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One of the sad aspects of the trade period can be the loss of a favourite son to another team when you were looking forward to seeing him in your club colours for years to come.
While nowadays more games are played by more players than at any time in the history of the AFL, I still consider it special to see a player’s loyalty, commitment and talent rewarded when he earns a place at the legends table by making it into the top 10 game players or goal scorers for his club.
At some clubs it now takes a minimum of seven years of good football and resilience to even break into the top-100 list of games played or goals scored, so to have a player in the all-time top 10 at your club is, as Bruce McAvaney would say, something special.
Barring unexpected trade deals or surprise retirements over the summer, only four AFL clubs will not have a player who has already reached or has the potential to reach the status of a top-10 game player or goal scorer at his club by the end of the 2019 season.
The supporters of Brisbane, Essendon, North Melbourne and St Kilda will unfortunately not have the enjoyment of cheering on a top-10 legend at their club regardless of the state of the game or the season, whereas all the other club supporters can at least console themselves with the fact that, despite the result, they have watched one of their team’s all-time legends add to his reputation.
At Adelaide, Richard Douglas will finish in his current No.9 position no matter how many games he plays. The Crows, however, are well served by current-day goal scorers, with Taylor Walker already ranked No.2 and only 57 goals away from the top spot. Josh Jenkins (No.5) and Eddie Betts (No.6) should both kick enough goals to finish No.3 and No.4 respectfully.
(Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)
At Carlton, Kade Simpson sits No.5 and could rise to No.4 or, with an exceptional year, even No.3. Marc Murphy will join him in the top 10 with seven more games.
Scott Pendlebury needs only one more game to claim outright third position at the Magpies, but he will stay in that position for the whole of 2019.
At Fremantle, David Mundy, Aaron Sandilands and Stephen Hill are already top-10 game players, and Hayden Ballantyne, Michael Walters and Nat Fyfe top-10 goal scorers.
At Geelong, Joel Selwood is only two games away from being on the top-10 list, while Tom Hawkins will remain the No.3 goal kicker at the Cats.
At the two youngest clubs, Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney Jarrod Harbrow (Suns) and Callan Ward (Greater Western Sydney) will remain No.1 and build their long-term prospects of remaining so.
Jarryd Roughead will remain at No.9 on the games played list at Hawthorn, but he has good prospects of rising from No.6 on the goals-scored list to No.4. Luke Breust is also already a top-10 goal scorer.
Jack Riewoldt is a potential top-10 game player and should claim outright fourth position as a goal scorer ahead of Michael Roach.
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