connor Rozee will combine to take Hartlett’s Power teammate count to 96 after he took 10 years and 153 games to get to 89.

Set to play an important role in the second half of the season, Hartlett is as much a part of Port tradition as Alberton Oval since he was drafted from West Adelaide at #4 in the 2008 National Draft,

Despite being player #110 on an all-time Port AFL playing list that now numbers 187, and despite debuting in game #285 in a club journey which tomorrow will reach game #519, by tomorrow night Hartlett he will have played alongside more than half of them.

Since Hartlett became Power player #110 in Round 4 2009 he has played alongside every Port debutant since him except five.

He missed the nine-game career of player #112 Danny Meyer, the two games of player #115 Scott Harding, the three games of player #161 Jesse Palmer, and the one-off appearance of players #120 Cameron Cloke and #163 Will Snelling.

Moreover, Hartlett has played in the Port debut of 40 of the players listed from #122 to #175.

While he has been injured, Port have played three times at Optus Stadium without him.

His first visit to the new multi-purpose stadium tomorrow will give him 18 different playing venues on his travel log, and see him equal to the top of the Power travel list among current players.

Already having played at 18 different venues are Ollie Wines, Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Justin Westhoff, Brad Ebert, Jack Watts and Tom Jonas, plus ex-Power pair Chad Wingard and Aaron Young.

The retired Gavin Wanganeen and Stephen Paxman also have 18 different travel stamps on their career record to sit on the third line of this unusual statistical category.

At the top of the list outright is another ex-Port player – Jack Hombsch.

Now at the Gold Coast, Hombsch will play for the Suns against St.Kilda tomorrow in the first AFL match in Townsville to take to 21 his career list of AFL match venues and stay two venues ahead of his closest rivals.

Gold Coast’s Jarrod Harbrow also will play in Townsville to take his count to 19 and join ex-Hawthorn/Essendon ruckman Paul Salmon and St.Kilda great Robert Harvey on the second line of all-star AFL travellers.

After his extended lay-of Hartlett will also look to take back his place among the most prominent and prolific of the AFL Class of 2008.

Having missed 28 games, he has slipped to equal 21^st on the games list for 2008 draftees.

It is a list headed by Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom with 223 games. Former Sydney ace Dan Hanneberry, soon to debut for St.Kilda, is second at 208, ahead of Fremantle’s Stephen Hill (203) and North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell (200).

Completing the top 10 are Brisbane/West Coast midfielder Jack Redden (199), Essendon’s David Zaharakis (197), Brisbane’s Daniel Rich (195), GWS/Essendon midfielder Dylan Shiel (194), Adelaide co-captain Rory Sloane (189) and West Coast’s Luke Shuey (189).

Four players with a Port connection rank from 11-20 on the list, with Jackson Trengove, now at the Western Bulldogs at 13 with 175 games, behind Brisbane/Carlton midfielder Mitch Robinson (180) and Brisbane/Collingwood midfielder Dayne Beams (177).

The Power’s Jack Watts is 14^th at 174 games after starting his career at Melbourne, and is followed by Fremantle’s Hayden Ballantyne (167, Port’s Matthew Broadbent (165), Port’s ex-Geelong forward Steven Motlop (164), West Coast’s Nic Naitanui (161) and ex-Fremantle utility Nick Suban (156).

Hartlett shares 21^st spot on 153 games with GWS/Adelaide defender Phil Davis.

The Port side tomorrow includes nine changes to that which played in Hartlett’s last AFL game.

Missing are the retired Jake Neade and Lindsay Thomas, the returning from injury Wines, Charlie Dixon, Brad Ebert and Watts, plus three players now at other clubs – Jared Polec (North), Wingard (Hawthorn) and Hombsch.

In their place, in addition to the seven players who will play alongside Hartlett for the first time, are Paddy Ryder and Darcy Byrne-Jones.

Only two other members of Hartlett’s first AFL side in 2009 are still playing – Boak and Robbie Gray.

For the historically minded, the others were Dean Brogan (now assistant-coach), Alipate Carlile, Josh Carr, Troy Chaplin, Chad Cornes (now development coach and match day runner), Kane Cornes, Brett Ebert, Nathan Krakouer, Brendon Lade, Tom Logan, Daniel Motlop, Danyle Pearce, Michael Pettigrew, David Rodan, Steven Salopek, Jacob Surjan, Matt Thomas, Wade Thompson and Warren Tredrea.