IF ST Kilda first-year player Jack Billings doesn't concede a free kick in the final four games he'll set a quirky record.

 

According to Champion Data no player has completed a season since 1999 with more than 13 games next to their name without conceding a free kick.

 

Amazingly Billings has not conceded a free kick in his first 15 games.

 

He wears No.15, been paid 15 free kicks, averages 15 disposals (well, 14.7 if you want to use a decimal point) and kicked 15 behinds in his first 15 games.

 

But he has not given away a free kick.

 

So if he manages to get through the final four games of 2014 with a clean sheet he will hold a one-season record that, to be honest, never really existed until Billings' remarkable run reached this point.

 

Consider this: only 47 of the 642 players who have played this season are yet to give away a free kick.

 

Apart from Billings, the player with the next highest games tally in 2014 without giving away a free kick is five.

 

North Melbourne's Scott McMahon, Carlton's Nick Graham and a mate of Billings, Richmond's Ben Lennon, have managed to play that many games without conceding a free.

 

That is some effort from the skilful small forward who was selection No.3 in last year's NAB AFL Draft.

 

Champion Data concedes a player may have played 15 games in a season without conceding a free kick before giving one away in games 16 to 22.

 

But to determine whether that has happened is so close to impossible it's impractical. 

 

However Billings doesn't hold the record for most games since debut without conceding a free kick.

 

He needs to play five more games before matching former Hawk and Carlton in-and-under player Brett Johnson – now with the AFLPA – who did not concede a free kick between his debut in 2000 until he played game No.21 in 2002.

 

Johnson told AFL.com.au he had no idea that was the case but did say he prided himself on never giving away a 50-metre penalty in 200 games of senior football. Amazingly Johnson only gave away 18 free kicks in 70 games (but only received 15 himself).

 

"Maybe it means I didn't get involved enough," Johnson joked.

 

No problem there, as Johnson was a renowned stoppage player.

 

Steven Armstrong, who played in a premiership with West Coast, played his first 19 games with Melbourne without conceding a free kick.

 

Armstrong had 15 frees for and none against after his first season and finished his career with 84 frees for and just 26 against.

 

The Billings watch is on. Don't pay a free kick against him, umps!

2014: GAMES WITHOUT A FREE KICK