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The 400000th goal in the AFL was kicked last season. Jaidyn Stephenson got the honour when he kicked North Melbourne's first goal in the second quarter against the Eagles in Round 14.

Also of note, the first eleven scores registered to Eagles players in the same game all had first names starting with "Ja" - Jack Darling, Jake Waterman, Jamie Cripps, Jai Culley, Jack Hutchinson. And of course, the 400000th goal honour was given to a "Ja".
 
The four red and blue teams in the four major leagues around Australia - Melbourne, Norwood, West Perth and Port Melbourne - all sing the theme song 'It's A Grand Old Flag' which IMO is one of the best sporting songs in the world.

Did you know that there is actually a second verse to the song, which Melbourne used to include but dropped some time ago, but which Norwood have retained? It makes reference to past premierships won by the club, in Norwood's case 'Oh the team played fine in the year twenty nine, the Redlegs that no-one could lick, lick, lick. From the crowd's first yell to the final bell, the spirit of old forty six, six, six!'

Norwood were SANFL premiers in 1929 and 1946 as referenced in the song, and for Melbourne 'Redlegs' would be substituted for 'Demons' and 1929 for 1939 and either 1926 or 1956, all of these Melbourne premiership seasons. But if West Perth and Port Melbourne wanted to alter their songs to include the second verse, both would run into a problem.

While 'Falcons' or 'Borough' can easily be inserted without throwing off the lyrics and music, in the case of West Perth they have no problems finding flags won by the club in 9 years. The Falcons took out the WAFL premierships of 1899, 1949, 1969 and 1999, but a flag in a 6 year has eluded the club. West Perth played East Fremantle in the premiership deciders of 1906 and 1946, but in both cases were vanquished by the Sharks.

Port Melbourne have the opposite problem. The Borough won the 1966 VFA premiership over Waverley and the 1976 flag against Dandenong, but despite seeming to be able to win flags at will in some eras, Port Melbourne to this day have never won a premiership in a 9 year.
 
Players whose career-best tally in a game was 9 goals:

