I always look forward to the start of a new AFL season, not just to see how my team Collingwood will perform, but to see the emergence of the future stars of the game across all clubs and the ongoing performances of the current champions, no matter what colour jumper they wear.
As a keen statistical nut, I also celebrate the achievements of the elite: those players who have been around long enough and have been successful enough to be part of the history of whatever club or clubs they have represented.
For the AFL as a whole, this means playing nearly 300 games and/or kicking nearly 400 goals to make the lists of the top 100 players of all time, and the last few years have provided a number of achievers.
Four of last year’s AFL games elite retired, including Shaun Burgoyne (who became the fifth player to play 400 games and finished third on the all time games list), Eddie Betts (who played 350 games and kicked 640 goals while exciting the fans at Carlton and Adelaide), and two club stalwarts, Marc Murphy (Carlton) and Nathan Jones (Melbourne).
Jones missed out on Melbourne’s exciting and long overdue premiership win and failed to join David Neitz as the greatest game player for the Demons by only four games.
Despite the four retirements, there is still an impressive list of eight top 100 AFL game players playing on this year, headed up by Fremantle’s David ‘Barra’ Mundy, who currently sits in 15th place on the list with 354 games.
(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
In his final game last year, he took over the number one position on the Dockers’ list from champion Matthew Pavlich, who retired in 2016.
If Mundy has a good year with form and fitness by the end of the season he could be ranked as high as eighth.
Equal second on the list of current players are Geelong’s Joel Selwood and Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury.
The fact that they have both played 334 games highlights the vagaries of moving up the games played ladder.
Pendlebury’s season ended after Round 19 last year with a broken leg, while Selwood continued on for another seven weeks with the inclusion of three finals.
Again, good seasons could see these club leaders move up as high as 15th on the all-time games played list.
Five other players sit on the list with over 300 games to their credit, and four of the five are one-club players: Travis Boak (Port Adelaide – 306 games), Jack Riewoldt (Richmond – 305), Tom Hawkins (Geelong – 302 games) and Shannon Hurn (West Coast – 301). They all brought up their 300th game during 2021.
The other top 100 player, Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, started 2021 on exactly 300 games and now sits on 318.
He started his career at Hawthorn and moved on to Sydney and is currently only five goals short of joining the other five top 100 goal scorers who have scored in excess of 1000 goals.
Four other players (providing their fitness and form hold out) are capable of becoming top 100 AFL players before the end of the 2022 season: Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide and Geelong), Shane Edwards (Richmond), Josh Kennedy (Hawthorn and Sydney) and Josh Kennedy (Carlton and West Coast).
For the AFL top 100 goal scorers, only one (Eddie Betts) retired while nine continued on and are almost certain to be joined by Richmond’s Tom Lynch, who is only 14 goals away from joining the elite.
Eleven of today’s coaches and 18 of today’s umpires also are part of the AFL top 100 lists.
Stephen Shortis
Roar Guru
Thanks Chris M, I keep the Top 100 game players and goal scorers for each club as well as the AFL, Coaches and Umpires. I generally try to feature the players who falls off the list as well when it actually happens.
Chris M
Guest
You've made some good points there. Lockett holds bragging rights with the goalkicking record but whoever holds the record isn't necessarily the best. I'll bet Lockett would swap his goalkicking record with Dunstall for a premiership medal. There are so many variables in making such assessments about which full forward is the best. It is really just a matter of opinion rather than something that can be measured. Lockett and Dunstall each had strengths and weaknesses. Do you look purely at goals, how they scored them, what impact they each had or how they contributed in other ways other than goalkicking. Another spanner in the works is whether Ablett Snr would have kicked more goals than any of them had he played at full-forward during his whole career. I think Peter Hudson may have had a better goal average per game even though he played fewer games than all of the above. When you compare the greats of earlier eras, you also find that the key forwards have been gradually becoming on average taller too. The way the game is played has changed too. As you said, discussing who was the best at anything or of two or more players always makes a good conversation topic.
Chris M
Guest
Great work. Statisticians keep so many records of what's happening in a game these days: tackles, possessions, contested possessions, marks, contested marks, score involvements, score assists, to name a few. It's good that someone is being paid to compile them, and you and I can just sit back and enjoy the game and mull over what the statistics tell us later. I'm not sure how many top 100 categories you are surveying, but top 100 goals and games is a good starting point, and probably the categories that interest people the most. When a player enters the top 100 in any category, it's always good to know which player makes way too.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
That's an interesting one as well. Looking at full forwards and Coleman medallist - Plugger kicked more goals than Dunstall and is therefore often regarded as the greatest full forward. And obviously he was an elite champion of the game. But Dunstall I thought was much more selfless and gave more goals to team mates and played on the big grounds where as Plugger played a lot of footy on the SCG postage stamp where a good forward could easily have a day out. Conversely it could be argued I suppose Dunstall often played in a champion team and may have received better delivery and more opportunities.......but Plugger was often in good teams. My labouring point is stats just can't tell everything...but can make for an interesting yarn. Thanks.
Stephen Shortis
Roar Guru
Thanks Kevo, I agree all the forwards get the most credit because their performances are counted each week, hence the Coleman medal. etc.
Kevo
Roar Rookie
An interesting and informative read. Not overly into stats but obviously have their place. The top 100 of all time seems to have a pretty dubious definition. What about the backman who stops 400 goals or whatever it is...so many things that can't be measured, analysed and put into a computer. Go the Pies!