Show the numbers
| Round | Curnow | Morris | King | Top of the count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OR | 3 | 3 | 4 | Jake Stringer · 5 |
| R1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | Ben King & Jack Gunston · 9 |
| R2 | 5 | 3 | 16 | Ben King · 16 |
| R3 | 5 | 5 | 16 | Ben King · 16 |
| R4 | 9 | 8 | 19 | Ben King · 19 |
| R5 | 9 | 8 | 21 | Ben King · 21 |
| R6 | 12 | 11 | 24 | Ben King · 24 |
| R7 | 19 | 13 | 26 | Ben King · 26 |
| R8 | 20 | 17 | 28 | Ben King · 28 |
| R9 | 20 | 21 | 32 | Ben King · 32 |
| R10 | 21 | 23 | 33 | Ben King · 33 |
| R11 | 23 | 24 | 34 | Ben King · 34 |
| R12 | 31 | 25 | 34 | Jack Gunston · 35 |
| R13 | 33 | 32 | 38 | Ben King · 38 |
| R14 | 36 | 35 | 41 | Ben King · 41 |
| R15 | 36 | 35 | 42 | Ben King · 42 |
| R16 | 39 | 38 | 43 | Ben King · 43 |
| R17 | 45 | 41 | 46 | Ben King · 46 |
| R18 | 50 | 43 | 47 | Charlie Curnow · 50 |
| R19 | 50 | 44 | 48 | Charlie Curnow · 50 |
| R20 | 54 | 47 | 51 | Charlie Curnow · 54 |
| R21 | 57 | 47 | 53 | Charlie Curnow · 57 |
| R22 | 62 | 51 | 55 | Charlie Curnow · 62 |
| R23 | 66 | 55 | 57 | Charlie Curnow · 66 |
| R24 | 69 | 63 | 60 | Charlie Curnow · 69 |
Why?
Ben King was on top of the goalkicking count after 16 of the 25 rounds, and Charlie Curnow still finished the home and away six clear. I wanted to see, round by round, where the race turned.
Sixteen rounds of Ben King
Jake Stringer led after the Opening Round with five. After Round 1, Ben King and Jack Gunston were level on nine. A week later King kicked seven against Richmond and went clear on 16. Gunston edged ahead after Round 12, 35 to 34. King was back on top after Round 13 and still there after Round 17, on .
Curnow was building the whole time: 31 goals after Round 12, and 45 after Round 17, one short of King's 46.
- rounds with Ben King on top
- 16 of 25
- one shared, after Round 1
- Charlie Curnow goes top
- R18
- 50 to King's 47
- Curnow's home-and-away goals
- 69
- 22 games · six clear
The turn
Round 18 settled it. Curnow kicked five against Fremantle and went from 45 to 50; King kicked one and sat on 47. No goals were recorded for Curnow in Round 19, then came 19 in the last five rounds. Curnow finished on . Morris kicked eight against Collingwood in Round 24 to finish second on 63, and King was third on 60.
A total rewards games played as much as goals. On goals a gameHome-and-away goals divided by home-and-away games played. Derived from the game logs; no feed publishes it., Jack Gunston is ahead of all three.
| Player | Goals | Games | Goals a game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Gunston | 59 | 17 | 3.5 |
| Charlie Curnow | 69 | 22 | 3.1 |
| Logan Morris | 63 | 22 | 2.9 |
| Ben King | 60 | 23 | 2.6 |
Gunston played 17 of Hawthorn's 23 home-and-away games, and 3.5 a game was the highest of any player with 10 or more games. King was the only one of the top three to play every game.
Show the numbers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | Games | A game | Finals before the Grand Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charlie Curnow | Sydney | 69 | 22 | 3.14 | 6 in 2 |
| 2 | Logan Morris | Brisbane Lions | 63 | 22 | 2.86 | 6 in 3 |
| 3 | Ben King | Gold Coast | 60 | 23 | 2.61 | none |
| 4 | Jack Gunston | Hawthorn | 59 | 17 | 3.47 | 7 in 2 |
| 5 | Jye Amiss | Fremantle | 58 | 22 | 2.64 | 4 in 3 |
| 6 | Nick Watson | Hawthorn | 55 | 21 | 2.62 | 8 in 2 |
| 7 | Josh Treacy | Fremantle | 54 | 23 | 2.35 | 2 in 3 |
| 8 | Mitch Georgiades | Port Adelaide | 51 | 21 | 2.43 | none |
| 9 | Charlie Cameron | Brisbane Lions | 50 | 23 | 2.17 | 8 in 3 |
| 10 | Jake Waterman | West Coast | 49 | 23 | 2.13 | none |
How Sydney spread it
Sydney kicked 375 home-and-away goals, the most of any club; Brisbane were next on 366. Curnow kicked 69 of them. The other 306 came from 29 players, and five of those kicked 27 or more, led by Logan McDonald on 42.
