JONATHAN Brown and Matthew Richardson both say they’ve never heard a peep from him on the field, while his coach thinks he has another job as Humphrey B. Bear.

But no matter how many words Simon Prestigiacomo does or doesn’t say, all who have encountered the Collingwood defender agree about his importance to his club.

The 31-year-old, known as “Presti” to his teammates and the Magpie faithful, will play his 200th senior match when Collingwood meets Essendon in its annual Anzac Day blockbuster at the MCG on Saturday.

It seems ironic that the man who has seemingly been an expert at dodging hype and glamour throughout his career should play his milestone match on what is the season’s biggest home and away fixture.

Former teammate Shane Wakelin, who retired at the end of 2008, spent nine years staving off attacking raids alongside Prestigiacomo.

During that time he came to know his fellow defender was “a man of very few words”. But he says he occasionally got to see a different side of the man who on Saturday will lead the Magpies through the banner.

“You actually get a few more words out of him once he’s had a few quiet beers,” Wakelin told collingwoodfc.com.au.

“We used to call him the serial pest once he’d had a few quiet ales. We could never shut him up once he’d started, once he’d had a couple of beers.

“He’s always good value.”

Earlier this week Malthouse, upon speaking about his defender’s 200-game milestone, labelled Prestigiacomo an “absolute marvel”.

After crossing from West Coast almost 10 years ago, Malthouse said he doubted the unfashionable backman at first and felt the Magpies might need another full-back.

Now, Prestigiacomo is among the first picked. On Saturday he is likely to again be entrusted with a big job, most likely on Matthew Lloyd or Scott Lucas.

He’s used to playing on the big names. And those elite forwards, like Brown and the Tigers’ Richardson, are used to seeing him wander down to him at the start of a match.

“He just gets the job done,” Richardson said.

“He’s been one of my hardest opponents and he’s been one of the most underrated defenders since I’ve been playing the game.

“He’s just reliable. He takes the key forwards every week and that’s a tough job. The pressure that’s involved with doing that would be pretty big.”

If Prestigiacomo does feel the pressure, he doesn’t show it.

As Richardson said, he stays “cool and calm”.

“You try having a bit of chit-chat with some blokes but I learnt pretty early on with Presti that he wasn’t interested,” he said.

“And he never really gets agitated or gets angry.”

With Prestigiacomo, it’s all about his task – stopping his opponent.

As a result, his stats rarely make for good reading. But as Wakelin pointed out, his value at the Lexus Centre isn’t measured in kicks or handpasses.

“He’s probably the lowest possession-getting 200-game player in history!” Wakelin said.

“Unfortunately in our game we measure everyone on stats and kicking the goals and doing the exciting things.

“But ultimately the most important players are the ones that are most effective on the opposition player that does do those things.”

The man who once wore the No.35 jumper at Collingwood – Peter Daicos – often used to do “those things” himself. He could boot three goals in the space of a few minutes to turn a match.

Prestigiacomo has booted three career goals, with his last successful foray near goal coming back in round 18, 2002 against Carlton.

But it is the number that he has stopped which makes him so invaluable for the Magpies.

“He’s not one ounce of a problem in that you set him a task and he does it,” Malthouse said this week.

“I just feel so privileged to be part of his big day and it just happens to be a massive day for the football club.”