Joel Amartey (Sydney vs. Adelaide, 2024)
Ken Baxter (Carlton vs. Essendon, 1939)
Darren Bewick (Essendon vs. Geelong, 1996)
Daniel Bradshaw (Brisbane Lions vs. Melbourne, 2005)
Harry Brereton (Melbourne vs. Geelong, 1909)
Jeremy Cameron (GWS vs. Gold Coast in 2019, Geelong vs. West Coast in 2024)
Alan Collins (Footscray vs. Hawthorn, 1946)
Jack Collins (Footscray vs. Carlton, 1954)
Frank Crapper (North Melbourne vs. St Kilda, 1936)
Claude Curtin (Fitzroy vs. Hawthorn in 1940, Fitzroy vs. North Melbourne in 1947)
Larry Donohue (Geelong vs. South Melbourne, 1976)
Jack Dyer (Richmond vs. Essendon, 1944)
Syd Dyer (North Melbourne vs. Hawthorn, 1944)
Bernie Evans (Sydney vs. St Kilda, 1985)
Peter Everitt (St Kilda vs. Geelong, 2000)
Gavin Exell (Geelong vs. Hawthorn, 1989)
Jeff Farmer (Melbourne vs. Collingwood, 2000)
Brendan Fevola (Carlton vs. Richmond in 2009)
Keith Forbes (Essendon vs. South Melbourne, 1936)
Des Fothergill (Collingwood vs. Geelong, 1946)
John Frazer (Fitzroy vs. Richmond, 1978)
Maurie Gibb (Melbourne vs. North Melbourne and Geelong, both 1935)
Fred Goldsmith (South Melbourne vs. Richmond, 1957)
Jack Green (Hawthorn vs. Essendon, 1935)
Brad Hardie (Brisbane Bears vs. Carlton, 1989)
Les Hardiman (Geelong vs. Fitzroy, 1936)
Eddie Hart (Fitzroy vs. Essendon in 1947, Fitzroy vs. Hawthorn in 1950)
Jason Heatley (St Kilda vs. North Melbourne, 1997)
Jesse Hogan (GWS vs. Essendon, 2023)
Allan Hopkins (Footscray vs. Hawthorn, 1925)
Verdun Howell (St Kilda vs. Hawthorn, 1965)
Paul Hudson (Hawthorn vs. Collingwood, 1991)
Darren Jarman (Adelaide vs. Melbourme, 1999)
Tommy Jenkins (Essendon vs. North Melbourne, 1925)
Len Johnson (Essendon vs. Footscray, 1929)
Ted Johnson (South Melbourne vs. St Kilda, 1928)
Bob Kingston (South Melbourne vs. Geelong, 1965)
Peter Knights (Hawthorn vs. Carlton, 1985)
Allan La Fontaine (Melbourne vs. Hawthorn, 1934)
Nick Larkey (North Melbourne vs. Gold Coast, 2023)
Mark Lee (Richmond vs. St Kilda, 1982)
Bruce Lindner (Geelong vs. North Melbourne, 1988)
Stewart Loewe (St Kilda vs. Brisbane Bears and Geelong, both 1996)
Paul Medhurst (Fremantle vs. Brisbane Lions, 2004)
Simon Minton-Connell (Sydney vs. Fitzroy, 1994)
Hugh Mitchell (Essendon vs. South Melbourne, 1955)
Roy Moore (South Melbourne vs. Fitzroy, 1937)
Laurie Nash (South Melbourne vs. Footscray, 1937)
David Neitz (Melbourne vs. Carlton in 2002, Melbourne vs. Richmond in 2004)
Charlie Page (Footscray vs. Richmond, 1940)
Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle vs. Carlton, 2005)
Fred Phillips (St Kilda vs. Fitzroy, 1929)
Warren Ralph (Carlton vs. North Melbourne, 1984)
Noel Rayson (Geelong vs. North Melbourme, 1956)
Barry Richardson (Richmond vs. Essendon, 1972)
Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda vs. Melbourne in 2004, St Kilda vs. Carlton in 2006, St Kilda vs. Brisbane Lions in 2016)
Alan Ruthven (Fitzroy vs. Geelong, 1944)
Laurie Sandilands (Footscray vs. Geelong, 1973)
David Schwartz (Melbourne vs. Sydney, 1994)
Mark Scott (St Kilda vs. Carlton, 1980)
Doug Searl (Fitzroy vs. Hawthorn, 1968)
Larry Spokes (South Melbourne vs. St Kilda, 1949)
Darryl Sutton (North Melbourne vs. St Kilda, 1980)
Graham Teasdale (South Melbourne vs. Essendon, 1977)
Des Tuddenham (Collingwood vs. Fitzroy, 1971)
Paul Vander Haar (Essendon vs. St Kilda, 1985)
Robert Walters (Melbourne vs. Essendon, 1979)
Lance Whitnall (Carlton vs. Brisbane, 2000)
David Williams (Melbourne vs. North Melbourne, 1986)
Nicky Winmar (St Kilda vs. Melbourne, 1989)
Bill Wood (Footscray vs. Collingwood, 1944)


Larry Spokes and Joel Amartey have never kicked more than 4 goals in any other game.
Warren Ralph and Bill Wood kicked their nine goals on their league debut.
Brendan Fevola has kicked +5 goals in a game 50 times without ever kicking +10, the most ever. Does it also hurt more that his season best tally was 99 goals?
Jeremy Cameron is the only player to have a career best tally of 9 goals kicked for two separate teams.
Nick Riewoldt is the only player to have a career best tally of 9 goals in three separate games.
Larry Donohue is the only player to have kicked 100 goals in a season but never 10 goals in a game.
 

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Thanks 35 Daicos, sadly the server that held 'Rogers Results' huge library of stats was shut down a couple of years ago, and I really miss his work, but this effort of yours steps into the breech nicely.

WE might have lost a few Grand Finals, well both Geelong and Collingwood have, but certainly my lifespan has seen some pretty imperious footy from my side. Might have taken until I was 39 to see a Cats Flag, but certainly have seen lots of wins, high scores and exciting players.
 

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Connor7395 said:
Just had a sixth behind from hitting the post in tonight's Footscray vs Collingwood game. 15 minutes left in the third quarter too. I think the record is 11?
Click to expand...

I haven't seen this stat in any of the AFL Season Guides. According to the 3AW Book of Footy Records, which was published in 1989, the most posters in a VFL game are:

11 Footscray (6) vs Carlton (5) round 5, 1936
10 Richmond (7) vs Fitzroy (3) round 13, 1924
10 Collingwood (4) vs Melbourne (6) round 16, 1937
9 South Melbourne (8) vs Geelong (1) round 17, 1920
7 Melbourne (5) vs North Melbourne (2) round 5, 1936
7 Fitzroy (5) vs Sydney (2) 1987 (doesn't state which round)
6 Essendon (4) vs Geelong (2) round 10, 1914
6 Carlton (6) vs Geelong (0) round 13, 1919
6 Geelong (6) vs Fitzroy (0) 1964 (doesn't state which round)
 
