Fourteen seasons of AFL football, 261 career games and counting, the playing record alone is indicative of Bulldogs forward Daniel Giansiracusa’s footballing longevity.

But it’s perhaps a career bookended by a father-son playing combination that is more pertinent. 

Giansiracusa was a fresh faced teenager in 2001 when Tony Liberatore was the first Bulldogs to every contest, and the last to get up.

Fast forward to 2014, and it is now Giansiracusa providing the wise head as Liberatore senior’s son Tom is forging an equally formidable on-field reputation.

“I’m old enough to say I’ve played with both of them – I had a couple of years with Tony, which is quite surreal but now I am playing with his son,” Giansiracusa told Adelaide radio station FIVEaa earlier in the week.

“Obviously I got him in the back end of his career and he was a fantastic player for the Bulldogs, Tony.

“But geez, Tom, he’s got a great temperament for the game, nothing seems to faze him.”

The similarities between the two Liberatore men extend much further than a name, both known for their fierce tackling and attack on the football.

Liberatore senior at one stage held the record for most career tackles in the AFL, and earlier indicators suggest Liberatore junior is on track to similar feats if he match longevity of his father.

In the first 13 rounds alone this season Tom Liberatore has laid 26 more tackles than any other player in the competition. He’s laid 54 more tackles than any of his teammate.

If the 22-year-old holds his average (9.4), he will overtake West Coast midfielder Scott Selwood’s AFL record of most tackles in a season, set in 2011.

Liberatore’s 34 disposal, 13 clearance, 10 tackle performance gave Giansiracusa even more confidence that this is a Bulldog with a long career ahead.

“You talk about guys that when the game is on the line – if you watch the last ten minutes of last week he was not going to let us lose,” Giansiracusa said.

“Just the way he goes about it.

“He not only gets the footy himself he obviously is ferocious around the contest but he brings his teammates into the play and that is why we love him in our footy Club.”