The Night the MCG Gates Stayed Shut: Mapping the 2008 Milestone
The thing is, nobody actually expected the drought to last this long. When Franklin slung his 100th through the sticks at the 21-minute mark of the first quarter, it felt like the natural progression of a superstar, not a final curtain call for the league's most prestigious individual achievement. But looking back, that season was a perfect storm of individual brilliance and a tactical landscape that still allowed for the stay-at-home full-forward to roam with relative freedom. Franklin was twenty-one, a freak of nature with a wingspan that defied physics and a left boot that could launch goals from the center square. Because he possessed that rare blend of raw athletic power and genuine footballing arrogance, he didn't just beat defenders; he psychologically dismantled them before the opening bounce. Honestly, it’s unclear if any modern coach would even allow a player to take as many shots as Buddy did that year.
Beyond the Statistics: The Cultural Weight of the Century
We often talk about the 100-goal mark as a mere number, yet it represents the ultimate intersection of reliability and flair. In the 1990s, seeing a player hit the ton was almost a seasonal expectation, with titans like Gary Ablett Sr, Tony Lockett, and Jason Dunstall making the extraordinary look mundane. Yet, Franklin’s 2008 campaign stands alone in the 21st century because it happened just as the "cluster" defense and heavy rotational shifts began to strangle the life out of one-on-one contests. Where it gets tricky is trying to explain to a younger fan why a stadium invasion mattered so much. It was the last time the AFL allowed the fans to become part of the spectacle, a chaotic, beautiful mess of suburban passion that would be shut down by modern security protocols in a heartbeat. People don't think about this enough, but that night was the final gasp of the "Wild West" era of Australian football.
Tactical Extinction: Why Modern Defenses Have Killed the 100-Goal Season
The issue remains that the modern game is designed to kill the specialist. In 2008, a forward could expect a decent amount of "one-out" opportunities where they could out-muscle or out-lead a single opponent, but today? Today, you have intercept defenders like Tom Stewart or Darcy Moore peeling off their men to create a three-on-one contest before the ball even hits the 50-meter arc. As a result: the goal-kicking load has been forcibly redistributed across the entire midfield and half-forward line. Coaches no longer want a "Leaning Tower of Pisa" strategy where everything is directed at one man because it makes the team far too easy to scout and neutralize. And let's be real—the endurance requirements now are staggering. A modern forward has to sprint 12 kilometers a game and tackle like a maniac, leaving them with heavy legs when they finally get a look at the big sticks.
The Death of the Leading Lane
Why did it stop? Well, the answer lies in the "6-6-6" rule and the evolution of zone defenses that resemble a shifting spiderweb rather than a set of man-to-man duels. In the 80s and 90s, you had lanes; you had space; you had a full-forward who stayed inside the 50 while everyone else cleared out like they were avoiding a plague. Now, the congestion is so thick that a player trying to kick 100 goals would need to navigate a forest of limbs every single time they tried to lead. But there is a deeper irony here. While the AFL introduced rules to speed up the game and increase scoring, the actual result has been a more homogenized spread of goal-kickers rather than the resurgence of the superstar spearhead. The game is faster, yet the individual tallies are shrinking. That changes everything for how we evaluate greatness.
Rotations and the Fatigue Factor
The issue of rotations cannot be ignored when discussing why Charlie Curnow or Jeremy Cameron haven't quite reached the summit. When Dunstall was dominating, he played nearly 100 percent of the game time, standing deep and saving his energy for the explosive bursts. Today’s forwards are constantly cycled on and off the bench to maintain the high-intensity pressure that modern systems demand. Which explains why even the most prolific scorers struggle to maintain the 4.5 goals-per-game average required to hit the ton in a standard 22-round season. You simply can't kick 100 goals if you’re sitting on a pine bench for 25 minutes of every match catching your breath. We’re far from the days where a player could sit in the goal square with their hands on their hips waiting for the delivery.
The Buddy Franklin Standard: Comparing 2008 to Today’s Elites
Comparing Franklin’s 2008 season to current leaders like Curnow reveals a startling disparity in volume. In his peak year, Buddy had 194 scoring shots, a number that seems absolutely alien in the current climate. Curnow, despite being a back-to-back Coleman Medalist, operates in a world where 70 to 80 goals is considered an elite, once-in-a-generation output. Yet, some experts disagree on whether this is purely down to defensive skill or a lack of individual talent. I believe we have the talent, but the structural shackles are too tight. Except that every few years, someone like a peak-form Jeremy Cameron threatens to break the mold by playing a "mobile" version of the 100-goal role, ranging from the defensive 50 to the goal face. But even then, the sheer physical toll of that style of play makes sustaining a century-
The Fog of Memory: Common Mistakes and Misconceptions
Confusing the Milestone with the Medal
Many casual observers conflate winning the Coleman Medal with reaching the triple-figure summit. This is a trap. Since 1955, the medal has officially honored the leading goalkicker of the home-and-away season, yet reaching the ton often requires the oxygen of September. Let's be clear: Buddy Franklin remains the last player to kick 100 goals in a single calendar year, including finals. Yet, in years like 2012 or 2019, winners took the trophy home with tallies in the sixties or seventies. We often misremember the era of the great full-forwards as a continuous stream of centuries, but the gap between 1998 and 2008 was a barren wasteland for the feat. You might think Jack Riewoldt or Tom Hawkins touched the sun, but they never quite crested that 100-goal mountain. Memory is a fickle filter that smooths out the statistical anomalies of the modern game.
