List of VFA/VFL records explained

This is a list of records from the Victorian Football League (previously known as the Victorian Football Association) since its inception in 1877.

From 1961 until 1988, the VFA seniors were split into Division 1 and Division 2.^[1]

Club records

Premierships (Division 1)

Titles	Club	Seasons
17		1897, 1901, 1922, 1940, 1941, 1947, 1953, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2011, 2017
14		1907, 1921, 1939, 1945, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1986, 1990, 2003, 2015
10		1946, 1962, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006
9		1898, 1899, 1900, 1908, 1913, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924
7		1878, 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886
6		1926, 1927, 1928, 1979, 1988, 1989
6		1903, 1904, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918
6		1930, 1931, 1950, 1952, 1960, 1972
6		1987, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2022
5		1937, 1951, 1970, 1973, 1978
5		1881, 1885, 1888, 1889, 1890
5		1929, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936
4		1968, 1969, 1983, 1984
4		1891, 1892, 1893, 1894
3		1909, 1925, 1938
3		1967, 1971, 1991
3		2001, 2013, 2018
3		2008, 2009, 2010
3		2002, 2007, 2012
2		1877, 1887
2		1902, 1905
2		1957, 1963
2		1935, 1961
2		1911, 1912
2		2014, 2016
1		2023
1		1993
1		1948
1		1975
1		1895
1		1896
1		1906
1		1965
1		2019

Highest scores

−

Sunshine withdrew midway through the 1989 season, and their games were expunged from the records.^[2]

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Round	Venue
1	55.17 (347)		Waverley	1986	16	Camberwell Sportsground
2	52.31 (343)	Waverley	Sunshine			1	Central Reserve
−	53.15 (333)	Brunswick	Sunshine	1989
−	49.21 (315)	Preston	Sunshine	1989
3	48.21 (309)	Springvale	Sunshine		18	Newcomen Road
4	46.31 (307)	Brunswick	Sunshine		12	Brunswick Park
5	46.21 (297)		Camberwell		5	Camberwell Sportsground
Source: https://www.hardballget.net/leagues-vfa-vfl-records.html. Last updated: 12 September 2023.

Highest scores (seconds and thirds)

Outside of the seniors, the highest score in any VFA/VFL division (and any Australian rules football game) was Williamstown's 110.27 (687) against Geelong West in a 1983 thirds division match.^[3]

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Grade	Round	Venue
1	110.27 (687)		Geelong West	1983		14	Williamstown Cricket Ground
2	88.23 (551)		Geelong West	1983		13
3	77.44 (506)	Brunswick	Geelong West	1981		7
4	74.31 (475)	Preston	Geelong West	1981		4
Source:^[4]

Lowest scores (since 1897)

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Round	Venue
1	0.0 (0)	Footscray		1902	15	North Port Oval
2	0.1 (1)	Brunswick		1897	10	Brunswick Park
	0.1 (1)	Brunswick	Footscray	1899	10	Western Oval
4	0.2 (2)	Brunswick	West Melbourne	1904	11	Arden Street
	0.2 (2)		Prahran	1906	6	North Port Oval

All these scores were from the early years of the VFA competition, when scores, in general, were much lower. The following table shows the lowest scores since 1919 (the first year of complete competition following World War I):

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Round	Venue
1	0.4 (4)	Northcote	North Melbourne	1919	15	Arden Street
	0.4 (4)	Northern Bullants	Footscray reserves	2023	18	Preston City Oval
3	0.7 (7)	North Melbourne reserves	Casey	2018	14	Casey Fields
4	1.2 (8)	Brighton	Northcote	1961 (D2)	17	Northcote Park
	1.2 (8)	Brighton	Preston	1961 (D2)	15	Preston City Oval

Lowest scores (seconds and thirds)

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Grade	Round	Venue
1	0.0 (0)	Geelong West	Brunswick	1981		7
	0.0 (0)	Caulfield		1986		9
2	0.0 (1)		Sunshine	1969		7
Source:^[5]

Greatest winning margins

Rank	Margin	Team	Opponent	Year	Round	Ground
1	315	Williamstown	Camberwell	1986	16	Camberwell Sportsground
2	290	Waverley	Sunshine		1	Central Reserve
3	275	Brunswick	Sunshine		12	Brunswick Park
4	254	Box Hill	Sunshine		16	Box Hill City Oval
5	246	Brunswick	Kilsyth		18	Brunswick Park

Individual records

Most career goals (seniors)

