Roar Guru
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An AFL fan who loves the concept of the Top 100 AFL game players and goal scorers in the AFL and at each club and the annual functions to celebrate these achievements. Also the Top 100 in the Umpiring and Coaching categories.
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After achieving the ultimate goal of a premiership in 2024, history and the loss of a key forward will present the Lions with a…
Charlie Curnow sits equal 16th, and Harry McKay is equal 20 in the Top 100 Goal Scorers list.
Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom the leading two current players on the Top 100 list - and they are also the all-time leading game players at the Magpies.
Hawks supporters had plenty to smile about in season 2024. After losing their opening five games, Hawthorn sprang into action and gradually climbed up…
Jake Stringer’s departure leaves the club with a meagre two Top 100 goal scorers.
Whilst last year was an improvement on season 2023, it fell well short of season 2022 when the Dockers finished sixth.
Geelong will be looking for success again in 2025. After smashing Port Adelaide by 84 points in the qualifying final, Geelong held a handy…
Damien Hardwick has had the benefit of one full season to assess his playing list and will be looking for some signs of success in 2025.
The fourth quarter fade out against eventual premiers Brisbane was particularly galling and may have left a scar on the Giants that may take some time to heal.
I have a good mate who is very dirty on Collingwood. Now that is nothing unusual, as he barracks for Melbourne. However, unlike most…
The Demons are well-placed among the top 100 game players with a total of seven.
The 2020 decade has been particularly bad with the Kangaroos finishing in the bottom two teams on every occasion.
Ken Hinkley has been coaching the Power since 2013 and in that time has shown himself to be a master coach, reinventing the team…
The Tigers are starting 2025 virtually from ground zero. Finishing stone motherless last of the 18 teams in 2024, new coach Adem Yze was…
Ross Lyon would have been disappointed again with the Saints’ effort in 2024, winning less than 50 per cent of their games and finishing…
After a season which included a mid-year slump, Sydney proved to be the most successful club in the competition, until it got to the…
Incoming coach Andrew McQualter has been handed a shipwreck, but it may not be as bad as it seems.
To me, the Western Bulldogs are the most enigmatic team in the competition and this all stems from their coach, Luke Beveridge. Only three…
Season 2025 was looking like an uneventful year on the coaching front until John Longmire announced his retirement recently. As usual at Sydney the…
There is no doubt that the evolution of AFL football has had the most positive impact on umpires out of all the participants in…
If he even knows! No doubt these stats are more interest to some than others, Cinderalla.
AFL Top 100: Collingwood has one of the oldest team lists in 2025, can they make it count for another flag?
Hi Luke,
It has been submitted and is in the hands of the editors.
AFL Top 100: How will Geelong fare without two talismanic veterans?
Thanks for the correction, Ditto.
i got that wrong – I’m not sure how, but Jeremy is definitely equal Top 30 on geelong’s goal kicking list equal with 1930’s goal kicker Jack Metherell who led the Cat’s goalkicking three times and played his last game with Geelong in the 1937 Grand Final win.
As a champion, I hope he gets to join the other 3(Ablett, Wade and Hawkins) at the top of the list.
AFL Top 100: How will Geelong fare without two talismanic veterans?
Hi Christophorus,
Whilst it is true that at a club who has used only 149 players in the 14 seasons that it has played, the concept of the Top 100 has little meaning is assessing where they are ability wise and therefore their chances of playing finals,
AFL Top 100: Will 2025 be the year that the developing Gold Coast finally makes finals?
Hi Christophorus,
Whilst it is true that the Top 100 players in a club who have used only 149 players in their existence doesn’t provide good analysis, a scale downed version does. In the (say) Top 21 players there are 12 players still playing who make up the ‘core’ of the team and have been teammates for at least 5 years and 100 games, enough time to get to know each other and integrate as a high functioning team, Your point about the function level of some of these Top 21 is valid as non can provide finals experience, and this is an important factor which will be critical as their history develops.
AFL Top 100: Will 2025 be the year that the developing Gold Coast finally makes finals?
Hi Ben,
Christophorus has got it spot on. It really is an analysis of where the current talent that the team has fits into its overall history. It is based on the theory that the more home grown, durable, loyal talent that you have, the (slightly) better is your chance of a premiership. No team that has won the premiership in the last 7 years (as far back as I went) has had less than 7 Top 100 players play in the Grand Final.
For this reason. St Kilda, Hawthorn, Carlton. Essendon and North Melbourne could be discarded, but with Hawthorn and Carlton in particular this year having players on the cusp of Top 100 entry it signals that more of the players have been around the club for longer, have performed better and been fitter and have moulded into a team where they complement their teammates in the moments of chaos and panic that happens weekly..
AFL Top 100: Can Melbourne's experienced list bring some heart back to the club in 2025?
I had forgotten that Carman’s first stop on the merry-go-round was Melbourne! And I agree with Knoxy’s dad -n his day Carman was a game changer.
And thanks for bringing up Glenn McLean, coldone.
AFL Top 100: Trade wars - Melbourne vs Collingwood
Good Pick up, John J!
Certainly, the ex-Moonee Valley via Calder Under 18’s player deserves a mention for his great service to both clubs. Ironically, he also started as a top forward and still sits equal 84th on Melbourne’s Top 100 goal kickers list. When he transferred to Collingwood, he held the record for the most league games without appearing in a final. His last two years at Collingwood were marred by a serious knee injury but the Magpies still relisted him via the rookie draft and he won the Best Clubman award. Finished up two games short of 200, and one goal short of 100.
