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A comment I made in my previous article about it being harder than ever to make it into top 100 game players is borne out by an examination of records at the older clubs.
My earlier piece covered the top 100 AFL/VFL game players but it can take many seasons of consistent football to even make it to the bottom rung of your club’s top 100 game players.
In fact, four clubs will not have a player able to join the current champions in this elite group.
At Carlton, Levi Casboult is the leader of the chasing pack and he is 30 games adrift from joining the Blues elite game players.
However, Casboult is poised to earn a seat at the top 100 end of year function in 2019 as a goal scorer.
He was one goal away from joining champion Chris Judd and Chris Yarran in the 100th spot after Round 13 this year but managed only two more games and no goals so Judd and Yarran earned one more year as members of the Blues’ goal kicking elite.
Geelong also are unlikely to have a new member of the top 100 game players unless Jordan Murdoch has an extraordinary year and plays 24 games to bridge the gap between him and the quartet of champions currently on the bottom rung: Bert Rankin, Fred Wooller, Paul Vinar and Robert Scott.
At Melbourne, even if the Demons made it through to the Grand Final the hard way, playing all 26 games, no one can climb the ladder sufficiently to join Jack Collins, Gary Baker and Glen Lovett in 100th place.
Max Gawn – now the leading game player outside the top 100 with the retirement of Bernie Vince – should play his 100th game in Round 1 and be well placed to make the list in 2020, along with Jack Viney who sits one game behind Gawn.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
And Hawthorn, in their deliberations on list management removed the only two players within coo-ee of becoming top 100.
Taylor Duryea – only three games away from making the list – was cleared to the Western Bulldogs after six years at the club and Brendan Whitecross who despite being at the club for ten years (including one ‘lost’ year) was still ten games away from being top 100 was subsequently delisted.
Even at North Melbourne Ben Brown, the one contender for the top 100 game players list, will need to have a stellar year after his recent operation to join Kevin McMahon and Darren Steele in 99th position. He will need to play 20 games.
The only likely candidate at two other clubs to join the elite should have a much easier task. At Collingwood, Ben Reid – who only needed nine games last year to equal Frank Murphy at Number 100 should pick up the three games he still needs and – hopefully – many more to climb into safe territory on the list and ensure his spot for years to come.
St Kilda’s Sebastian Ross has become a critical member of the Saints’ team and will be one of the first picked for the 13 games he needs to make the top 100.
Essendon’s Mark Baguley – the most senior player outside the Bomber’s top 100 game players since the delisting of Brendon Goddard – needs nine games to equal Courtney Dempsey in the 100th spot and based on previous years should achieve this mid-season in 2019.
On the other hand, David Myers and Tom Bellchambers would need stellar seasons to make the cut.
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