The Home-and-Away Fallacy
The problem is that fans frequently forget the distinction between the regular season and the total season tally. In 2008, Lance Franklin entered the finals series already sitting on 102 majors after drilling his hundredth against Carlton in the final round. Because he did it before the finals started, people assume every "ton-up" player did the same. (In reality, greats like Jason Dunstall often relied on a deep finals run to nudge their numbers into triple digits). Except that Franklin's feat was so dominant it skewed our perception of what is manageable in twenty-two games. We see a modern forward kick five in Round 1 and start the hype train immediately. The issue remains that the sheer physical toll of the current high-press defense makes a repeat of the 2008 campaign almost mathematically impossible without a radical shift in coaching philosophy.
The Structural Extinction of the Centurion
The Death of the Traditional Full-Forward
Why has the tap run dry? You have to look at the heat maps. Modern football has cannibalized the space where the "Full Forward" once reigned supreme. Which explains why we see scoreboards dominated by mid-sized rotations rather than a single focal point. Coaches now prioritize "score involvements" over individual bags of goals, fearing that a one-man forward line is too easy to choke with a loose man in defense. In short, the tactical evolution of the AFL has effectively legislated the 100-goal hero out of existence. But is the game better for it? We have traded the visceral, chaotic thrill of a pitch invasion for the clinical efficiency of a spread-of-ten-goalkickers. It is a sterile sort of progress. As a result: the last player to kick 100 goals might not just be a historical trivia answer, but a permanent relic of a lost sporting civilization.
Frequently Asked Questions
Could a modern player ever reach the 100-goal mark again?
The probability is vanishingly small given that the average leading goalkicker now finishes with approximately 65 to 75 goals. To reach 100, a player would need to average 4.5 goals per game across a full season and a deep finals campaign. Charlie Curnow managed 81 goals across 26 games in 2023, which represents the highest recent output but still fell 19 goals short of the magical century. The structural shift toward team-based defensive zoning makes the isolated one-on-one contest a rarity. Unless the AFL introduces significant rule changes to further de-congest the forward fifty, the 2008 record will likely stand for decades.
Who were the closest challengers since the 2008 season?
Since Buddy Franklin dominated the 2008 season, only a handful of players have even flirted with the 80-goal barrier. In 2011, Franklin himself managed 82 goals, proving he was still the most likely candidate to repeat his own history. Josh Kennedy of West Coast finished with 80 in 2015 and 82 in 2016, benefiting from a highly efficient delivery system into the Eagles' forward line. More recently, the 80-goal mark has become the new 100, acting as a ceiling that even the most elite power forwards cannot seem to shatter. The lack of 100-goal seasons is not a lack of talent, but a byproduct of how the ball is distributed.
Why was the 100-goal milestone so common in the 1990s?
The 1990s represented a perfect storm of fast-paced transition and minimal defensive flooding, allowing legends like Lockett, Dunstall, and Ablett Sr. to flourish. In 1993, three different players—Tony Modra, Jason Dunstall, and Gary Ablett—all surpassed the 100-goal mark in the same season. Teams played a more direct brand of football, often clearing the center square and kicking long to a designated target who stayed deep in the goalsquare. Because players were not required to sprint 12 kilometers a game or participate in a full-ground press, they could conserve energy for explosive leads. This era provided the volume of opportunities that the current tactical climate simply forbids.
The Final Verdict on the Century Goal-Kicker
The obsession with finding the next centurion is a romantic pursuit of a ghost. We must accept that Lance Franklin remains the final sentinel of an era where a single man could dictate the entire pulse of a match through sheer scoreboard pressure. The data suggests the "ton" is dead, buried under layers of sophisticated defensive grids and rotations. Yet, we continue to watch every Round 1 blowout with a desperate hope that someone will defy the spreadsheets. I believe the AFL is poorer for this tactical homogenization that prioritizes safety over the spectacle of the 100-goal haul. We should stop waiting for the next Buddy and start mourning the fact that we let this specific brand of magic slip away. The last player to kick 100 goals is a title that will likely stay with Franklin until the league itself undergoes a fundamental identity crisis.