Namibian Deon Hotto has been a stalwart, not just since signing for Pirates in the 2020/21 season, but throughout his entire stay in South African football.
He was signed by Lamontville Golden Arrows in January 2014 from African Stars, and later had spells with Bloemfontein Celtic and Bidvest Wits.
Twelve years on, he has featured in 343 out of a possible 361 league games (95%), missing just 18 in that time. For an outfield player, that is an astonishing record.
There was a spell between 2016 and 2021 when he played 148 out of 150 league matches.
Maybe this season things have just started to wane a little for the 35-year-old. He has missed three of Pirates’ seven league games and featured in only one of their three MTN8 matches.
In their remarkable run to four titles in a row in the top-eight competition, Hotto has played in all 16 games, and if you add their 2020 triumph to that, the left wing-back has featured in 20 out of 20 matches.
But he is not just a guy who plays games. Since joining Pirates, he has played 257 matches in all competitions and scored 29 goals to go with 48 assists.
That is 77 goal contributions from predominantly the left-back position. In the MTN8 alone, he has four goals and five assists in 22 games for the Buccaneers.
There are flashier players on the pitch, but Hotto must be one of their three or four most important players of the last five years.
Can he help them to another title on Saturday?