JESSE Hogan will complete a remarkable rise to the top of the AFL's goalkicking charts this weekend and the Greater Western Sydney spearhead is on track to become one of the most accurate Coleman Medal winners in the award's history.
With a game to come against the Western Bulldogs in round 24, Hogan has kicked 67 goals and 23 behinds from 101 shots this year (11 shots didn't score), putting him 10 goals clear of two-time Coleman winner Charlie Curnow with a round to play.
FULL LIST Coleman Medal history & winners
Unless he puts in an uncharacteristically wayward showing against the Bulldogs on Sunday, Hogan will become the most accurate Coleman winner in two decades.
Since 2002 when Champion Data began measuring total shots on goal, only Matthew Lloyd (71.9 per cent in 2003) and Fraser Gehrig (70.3 per cent in 2004) have won the Coleman with greater accuracy than Hogan's current rate of 66.3 per cent.
Put simply, Hogan has done more with less. Of the 22 Coleman winners since 2002, the only player with fewer shots on goal than Hogan's 101 is Tom Hawkins (73) in the COVID-reduced season of 2020.
Remarkably, Hogan has had less than half the number of shots on goal that Lance Franklin (207) had in his famous 2008 campaign, when the Hawthorn champion finished with 102 goals and an accuracy rate of 49.3 per cent. Franklin is the only Coleman winner since 2002 to have an accuracy rate of less than 50 per cent, doing it three times - in 2017, 2011 and 2008.
Comparisons with legendary goalkickers of previous eras are also favourable to Hogan.
While total scoring shots are not officially measured before 2002 and data on behinds kicked in games last century can be unreliable, Hogan's current goals/behinds rate of 74.44 per cent places him fourth among all Coleman winners in the past 50 years. Only Lloyd in 2003 (75.61 per cent) and 2001 (74.47 per cent) and Tony Lockett in 1998 (75.35 per cent) are ahead of him.
While legendary goalkickers like Jason Dunstall, Gary Ablett snr and Doug Wade sometimes kicked double the number of goals Hogan has kicked this year, none did so with a goals/behinds rate of better than 70 per cent.
As far as records are known (and again, the data can be unreliable), the most accurate Coleman-winning season of all time was also the most prolific in the game's history; the great Peter Hudson is recorded to have kicked 146 goals and 44 behinds in the home and away season of 1970, an accuracy rate of 76.84 per cent.
However you spin it, Hogan has produced an historically accurate season. But he hasn't just kicked goals himself; of the 75 players to have kicked 20 or more goals this year, he ranks ninth for score involvements (146).
"Watching over the weekend and this year, he gets so many other players involved," Lloyd, a three-time Coleman winner, said on AFL.com.au's Access All Areas this week. "He just doesn't kick goals; he involves so many others.
"(Against Fremantle on Saturday) he was in the centre of the ground and he ran another 60 or 70 metres and burned off his opponent (before kicking a goal).
"They had no answer for him over the weekend."
The No.2 selection in the 2012 mini-draft, Hogan has gone the long way to the top via stints at Melbourne, Fremantle and now the Giants. He is set to become just the second Coleman winner after Scott Cummings in 1999 to do so at his third club.
And he's poised to do it as one of the most clinical sharpshooters in the history of the game.
Accuracy of Coleman Medal winners, 2002-2024 (total shots)
YEAR | PLAYER | GOALS | SHOTS AT GOAL | ACCURACY |