Lowest and highest % of lead time in a season (AFL Tables >2001):

GWS - 2012 - 13.54%
Melbourne - 2013 - 13.80%
Gold Coast - 2011 - 14.60%
West Coast - 2022 - 14.66%
Melbourne - 2008 - 15.25%
St Kilda - 2014 - 16.14%
Essendon - 2016 - 16.51%
Carlton - 2018 - 17.46%
Brisbane - 2016 - 18.71%
GWS - 2013 - 18.73%
...
Sydney - 2016 - 73.30%
St Kilda - 2009 - 73.33%
Melbourne - 2022 - 73.86%
Geelong - 2009 - 73.92%
Brisbane - 2002 - 74.01%
Sydney - 2014 - 74.30%
Collingwood - 2011 - 74.68%
Geelong - 2008 - 74.91%
Geelong - 2007 - 77.00%
Collingwood - 2010 - 79.33%
 
worbod said:
I haven't seen this stat in any of the AFL Season Guides. According to the 3AW Book of Footy Records, which was published in 1989, the most posters in a VFL game are:

11 Footscray (6) vs Carlton (5) round 5, 1936
10 Richmond (7) vs Fitzroy (3) round 13, 1924
10 Collingwood (4) vs Melbourne (6) round 16, 1937
9 South Melbourne (8) vs Geelong (1) round 17, 1920
7 Melbourne (5) vs North Melbourne (2) round 5, 1936
7 Fitzroy (5) vs Sydney (2) 1987 (doesn't state which round)
6 Essendon (4) vs Geelong (2) round 10, 1914
6 Carlton (6) vs Geelong (0) round 13, 1919
6 Geelong (6) vs Fitzroy (0) 1964 (doesn't state which round)
Click to expand...
Geelong v Fitzroy in 1964 is probably the Round 14 match

where the match report in The Age says there were "five" posters, not six.
 

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Connor7395 said:
I notice that in last night's Saints vs Cats game, St Kilda's quarter by quarter score decreased over time (37, 28, 25, 8), and Geelong's quarter by quarter score increased over time (10, 26, 27, 28).

How many times has this happened before I wonder?
Click to expand...

Are you asking when has it happened with the team whose score gets lower ends up being victorious? I have found one other instance, when Collingwood made their big comeback against St. Kilda in round 10, 1970, so in this instance the team whose score became incrementally lower ended up being the losing team :

Collingwood scored 3, 19, 36 and 49 while St. Kilda scored 42, 32, 19 and 7.
 
Yesterday's match between Richmond and Brisbane got me thinking about how when the Tigers won their 2017 premiership, the Lions finished last, then in 2024 when the Brisbane Lions won the premiership the Richmond Tigers had slipped to last on the ladder.

This isn't the first time either - in 1980 Richmond won the premiership while the Fitzroy Lions finished last. There's also 1916 where only 4 teams competed due to World War I. While Fitzroy finished last yet won all their finals to take out the premiership, the AFL much later (2007) 'corrected' the anomaly relegating third placed Richmond, the first team to be eliminated to the 1916 wooden spoon.

And this Tiger/Lion thing extends to other high level leagues too. In the VFA in 1979 the Coburg Lions took out the 1979 Division 1 premiership, while their feline cousins the Werribee Tigers were last in Division 2. Fourteen years later and with the VFA back to one Division Werribee won the 1993 VFA flag, while Coburg finished last without a win, this just 4 years after back to back VFA flags for the Lions in 1988 and 1989, with only 1 loss for the team in the latter season.

Since becoming the VFL in 1995, there haven't been any cases of Werribee or Richmond winning the flag while Coburg or Brisbane finished last or the inverse of this, however in the decade long NEAFL the Brisbane Lions were premiers in 2013 and the Labrador Tigers finished on the bottom of the ladder.

Across the country in Perth, WAFL teams the Claremont Tigers and Subiaco Lions are both powerhouses and neither has finished last for many years, 1975 and 1996 respectively. The 1996 bottom-placed finish for Subiaco also saw the Tigers win the premiership over East Perth, with the Lions having been minor premiers in 1995 but losing the Grand Final to West Perth before sliding to last the next season. In one of football's most extraordinary coincidences, in 1973 the Subiaco Lions defeated West Perth in the Grand Final while the Claremont Tigers took out the wooden spoon. The prior year Claremont had been minor premiers but lost the Grand Final ahead of slipping to last in one season, the team that beat Claremont for the 1972 flag was East Perth.