Rank	Goals	Games	Player	Club(s)	Career span
1	1336	300			1969–1985
2	1070	221			1980–1984
3	933	227			1952–1963
4	928	174			1978–1987
5	883	183			1967–1977

Most career games (seniors)

Rank	Games	Player	Club(s)	Career span
1	306			2005–2023
2	302			1976–1993
3	300			1969–1985
4	293	William 'Ching' Harris		1896–1904, 1906–1915
5	277	John Benson		1966–1984
Last updated: 25 September 2023

Most games for each club (seniors)

Club	Games	Player	Career span
Berwick	29	Robert Trigg	1983–1987
	180	Jack Wright	1951–1960
Brighton	184	George Stewart	1927–1937
Brighton-Caulfield	26	Larry Rowe	1963–1964
Brunswick	206	Henry Chase	1903–1910, 1912–1915, 1918–1920
Camberwell	136	James Bohan	1947–1953
	133	James Rickards	1877–1884
Caulfield	213	John Einsiedel	1974–1987
	210	Dave Starbuck	1945–1956
Dandenong	210	Lew Wright	1976–1988
Footscray	293	William 'Ching' Harris	1896–1904, 1906–1915
Frankston	203	Daniel Clarke	1996–2007
Geelong A	80	Cyril Cations	1922–1927
Geelong reserves	106	Jack Hollmer	2007–2015
Geelong West	200	Warwick Yates	1974–1982
Kilsyth	26	Stephen Letts	1982–1983
Melbourne City	30	A.J. Daniels	1912–1913
Moorabbin (I)	217	Len Gilder	1951–1963
Moorabbin (II)	36	Graham Stewart	1983–1987
Mordialloc	270	William Lang	1969–1983
	209	Marc Greig	20??–20??
	224	Charlie Hardy	1908–1921
Northcote	201	Frank Seymour	1928–1938
Oakleigh	203	Michael Owen	1981–1994
	229	Bob Bonnett	1952–1963
Prahran	248	Frank Smith	1969–1983
Preston/Northern Bullants	200	Sid Hall	19??–19??
	118	Alec Edmonds	1899–1907
	202	Nick Sautner	1997–2000, 2004–2010
Springvale/Casey	233	Damian Carroll	1992–2004
Sunshine	148	John Benson	1966-1984
Waverley	110	Jeff Costello	1973-1984
	169	Robbie Castello	2004–2013
West Melbourne	77	Harry Gregory	1902-1907
	229	Ben Jolley	2005–present
Yarraville	200	Ron Brown	1958–1973

Kicks after the siren

Goal to win

Player	Club	Opponent	Rd.	Year	Final score	Ref.
Langley					2–1	^[6] ^[7]
Wally Cook			3		11.10 (76) d. 11.9 (75)	^[8]
Jack Whallis			7		10.17 (77) d. 11.10 (76)	^[9] ^[10]
Alex Andjelkovic					17.18 (120) d. 17.13 (115)	Division 2^[11]
Chris Rourke			2		18.13 (121) d. 17.17 (119)	Division 1
Anthony Cardamone			2		22.5 (137) d. 20.14 (134)	^[12] ^[13]
			13		19.5 (119) d. 18.8 (116)	^[14]
Luke Reynolds			2		15.12 (102) d. 15.9 (99)	^[15]
Jean-Luc Velissaris			15		10.12 (72) d. 10.8 (68)	^[16]
			11		10.22 (82) d. 12.8 (80)	^[17]
			15		8.11 (59) d. 7.16 (58)	^[18]
Jack Toner			2		12.11 (83) d. 11.11 (77)	^[19]

Missed opportunities

Player	Team	Opponent	Year	Score	Outcome	Details
			1911	63–65	A goal would have won the premiership for Essendon; the loss forced a Grand Final the following week.	^[22] ^[23]
	Richmond reserves		2017	70–74	Richmond would have won the 2017 VFL premiership.	^[24] ^[25]
Max Williams		Greater Western Sydney reserves	2023	54–55	A goal would have won the game for Frankston by 5 points.	^[26] ^[27]

