All-Australian ruckman, and won his first club best-and-fairest award for Melbourne. Media commentators noted that Stynes had used his extraordinary endurance to redefine the role of the professional ruckman. While many of his opponents were over 2 metres tall, Stynes played in the style of a tall ruck rover. Instead of focusing on hitouts and playing in bursts, he ran the whole game and gained possession across the entire ground. This was a model of play which many other mid-sized ruckmen such as Geelong and Essendon's John Barnes were able to successfully follow. An exceptional run of consecutive games which had begun in Round 18 of 1987 almost ended with a severe rib injury in 1993 that Stynes sustained from a collision with teammate David Neitz in a match against the North Melbourne Football Club. He was treated at Epworth Hospital for a compound rib fracture. Despite being ruled out by medical officers for six weeks, he convinced his coach Neil Balme to pass him in the club fitness test and wore a chest guard in order to play the following Friday night. Stynes finished the season with his consecutive games record unblemished and achieved All-Australian selection for the second time. In 1994, he suffered a medial ligament tear but continued to play through it, going on to string together three fine seasons between 1995 and 1997 in which he won consecutive club champion awards. In Round 9, 1996, Stynes played his 205th consecutive game, breaking the 53-year record held by Jack Titus since 1943. Stynes broke his hand early in the 1998 season, effectively ending his streak of consecutive games finally at 244. He retired from professional football at the conclusion of the season, having played a total of 264 AFL games, all at Melbourne, placing him second on the club's all-time games tally at the time. Statistics |- style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1987 | | 37 || 13 || 15 || 10 || 116 || 45 || 161 || 48 || 8 || 114 || 1.2 || 0.8 || 8.9 || 3.5 || 12.4 || 3.7 || 0.6 || 8.8 |- ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1988 | | 11 || 26 || 26 || 13 || 316 || 107 || 423 || 135 || 21 || 196 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 12.2 || 4.1 || 16.3 || 5.2 || 0.8 || 7.5 |- style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row"