THE 10-goal haul has just about become football’s equivalent of a century in a session in Test cricket: a rare statistic.

When West Coast’s Josh Kennedy bagged 10.3 against the Western Bulldogs at Patersons Stadium last Sunday, he became just the eighth individual since 2000 to reach double figures.

In all, there have been 12 instances of 10 goals or more in a game since 2000 yet, in the decade 1990-99, there were 69 hauls of 10 or more goals kicked by 21 individuals.

Of course, it was a decade dominated by superstar forwards such as Tony Lockett, Jason Dunstall and Gary Ablett snr. Between them, they accounted for 39 of those 69 hauls, with Lockett kicking 19 for St Kilda and later Sydney, Dunstall 12 for Hawthorn and Ablett eight for Geelong.

The 1990s also produced occasional 10-goal bags from Collingwood’s Saverio Rocca (five) and Adelaide’s Tony Modra (four) and one-off 10-goal performances from players such as Melbourne’s Garry Lyon, Adelaide’s Scott Hodges, Richmond’s Jeff Hogg and North Melbourne’s Adrian McAdam.

But the flooding tactics and defensive zones and presses of the 2000s have seen the demise of the 10-goal haul.

Scott Cummings kicked two for West Coast in 2000, Fraser Gehrig two for St Kilda (2004 and 2006) and Matthew Lloyd two for Essendon (2001 and 2003), while St Kilda’s Stephen Milne (2005) and Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown (2007) have done it once. Eagle Peter Sumich did it twice (1991 and 1992.)

There was a three-year break before Jack Riewoldt kicked 10 for Richmond against West Coast in round 12, 2010, and four weeks later, Eagle Mark LeCras bagged 12 against Essendon.

Since 1897, there have been 271 instances of 10 goals or more in a game and 107 individuals, including Kennedy, have kicked 10 or more in a match.

A list of every player to have kicked 10 or more goals in a game appears on page 657 of the AFL Record Season Guide 2011.

This story first appeared in the AFL Record