---|---|---|---|---|
2003 |
Matthew Lloyd |
87 |
121 |
71.9% |
2004 |
Fraser Gehrig |
90 |
128 |
70.3% |
2024* |
Jesse Hogan |
67 |
101 |
66.3% |
2002 |
David Neitz |
75 |
116 |
64.7% |
2013 |
Jarryd Roughead |
68 |
110 |
61.8% |
2023 |
Charlie Curnow |
78 |
127 |
61.4% |
2016 |
Josh J. Kennedy |
80 |
132 |
60.6% |
2007 |
Jonathan Brown |
77 |
129 |
59.7% |
2010 |
Jack Riewoldt |
78 |
133 |
58.7% |
2020 |
Tom Hawkins |
42 |
73 |
57.5% |
2005 |
Fraser Gehrig |
74 |
129 |
57.4% |
2006 |
Brendan Fevola |
84 |
147 |
57.1% |
2021 |
Harry McKay |
58 |
102 |
56.9% |
2015 |
Josh J. Kennedy |
75 |
133 |
56.4% |
2018 |
Jack Riewoldt |
65 |
117 |
55.6% |
2022 |
Charlie Curnow |
64 |
117 |
54.7% |
2014 |
Lance Franklin |
67 |
123 |
54.5% |
2012 |
Jack Riewoldt |
65 |
124 |
52.4% |
2019 |
Jeremy Cameron |
67 |
129 |
51.9% |
2009 |
Brendan Fevola |
86 |
172 |
50.0% |
2017 |
Lance Franklin |
69 |
139 |
49.6% |
2008 |
Lance Franklin |
102 |
207 |
49.3% |
2011 |
Lance Franklin |
71 |
144 |
49.3% |
Accuracy of Coleman Medal winners, 1974-2024 (goals and behinds)
YEAR |
PLAYER |
GOALS |
BEHINDS |
SCORING SHOTS |
ACCURACY |
2003 |
Matthew Lloyd |
87 |
28 |
115 |
75.65% |
1998 |
Tony Lockett |
107 |
35 |
142 |
75.35% |
2001 |
Matthew Lloyd |
96 |
32 |
128 |
75.00% |
2024 |
Jesse Hogan |
67 |
23 |
90 |
74.44% |
1980 |
Michael Roach |
107 |
37 |
144 |
74.31% |
1981 |
Michael Roach |
86 |
31 |
117 |
73.50% |
2004 |
Fraser Gehrig |
90 |
34 |
124 |
72.58% |
1984 |
Bernie Quinlan |
102 |
39 |
141 |
72.34% |
1991 |
Tony Lockett |
118 |
46 |
164 |
71.95% |
1985 |
Simon Beasley |
93 |
37 |
130 |
71.54% |
2013 |
Jarryd Roughead |
68 |
28 |
96 |
70.83% |
1977 |
Peter Hudson |
105 |
45 |
150 |
70.00% |
1999 |
Scott Cummings |
88 |
38 |
126 |
69.84% |
1987 |
Tony Lockett |
117 |
52 |
169 |
69.23% |
2016 |
Josh Kennedy |
80 |
36 |
116 |
68.97% |
1974 |
Doug Wade |
91 |
42 |
133 |
68.42% |
2002 |
David Neitz |
75 |
35 |
110 |
68.18% |
1993 |
Gary Ablett |
124 |
60 |
184 |
67.39% |
1988 |
Jason Dunstall |
124 |
61 |
185 |
67.03% |
2007 |
Jonathan Brown |
77 |
38 |
115 |
66.96% |
1997 |
Tony Modra |
81 |
40 |
121 |
66.94% |
2010 |
Jack Riewoldt |
78 |
39 |
117 |
66.67% |
2018 |
Jack Riewoldt |
65 |
33 |
98 |
66.33% |
1996 |
Tony Lockett |
114 |
59 |
173 |
65.90% |
2023 |
Charlie Curnow |
78 |
41 |
119 |
65.55% |
1989 |
Jason Dunstall |
128 |
70 |
198 |
64.65% |
1978 |
Kevin Templeton |
118 |
65 |
183 |
64.48% |
1976 |
Larry Donohue |
99 |
56 |
155 |
63.87% |
2021 |
Harry McKay |
58 |
33 |
91 |
63.74% |
2020 |
Tom Hawkins |
42 |
25 |
67 |
62.69% |
2000 |
Matthew Lloyd |
94 |
56 |
150 |
62.67% |
1994 |
Gary Ablett |
113 |
68 |
181 |
62.43% |
1992 |
Jason Dunstall |
139 |
84 |
223 |
62.33% |
1990 |
John Longmire |
98 |
60 |
158 |
62.03% |
1983 |
Bernie Quinlan |
106 |
66 |
172 |
61.63% |
1986 |
Brian Taylor |
100 |
63 |
163 |
61.35% |
2006 |
Brendan Fevola |
84 |
53 |
137 |
61.31% |
2005 |
Fraser Gehrig |
74 |
47 |
121 |
61.16% |
1982 |
Malcolm Blight |
94 |
60 |
154 |
61.04% |
2009 |
Brendan Fevola |
86 |
56 |
142 |
60.56% |
2022 |
Charlie Curnow |
64 |
42 |
106 |
60.38% |
2014 |
Lance Franklin |
67 |
44 |
111 |
60.36% |
2015 |
Josh Kennedy |
75 |
50 |
125 |
60.00% |
2019 |
Jeremy Cameron |
67 |
45 |
112 |
59.82% |
1975 |
Leigh Matthews |
67 |
45 |
112 |
59.82% |
1979 |
Kevin Templeton |
91 |
62 |
153 |
59.48% |
1995 |
Gary Ablett |
118 |
81 |
199 |
59.30% |
2012 |
Jack Riewoldt |
65 |
48 |
113 |
57.52% |
2011 |
Lance Franklin |
71 |
54 |
125 |
56.80% |
2017 |
Lance Franklin |
69 |
56 |
125 |
55.20% |
2008 |
Lance Franklin |
102 |
84 |
186 |
54.84% |