AFL

Career leaders for each stat in AFL history

Take a look at the top 10 leaders – totals and averages – for the notable stats in Australia’s greatest game.

Published by
Frank Seal

For nearly 70 years in the VFL competition, goals were the only individual stat recorded, dating back to 1897 when Geelong's Eddy James took home the yet-to-be-named Coleman Medal with 27 snags.

Disposals and marks were the next individual stats to enter the equation, records dating back to 1965 when legendary Blood Bobby Skilton was racking up nearly 30 touches a game and Bomber Ken Fraser reeled in eight marks.

One year later, Carlton icon John Nicholls' ruck dominance became recognised in the history books with hitouts becoming a recorded stat. His 37 per game was 15 more than the next best in 1966.

It took another 21 years for tackles to be added in 1987, rewarding the likes of Michael Tuck and Robert DiPierdomenico for their defensive pressure, albeit with each recording less than three per game.

From 1998 onwards, the AFL went through somewhat of an analytical revolution, with some of the most important and informative metrics of the modern era entering the statistical fold, notably clearances, rebound 50s and inside 50s in '98, contested possessions and marks as well as one-percenters in '99, before goal assists in 2003.

Other important performance indicators today, such as score involvements and contest win percentage were included in the 2010's, making them hard to analyse in a historical context, as valuable as they are.

This piece goes through the leaders - for totals and averages - for some of the notable player stats in VFL/AFL history: disposals, marks, goals, hit-outs, tackles, clearances, contested possessions, contested marks and one percenters.

We'll see which names feature the most and which stats may be inflated to support the modern style of footy.

At a glance, it seems the current greats will trump past ones in a host of totals metrics; each of the top 10 disposal average leaders is current players, for example.

Some players benefit from inflated averages with certain stats being added during the prime of their career. Brett Ratten has the highest average for clearances, despite having less than half the amount of Lachie Neale for example, having only played 113 of his 255 matches with the stat being recorded.

With all factors considered, here are the career leaders of each of the following AFL stats:

LEADERBOARD LISTED BELOW

DISPOSALS
Total: Average:
  1. Scott Pendlebury* - 10,164
  2. Robert Harvey - 9,656
  3. Brent Harvey - 9,213
  4. Kevin Bartlett - 9,151
  5. Gary Ablett Jnr. - 8,896
  6. Craig Bradley - 8,776
  7. Joel Selwood - 8,746
  8. Sam Mitchell - 8,687
  9. Travis Boak* - 8,452
  10. Michael Tuck - 8,423
  1. Nick Daicos* - 28.81
  2. Clayton Oliver* - 28.69
  3. Tom Mitchell* - 28.63
  4. Matt Crouch* - 28.34
  5. Jack Macrae* - 28.05
  6. Adam Treloar* - 27.97
  7. Sam Walsh* - 27.66
  8. Lachie Neale* - 27.33
  9. Zach Merrett* - 27.24
  10. Rory Laird* - 27.08

 

MARKS
Total: Average:
  1. Nick Riewoldt - 2,944
  2. Gary Dempsey - 2,906
  3. Stewart Loewe - 2,503
  4. Matthew Richardson - 2,270
  5. Brad Johnson - 2,153
  6. Paul Roos - 2,140
  7. Brendon Goddard - 2,103
  8. Simon Madden - 2,063
  9. Matthew Pavlich - 2,046
  10. Adam Goodes - 2,038
  1. Gary Dempsey - 8.86
  2. Nick Riewoldt - 8.76
  3. Graham Moss - 8.59
  4. Greg Parke - 8.34
  5. Matthew Richardson - 8.05
  6. Stewart Loewe - 7.80
  7. Bill Ryan - 7.49
  8. James Sicily* - 7.19
  9. Jonathan Brown - 7.08
  10. Stephen Kernahan - 7.01

 

GOALS
Total: Average:
  1. Tony Lockett - 1,360
  2. Gordon Coventry - 1,299
  3. Jason Dunstall - 1,254
  4. Lance Franklin - 1,066
  5. Doug Wade - 1,057
  6. Gary Ablett Snr. - 1,031
  7. Jack Titus - 970
  8. Matthew Lloyd - 926
  9. Leigh Matthews - 915
  10. Peter McKenna - 874
  1. Peter Hudson - 5.64
  2. John Coleman - 5.48
  3. Tony Lockett - 4.84
  4. Jason Dunstall - 4.66
  5. Peter McKenna - 4.58
  6. Bob Pratt - 4.31
  7. Ron Todd - 4.30
  8. Gordon Coventry - 4.25
  9. Gary Ablett Snr. - 4.16
  10. Doug Wade - 3.96

 

HIT OUTS
Total: Average:
  1. Todd Goldstein* - 10,162
  2. Aaron Sandilands - 8,502
  3. Max Gawn* - 7,245
  4. Sam Jacobs - 6,787
  5. Dean Cox - 6,628
  6. Brodie Grundy* - 6,496
  7. Gary Dempsey - 6,479
  8. Shane Mumford - 6,352
  9. Jarrod Witts* - 5,880
  10. Justin Madden - 5,746
  1. Reilly O'Brien* - 34.05
  2. Jarrod Witts* - 33.41
  3. Max Gawn* - 33.08
  4. Sam Jacobs - 32.63
  5. Aaron Sandilands - 31.37
  6. Todd Goldstein* - 30.98
  7. Brodie Grundy* - 30.93
  8. Sean Darcy* - 30.77
  9. Shane Mumford - 29.41
  10. Billy Longer - 29.14