Notes and References

1. News: The Age. V.F.A. decides on two divisions. Ron Carter. 16. 3 December 1960. Melbourne.
2. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. Amanda Buivids. 22 June 1989. 77. Talks on future of VFA.
3. Web site: van Wyngaarden . Geoff . Williamstown's monstrous world record score . Williamstown Football Club . https://web.archive.org/web/20200813055137/https://www.williamstownfc.com.au/club/10-latest-news/1841-world-record-score . 13 August 2020.
4. Web site: Nixon . Rex . Some interesting Stats . St Mary's Football Club.
5. Web site: Victorian Football Association - Season 1981 . Elite to Grassroots.
6. Marked on the final bell and goaled from 40yds. News: The Argus. 22 June 1895. Melbourne. Football – the battle for the premiership. 6. Observer.
7. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9365528 The Luck of Football, The Argus, Monday, 8 July 1895, p.6
8. Cook was awarded a free kick after an errant kick by Sandringham full-back went out of bounds without being touched. Siren went while he prepared to kick. A 60-yard torpedo snuck through to give Camberwell victory. News: Goal After Bell Beats Zebras. . . Melbourne . 5 May 1952 . 10 May 2014 . 10 . National Library of Australia.
9. Whallis kicked a goal after the final siren from 35 yards, giving Yarraville a one point victory
10. News: The Sun News-Pictorial. 28 May 1956. Noel Carrick. Melbourne. Williamstown topples from lead in V.F.A. surprise. 30.
11. Second semi-final. Andjelkovic, who had come on in the final quarter as the 17th man, marked 25–35 yards from goal with seconds remaining; he stubbed the ground while kicking, but the kick just went through for a goal; it was Geelong West's 21st consecutive win, as part of a perfect season, and qualified it for the Grand Final.News: Geelong Advertiser. Geelong, VIC. West sneaks into final. 12. 28 August 1972.
12. Cardamone – who had been brought into the team as an emergency and had spent the first half of the game on the bench – kicked truly from 25m out.
13. News: The Age. Melbourne. 25. Darrin Farrant. 27 April 1992. Bullants rejoice at replacements last-gasp winner.
14. Web site: Mallinder . Terry . Seagulls Grant-ed reprieve after final siren – Sport – Sport – Hobsons Bay Leader . Hobsons-bay-leader.whereilive.com.au . 14 July 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110220050245/http://hobsons-bay-leader.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/seagulls-grant-ed-reprieve-after-final-siren/ . 20 February 2011 .
15. Web site: Luke Reynolds sees Northern Blues to victory with goal after the siren in VFL . Herald Sun . Preston Leader . 6 August 2024 . 14 April 2014 . 6 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240806021224/https://archive.md/KljDf#selection-735.0-735.12.
16. Awarded a free kick for holding the ball with seconds remaining, 40m out from goal, kicked truly after the siren News: VFL After the siren thriller. 13 July 2019.
17. Marked 10m out almost directly in front and kicked truly. News: Bauer boots after-the-siren goal to see VFL Tigers home. 4 June 2023.
18. Converted a set shot from 35m out on a slight angle. This was the second time during the 2023 VFL season that Bauer had kicked the winning goal after the siren, having done so earlier within the same month.News: Bauer's brilliance topples Brisbane. 30 June 2023.
19. Converted a set shot from 30m out.News: REVIEW: Smithy's VFL Round 2. 2 April 2024.
20. Sandringham's Doulton Langlands received a late free kick and controversial 50m penalty, which handed him a shot from the goal square. The goal denied Coburg's first win of the season. Video of the last few seconds
21. Marked 30 metres out directly in front with less than a second remaining. His kick went wide right, giving the 18th-placed Essendon a shock victory over 1st-placed Gold Coast. The Essendon AFL team had lost a game from a goal after the siren the previous night against Port Adelaide. https://www.afl.com.au/news/957791/around-the-state-leagues-pie-bags-six-young-roo-stars-tippa-s-winner
22. Place kick from 40yds out directly in front in the final, taken with hundreds of spectators already on the field, missed by 6ft. A goal would have won the premiership for Essendon, but as they were minor premiers, the loss meant a rematch against Brunswick the following week, in which Essendon was victorious.
23. News: The Argus. Melbourne. Association Final – Magnificent contest. 18 September 1911. 5. Old Boy.
24. Grand Final, took mark 52 metres out directly in front with seconds remaining, missed to the right hand side.
25. News: Caulfield Glen Eira Leader. Paul. Amy. Brilliant Port Melbourne claims VFL premiership with grand final victory over Richmond at Etihad Stadium. 24 September 2017.
26. Williams marked with seconds to go, but his kick fell short of recording a score.
27. Web site: Tiger makes case for AFL return, Werribee record 15 different goalkickers: VFL Wrap . 17 July 2023 . Zero Hanger.