In the SANFL and NRL there are no competing teams called the Lions nor have there ever been, but they do have the Panthers, South Adelaide and Penrith. In 1934 the Glenelg Tigers won the SANFL premiership while the South Adelaide Panthers finished last, then in the most extraordinary occurrence Glenelg would go from premiers to last in 1935 while South Adelaide rose from the 1934 wooden spoon to the 1935 flag, reversing their positions. Three years later the South Adelaide Panthers again won the premiership while the Glenelg Tigers spent the 1938 season languishing at the bottom of the ladder.

The Penrith Panthers 2022, 2023 and 2024 NRL premierships have coincided with last placed finishes for the Wests Tigers in these seasons, but prior to this there were no cases of Penrith winning a premiership the same year as either Balmain or Wests Tigers finished with the wooden spoon. And there are no cases to date of a Balmain or Wests Tigers premiership coinciding with a Penrith Panthers wooden spoon.
 
One of the more surprising stats around is the fact the Bulldogs haven't won seven consecutive matches since 1987. This occurred between rounds 8-14. Footscray was second last on the ladder with a 2-5 record before their seven game win streak and ended up 4th after round 14 with a 9-5 record.

It was Sydney who ended the Bulldogs' win streak with a 33-point victory. Sydney then won its next three matches with scores of 201, 236 & 198. A record in itself.

The Bulldogs have come close a few times to winning seven in a row. The most recent was in 2021. They won their first six matches that season and were 19 points ahead of Richmond at HT in round seven before being overrun in the second half.

After the Bulldogs won four consecutive finals to win the 2016 premiership, they went 2-0 to begin 2017. The Bulldogs were 14 points ahead of Freo at 3/4 time in round three but again they were overrun. It was the Dockers who beat the Bulldogs both times on either side of their six game win streak.

In 2009, the Bulldogs won 8 out of ten matches between rounds 7 - 16. Their two losses were totals of one point and two points. If the Bulldogs managed to win either of those two matches, they'd have managed a seven game win streak.

In 2008, the Bulldogs won 13 of their first 15 matches. In round five, they drew with Richmond (the last time the WB had a drawn match) & in round nine they lost to NM by by three points. In the NM match, Brad Johnson missed a relatively easy kick for goal after the siren which would have given the WB the win. It's incredible they failed to win seven in a row during this stretch. They managed to win six in a row between rounds 10 - 15 but unfortunately their streak was ended by a red-hot Geelong in round 16 in a top-of-the-ladder clash.

2002 is worth mentioning. The Bulldogs started the season 0-5 before winning six of their next seven. Their loss in the seven game stretch was by 10 points against Collingwood with the WB kicking a dismal 8.15.63. Some of the WB missed opportunities in front of goal were scarier than a Hitchcock movie.

In 1999, the WB started the season 2-4. Incredibly, they'd only lose another two matches yet somehow failed to win seven in a row. Their win streak was halted by Hawthorn in round 11 as the two teams tied. They'd also lose to Essendon by four points in round 14 and to Carlton in round 18 by three points. How they didn't manage seven wins in a row that season is more mysterious than an Agatha Christie novel.

In 1998, the WB won eight of their first nine matches yet failed to win seven in a row.

In 1992, the WB won eight of nine matches yet failed to win seven in a row.

This stat would be less surprising if the WB struggled on the field, but this is far from the case. They have played in 18 of the 36 final series since they last won seven in a row, which includes a premiership, a Grand Final and seven top four finishes.
 
Last edited:
For the first time in about 80-90 years, Fred Fanning's no longer in the VFL/AFL top 100 most kicked goals of all time.

Charlie Cameron's knocked him to 101st with one time 400 goalkicker (now 399) Cliff Rankin on 102nd.
 
Scores so far this season:

1747631120963.png

1747631197481.png


Some observations:
  • Saints and WB are the only teams to have scored the most and conceded the fewest points in the same round.
  • GCS are the only team to have been the highest scoring team in the round more than once.
  • Collingwood and Hawthorn are the only two teams to have conceded the fewest points in a round more than once.
  • BL have scored exactly 118 points on three occasions.
  • Richmond are the only team yet to score 100 points.
  • Five of Sydney's ten scores have been between 76 - 79.
  • Five of WCE's ten scores have been between 74 - 79.
  • GCS have failed to score 100 points on only three occasions. The next best is five.
  • 97 points is the most frequent score. This has been achieved six times.

NB: If a score is shaded in yellow background, that represents that team conceding the fewest points that round. I.e. Collingwood in round one is highlighted yellow because they conceded 45 points.
 

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