 

TACKLES
Total: Average:
  1. Scott Pendlebury* - 1,871
  2. Joel Selwood - 1,799
  3. Matt Priddis - 1,629
  4. Liam Shiels* - 1,545
  5. Travis Boak* - 1,535
  6. Gary Ablett Jnr. - 1,534
  7. Lenny Hayes - 1,496
  8. Shaun Burgoyne - 1,492
  9. Jude Bolton - 1,490
  10. Josh P. Kennedy - 1,488
  1. Matt Rowell* - 7.19
  2. Jack Steele* - 7.09
  3. Matt Priddis - 6.79
  4. Andrew Swallow - 6.61
  5. Hugh Greenwood* - 6.55
  6. James Rowbottom* - 6.37
  7. Ben Howlett - 6.11
  8. Sam Berry* - 6.08
  9. Willem Drew* - 6.06
  10. Josh Dunkley* - 6.04

 

CLEARANCES
Total: Average:
  1. Joel Selwood - 1,844
  2. Josh P. Kennedy - 1,810
  3. Sam Mitchell - 1,803
  4. Patrick Dangerfield* - 1,787
  5. Scott Pendlebury* - 1,739
  6. Simon Black - 1,715
  7. Lachie Neale* - 1,642
  8. Gary Ablett Jnr. - 1,546
  9. Travis Boak* - 1,527
  10. Chris Judd - 1,499
  1. Brett Ratten - 7.21
  2. Patrick Cripps* - 7.11
  3. Clayton Oliver* - 6.34
  4. Tom liberatore* - 6.29
  5. Lachie Neale* - 6.29
  6. Josh P. Kennedy - 6.24
  7. Matt Rowell* - 6.21
  8. Matt Priddis - 6.15
  9. Caleb Serong* - 5.91
  10. Josh Francou - 5.72

 

CONTESTED POSSESSIONS
Total: Average:
  1. Patrick Dangerfield* - 4,316
  2. Scott Pendlebury* - 4,113
  3. Josh P. Kennedy - 4,007
  4. Gary Ablett Jnr. - 4,000
  5. Joel Selwood - 3,983
  6. Travis Boak* - 3,577
  7. Simon Black - 3,523
  8. Lachie Neale* - 3,423
  9. David Mundy - 3,418
  10. Sam Mitchell - 3,400
  1. Clayton Oliver* - 15.15
  2. Patrick Cripps* - 14.63
  3. Josh P. Kennedy - 13.82
  4. Nat Fyfe* - 13.45
  5. Matt Priddis - 13.24
  6. Patrick Dangerfield* - 13.16
  7. Lachie Neale* - 13.11
  8. Matt Rowell* - 12.59
  9. Tom Green* - 12.43
  10. Tom Liberatore* - 12.25

 

CONTESTED MARKS
Total: Average:
  1. Nick Riewoldt - 645
  2. Tom Hawkins* - 640
  3. Lance Franklin - 575
  4. Jack Riewoldt - 545
  5. Travis Cloke - 521
  6. Barry Hall - 519
  7. Matthew Richardson - 506
  8. Jonathan Brown - 490
  9. Matthew Pavlich - 481
  10. Drew Petrie - 480
  1. Matthew Richardson - 2.77
  2. Stewart Loewe - 2.52
  3. Wayne Carey - 2.22
  4. Corey McKernan - 2.16
  5. Harry McKay* - 2.15
  6. Anthony Rocca - 2.13
  7. Matthew Lloyd - 2.09
  8. Tom Lynch* - 2.08
  9. James Podsiadly - 2.08
  10. Travis Cloke - 2.04

 

ONE PERCENTERS
Total: Average:
  1. Harris Andrews*
  2. Josh Gibson*
  3. Steven May*
  4. Dustin Fletcher
  5. Alex Rance
  6. Dale Morris
  7. Harry Taylor
  8. Daniel Talia
  9. Ted Richards
  10. Brian Lake
  1. Harris Andrews* - 9.32
  2. Dougal Howard* - 8.48
  3. Ryan Gardner - 8.32
  4. Tom Barrass* - 8.20
  5. Lewis Young* - 8.11
  6. Sam Collins* - 7.99
  7. Alex Rance - 7.78
  8. Rory Thompson - 7.72
  9. Joel Hamling - 7.59
  10. Justin Clarke 7.52


LEADERBOARD

5 - Lachie Neale

5 - Josh P. Kennedy

4 - Scott Pendlebury

4 - Gary Ablett Jnr.

4 - Joel Selwood

4 - Travis Boak

4 - Matthew Richardson

4 - Matt Priddis

3 - Sam Mitchell

3 - Clayton Oliver

3 - Nick Riewoldt

3 - Gary Dempsey

3 - Stewart Loewe

3 - Matt Rowell

3 - Patrick Dangerfield

Published by
Frank Seal
5 months ago