AFL Top 100: Trade wars - Melbourne vs Collingwood
Not a worse player, EGAJ, probably still a good pick up but the more players play together the better they “jell’ as teammates and can anticipate each other’s movement. In a critical final this can make a big difference. The most memorable partnership for me was Farmer-Goggin but no doubt other scribes would have their own. The Diacos brothers (and the Krak brothers) had it but not from playing over 150 AFL games together, but from the backyard. The Diacos’ will soon have it with some of their teammates and to me a factor is how many.
You are right about the younger clubs having a much lower bar to entry, but the cream still floats to the top.
Imagine the Tassie Tigers: all 23 players will be Top 100 after game one! and that won’t change until they have had at least 100 players.
AFL top 100: List crisis on the horizon for enigmatic Dogs?
Great Summary Christophorus.
Calculating the future value of any Top 100 player is critical, and age and fitness can dimmish or enhance their value to either their current club or the club they move to.
AFL top 100: How quickly can Yze rebuild despite mass exodus of elite Tigers?
Hi Pumping Dougie,
Thanks for pointing out that Toby McLean was delisted at the start of 2024. I had missed that.
My article is based on the number of players in the team that can be considered elite in that they have played enough games to qualify for Top 100 status at their club.
Leo Ryan has been a Top 100 player since the 1940.s but was surpassed by Ed Richards who become a Top 100 player in 2024, and I like to acknowledge champions of the past.
AFL top 100: List crisis on the horizon for enigmatic Dogs?
Hi Slikbart,
I can understand your confusion. I am writing from a point of view of assessing the quality of the players at the club compared to the other cellar-dwellers (Richmond and North Melbourne). My criteria is: how many of the players on the list qualify for Top 100 status? That is, how many have been at the club long enough to have played enough games to be considered part of the core of the team? The answer is plenty, and by my criteria they should have been much better than North Melbourne (not just a little) as the Kangaroos have only two Top 100 players on their list. NM have tried to build experience by importing three Top 100 players from other clubs. It is not the same as building the core from within, but it is a step in the right direction.
I will be assessing all the clubs on this basis.
AFL Top 100: Will West Coast be able to overcome departing goal-kicking experience in 2025?
Yes Gyfox,
I should have said rugby league centric! I was referring to the progress that Sydney has made in capturing the hearts and minds of the Sydneysiders by being consistently successful if you regard success as more than winning the premiership!
AFL top 100: More coaching changes in 2025 as Longmire departs?
I agree totally Rowdy. It has to be a home-grown team at least in the early days with special concessions for local recruits. I like the idea that Brendan Gale is the CEO and let’s hope they can get an home grown coach.
Tassie have produced their fair share of AFL stars - it's about time they got a team
Yes Ace, so many possibilities. Many more could have been names.
Tassie have produced their fair share of AFL stars - it's about time they got a team
Very Good question Frank. It’s hard to see one team having a bye each week in a 19-team competition. To fill the hole, they should look at the Northern Territory now that the sport has evolved into a tourist industry.
Tassie have produced their fair share of AFL stars - it's about time they got a team
Gret Research, Chris, and it shows that only three players at the Victorian clubs have made it into the Top 100 game players so far with Clayton Oliver (equal 65th) being the most successful, courtesy over 100 games in a row. Daniel Rioli and Callum Mills have also made it, and will be joined in the relevant Top 100 game lists in 2023 by Weitering, Parish and Gresham early in the season. Keays, Dunley, Scache, Francis and Weideman have all moved on from their original clubs. Kayne Turner is a chance to pick up the one game needed at North Melbourne after being included on the Rookie list.
A new crop of AFL top-100 potential emerges
Spot on Chris M!
I can go back even further, and it is true that most premierships have been won by teams that have a high number of solid core players who have played alongside each other for 5 years or longer. Whilst talent and experience can be traded in, it appears that it takes a number of years for players to really appreciate their teammates and fit in.
AFL top 100: How much does it really matter to the players?
Thanks, okapiman. You are right it will be a big challenge during the year between Clarkson and Mitchell as they clashed during transition at Hawthorn. Look for a big improvement in Mitchell’s win/loss ratio in 2023.
AFL Top 100: The coaching merry go-round
Spot on, Chris M.
I doubt very much that he will make it, and there is no one else close enough.
AFL Top 100: Retirements and delistings
A valid point Rowdy, as it highlights his impressive record of the most national games at a senior level, but considering that that list is headed by four South Australians who all played more games than Brent Harvey, it is difficult to equate the two, so I’ll stick with AFL/VFL achievements.
AFL top 100: The final farewells of the season
No, I think we watched the same game but with different eyes. In the game I watched, the Dockers were still able to hit the front in the final quarter and – to me- Sydney weren’t totally safe until Stephens slotted the last. The Dockers scored three more goals from clearances than the Swans, and it was only the changed game plan that enabled Sydney through heavy work to win
AFL Top 100: Round 18 round up (Part 1)
Yes, Aliir Aliir made it into equal 99th place with Scott Cummings and Adam Heuskes last week, but Miles Bergman would need to play the last six games and then four finals to make it this year.
AFL Top 100: Round 18: Milestones and Memories (Part 2)
Yes, a big achievement as less than one in five AFL players reach that milestone (18.2%), Nathan needs one more good season of form and fitness to break into the Tiger’s elite Top 100 game players.
AFL top 100 Round 17: Milestones and Memories
Spot on Christophorus,
I have a great regard for Cameron’s ability, but it will be a great achievement given the way goals are scored in the modern game for him to become Top 10.
AFL Top 100: How will Geelong fare without two talismanic veterans?