Show the numbers
| Player | Goals | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Curnow | 69 | 22 |
| Logan McDonald | 42 | 21 |
| Chad Warner | 34 | 22 |
| Isaac Heeney | 32 | 20 |
| Joel Amartey | 28 | 15 |
| Tom Papley | 27 | 18 |
| Jake Lloyd | 18 | 23 |
| Malcolm Rosas | 16 | 16 |
| Justin McInerney | 14 | 13 |
| Hayden McLean | 13 | 10 |
| Billy Cootee | 12 | 9 |
| Brodie Grundy | 9 | 21 |
| James Rowbottom | 9 | 21 |
| Jai Serong | 7 | 22 |
| James Jordon | 5 | 22 |
| Nick Blakey | 5 | 22 |
| Angus Sheldrick | 4 | 18 |
| Braeden Campbell | 4 | 6 |
| Jesse Dattoli | 4 | 3 |
| Caiden Cleary | 3 | 9 |
| Errol Gulden | 3 | 11 |
| Matt Roberts | 3 | 19 |
| Riley Bice | 3 | 20 |
| Tom Hanily | 3 | 5 |
| Corey Warner | 2 | 5 |
| Harry Cunningham | 2 | 13 |
| Harry Kyle | 1 | 10 |
| Joel Hamling | 1 | 9 |
| Peter Ladhams | 1 | 2 |
| Sam Wicks | 1 | 18 |
Curnow's shareA player's home-and-away goals divided by the club's, where the club's total is every player's recorded goals added together. Derived. of Sydney's goals, 18.4%, ranks fifth among the 18 clubs' leading goalkickers.
Four clubs leaned harder on one player. West Coast leaned hardest, on Jake Waterman at 21.7%, then Gold Coast on King at 20.6%. The middle of the league was 16.4%.
Show the numbers
| Club | Leading goalkicker | Goals | Club goals | Share | Goalkickers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Coast | Jake Waterman | 49 | 226 | 21.7% | 31 |
| Gold Coast | Ben King | 60 | 291 | 20.6% | 30 |
| Essendon | Nate Caddy | 46 | 229 | 20.1% | 36 |
| Port Adelaide | Mitch Georgiades | 51 | 255 | 20.0% | 29 |
| Sydney | Charlie Curnow | 69 | 375 | 18.4% | 30 |
| Hawthorn | Jack Gunston | 59 | 327 | 18.0% | 32 |
| Fremantle | Jye Amiss | 58 | 332 | 17.5% | 24 |
| Brisbane Lions | Logan Morris | 63 | 366 | 17.2% | 29 |
| Western Bulldogs | Aaron Naughton | 46 | 275 | 16.7% | 30 |
| North Melbourne | Nick Larkey | 45 | 280 | 16.1% | 25 |
| Greater Western Sydney | Jake Stringer | 48 | 300 | 16.0% | 31 |
| Collingwood | Daniel McStay | 43 | 293 | 14.7% | 28 |
| Geelong | Shannon Neale | 47 | 346 | 13.6% | 31 |
| Carlton | Brodie Kemp | 36 | 289 | 12.5% | 28 |
| Melbourne | Jacob van Rooyen | 42 | 339 | 12.4% | 30 |
| Adelaide | Josh Rachele | 38 | 322 | 11.8% | 29 |
| St Kilda | Liam Ryan | 33 | 293 | 11.3% | 26 |
| Richmond | Mykelti Lefau | 23 | 209 | 11.0% | 33 |
And the Grand Final?
Finals goals are not part of the Coleman count, so they sit apart here. To the preliminary finals, Curnow kicked five against Brisbane in finals week 1 and one against Fremantle in the preliminary final. Morris kicked two in each of Brisbane's three finals. Gunston kicked two against Fremantle, then five against Brisbane in the preliminary final, when Nick Watson kicked six. Gold Coast did not play in the finals.
With finals added, to the preliminary finals:
| Player | Home and away | Finals | With finals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlie Curnow | 69 | 6 | 75 |
| Logan Morris | 63 | 6 | 69 |
| Jack Gunston | 59 | 7 | 66 |
| Nick Watson | 55 | 8 | 63 |
| Jye Amiss | 58 | 4 | 62 |
These numbers were read on 25 September 2026 and stop at the preliminary finals, so the Grand Final is not in them. I want to add it next, to see who kicked the most goals across the whole year.
Summary
- Ben King on top
- 16 of 25rounds, one shared
- Charlie Curnow
- R18goes top69goals, six clear
- Goals a game
- 3.5Jack Gunston, from 17 games3.1Curnow
The working
Definitions, sources and when the numbers were read
- The count
- Home-and-away goals, Opening Round to Round 24, as the feed records them. The Coleman Medal is decided on home-and-away goals.
- No goals entry
- The feed leaves the goals entry off most goalless games instead of writing a zero, so a game with no entry adds nothing to a total and is never read as a score. Curnow has 3 (Round 1, Round 5, Round 19), Morris 2 (Round 5, Round 21), King 0.
- Top of the count
- Most home-and-away goals after each round, across every AFL player. A level count is shown as shared.
- Games
- Games with a stats row for the player. Curnow missed Round 9; Morris missed Round 1; King played all 23.
- Goals a game
- Home-and-away goals ÷ home-and-away games played. Derived.
- Share
- A player's home-and-away goals ÷ the sum of every recorded goal for that club. Derived. Recorded goals and behinds never exceed Sydney's score in any game.
- Finals
- Round numbers past 24 are finals in the feed: 25 the wildcard finals, 26 finals week 1, 27 the semi-finals, 28 the preliminary finals. Counted apart from the race. The Grand Final is not included.
- Read
- 25 September 2026, from Punt's database. Completed games only.
- Not in this article
- The Grand Final, or anything about prices.
- Sources and terms
- Every source Punt uses, with its licence, is on Credits. The terms are defined in the Glossary, and the methodology page sets out where every number comes from and the rules it follows.