The mantra that ‘we didn’t take our chances’ is rolled out every week in AFL circles so those who can deliver in front of goal are priceless to their clubs.
Adelaide’s Jason Porplyzia is setting the current standard for goal-front accuracy.
He has booted 13 goals straight in his five games this season [and put on 18 tackles] and hasn’t kicked a behind since round 18 last season.
That takes his run to 15.0 but he has a long way to go to beat Tony ‘Plugger’ Lockett.
According to AFL statistician Col Hutchinson, Lockett registered 29 goals zero behinds from rounds 18-21 in 1995 while playing for the Sydney Swans.
That included a magnificent 16.0 against Fitzroy in round 19 [with one tackle as well].
After registering the Swans’ first behind in round 18, he finished the match with 6.1, followed by 6.0 in round 19, 16.0 in round 20 and a behind after the first of his seven goals in round 21. He finished that match with 7.4.
“It is highly likely to be a record at AFL level,” Hutchinson told afl.com.au.
“Other such cases are very difficult to record, particularly in the pre-television era.”
Lockett’s achievement was no fluke.
He booted 12.0 twice while at St Kilda, and 11.1 three times.
Melbourne’s Fred Fanning also had a good day when he set the all-time record in 1947, with 18.1.
Recent dead-eye dicks include Geelong’s Cameron Ling who booted 20.2 between round 11, 2006 and round 8, 2007 as the Cats morphed from pretenders to contenders.
Ling booted 28.6 in Geelong’s premiership year but for consistent recent accuracy it is hard to go past Stephen Milne’s season tally of 50.11 in 2002.
Milne also has the best one-off performance of current players with 11.0 against Brisbane Lions in 2005.
Others of note of the current crop include Collingwood forward John Anthony who booted 13 in a row during a stellar run late in the 2008 season and Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer, who had a dream start to his AFL career last year, nailing 10 goals before registering his first behind.
On the other side of the ledger are the likes of Melbourne’s Stuart Spencer who somehow managed 0.11 against Geelong in round five, 1956 and Tom Allen of Richmond who matched that wasteful total in 1949.
The only recent contender in the inaccuracy stakes in recent times is Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin whose return of 2.11 against the Western Bulldogs in round 21, 2007 at Docklands.
