But he’s glad he didn’t.

Mullins, who plays game 100 for the Pies tomorrow, had originally planned to spend last year travelling.

But by his own admission, that didn’t happen.

If you thought you saw Mullins at the Norm Minns Oval last year, your eyes weren’t playing tricks, he was most certainly there.

Aside from a few weeks in Bali, Mullins didn’t trek too far from familiar surroundings and could have easily played.

But he kept his distance — he needed to.

“I went to most home games last year but I didn’t want to hang around too much,” Mullins, 27, revealed this week.

“If I went to every game I might as well have played.

“I never really made it overseas as planned, going to Bali sort of quenched that thirst, but having the year off was great.

“I needed it.

“I had a bit of a hip problem and a sore knee.

“It was good to give that a rest.”

He was only 26 at the time, but it’s understandable if Mullins was starting to burn out.

Drafted by Collingwood via Wangaratta Rovers at the end of 2002, Mullins spent two years with the AFL Pies before being rookie listed by St Kilda.

While his top-level career didn’t quite pan out as planned — he played three AFL games — Mullins left with no regrets and jumped straight back into the Ovens and Murray when he was delisted at the end of 2005.

Friend and family ties saw the former Hawk opt for the black and white half of Wangaratta upon his return, and the grandson of former Magpie captain Bill Comensoli became a two-time premiership player under Jason Lappin just three years later.

While his focus tomorrow won’t be on his milestone, Mullins said he was proud of his achievement.