List of VFA/VFL records

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	Port Melbourne	1897, 1901, 1922, 1940, 1941, 1947, 1953, 1964, 1966, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 2011, 2017
14	Williamstown	1907, 1921, 1939, 1945, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1986, 1990, 2003, 2015
10	Sandringham	1946, 1962, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006
9	Footscray	1898, 1899, 1900, 1908, 1913, 1919, 1920, 1923, 1924
7	Geelong	1878, 1879, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886
6	Coburg	1926, 1927, 1928, 1979, 1988, 1989
6	Hotham/North Melbourne	1903, 1904, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1918
6	Oakleigh	1930, 1931, 1950, 1952, 1960, 1972
6	Springvale/Casey	1987, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2022
5	Prahran (II)	1937, 1951, 1970, 1973, 1978
5	South Melbourne	1881, 1885, 1888, 1889, 1890
5	Northcote	1929, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936
4	Preston/Northern Bullants	1968, 1969, 1983, 1984
4	Essendon	1891, 1892, 1893, 1894
3	Brunswick	1909, 1925, 1938
3	Dandenong	1967, 1971, 1991
3	Box Hill	2001, 2013, 2018
3	North Ballarat	2008, 2009, 2010
3	Geelong reserves	2002, 2007, 2012
2	Carlton	1877, 1887
2	Richmond	1902, 1905
2	Moorabbin (I)	1957, 1963
2	Yarraville	1935, 1961
2	Essendon A	1911, 1912
2	Footscray reserves	2014, 2016
2	Werribee	1993, 2024
1	Gold Coast reserves	2023
1	Brighton	1948
1	Geelong West	1975
1	Fitzroy	1895
1	Collingwood	1896
1	West Melbourne	1906
1	Waverley	1965
1	Richmond reserves	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)	Williamstown	Waverley	1986	16	Camberwell Sportsground
2	52.31 (343)	Waverley	Sunshine	1981 (D2)	1	Central Reserve
−	53.15 (333)	Brunswick	Sunshine	1989
−	49.21 (315)	Preston	Sunshine	1989
3	48.21 (309)	Springvale	Sunshine	1983 (D2)	18	Newcomen Road
4	46.31 (307)	Brunswick	Sunshine	1983 (D2)	12	Brunswick Park
5	46.21 (297)	Coburg	Camberwell	1989 (D2)	5	Camberwell Sportsground
Source: . 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)	Williamstown	Geelong West	1983	Thirds (D1)	14	Williamstown Cricket Ground
2	88.23 (551)	Coburg	Geelong West	1983	Thirds (D1)	13
3	77.44 (506)	Brunswick	Geelong West	1981	Thirds (D1)	7
4	74.31 (475)	Preston	Geelong West	1981	Thirds (D1)	4
Source: [4]

Lowest scores (since 1897)

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Round	Venue
1	0.0 (0)	Footscray	Port Melbourne	1902	15	North Port Oval
2	0.1 (1)	Brunswick	Williamstown	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)	Port Melbourne	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
– [a]	1.0 (6)	Southport	Gold Coast reserves	2021	16	Austworld Centre 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
– [a]	1.2 (8)	Gold Coast reserves	Southport	2021	16	Austworld Centre Oval

Lowest scores (seconds and thirds)

Rank	Score	Club	Opponent	Year	Grade	Round	Venue
1	0.0 (0)	Geelong West	Brunswick	1981	Thirds (D1)	7
	0.0 (0)	Caulfield	Box Hill	1986	Thirds (D2)	9
2	0.0 (1)	Box Hill	Sunshine	1969	Thirds (D2)	7
Source: [7]

Greatest winning margins

Rank	Margin	Team	Opponent	Year	Round	Ground
1	315	Williamstown	Camberwell	1986	16	Camberwell Sportsground
2	290	Waverley	Sunshine	1981 (D2)	1	Central Reserve
3	275	Brunswick	Sunshine	1983 (D2)	12	Brunswick Park
4	254	Box Hill	Sunshine	1984 (D2)	16	Box Hill City Oval
5	246	Brunswick	Kilsyth	1984 (D2)	18	Brunswick Park

Individual records

Most career goals (seniors)

Rank	Goals	Games	Player	Club(s)	Career span
1	1336	300	Fred Cook	Yarraville, Port Melbourne, Moorabbin	1969–1985
2	1070	221	Rino Pretto	Coburg, Camberwell, Oakleigh, Dandenong	1980–1984
3	933	227	Bob Bonnett	Port Melbourne	1952–1963
4	928	174	Mark Fotheringham	Yarraville, Williamstown	1978–1987
5	883	183	Jim 'Frosty' Miller	Dandenong	1967–1977

Most career games (seniors)

Rank	Games	Player	Club(s)	Career span
1	306	Ben Jolley	Bendigo, Williamstown, Port Melbourne, Essendon reserves	2005–2023
2	302	Bill Swan	Port Melbourne, Williamstown	1976–1993
3	300	Fred Cook	Yarraville, Port Melbourne, Moorabbin	1969–1985
4	293	William 'Ching' Harris	Footscray	1896–1904, 1906–1915
5	277	John Benson	Sunshine, Werribee	1966–1984
Last updated: 25 September 2023

Most games for each club (seniors)

Club	Games	Player	Career span
Berwick	29	Robert Trigg	1983–1987
Box Hill	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
Carlton	133	James Rickards	1877–1884
Caulfield	213	John Einsiedel	1974–1987
Coburg	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
North Ballarat	209	Marc Greig	20??–20??
North Melbourne	224	Charlie Hardy	1908–1921
Northcote	201	Frank Seymour	1928–1938
Oakleigh	203	Michael Owen	1981–1994
Port Melbourne	229	Bob Bonnett	1952–1963
Prahran	248	Frank Smith	1969–1983
Preston/Northern Bullants	200	Sid Hall	19??–19??
Richmond	118	Alec Edmonds	1899–1907
Sandringham	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
Werribee	169	Robbie Castello	2004–2013
West Melbourne	77	Harry Gregory	1902-1907
Williamstown	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	Carlton	North Melbourne		1895	2–1	[8] [9]
Wally Cook	Camberwell	Sandringham	3	1952	11.10 (76) d. 11.9 (75)	[10]
Jack Whallis	Yarraville	Williamstown	7	1956	10.17 (77) d. 11.10 (76)	[11] [12]
Alex Andjelkovic	Geelong West	Caulfield	FW2	1972	17.18 (120) d. 17.13 (115)	Division 2 [13]
Chris Rourke	Camberwell	Preston	2	1982	18.13 (121) d. 17.17 (119)	Division 1
Anthony Cardamone	Preston	Williamstown	2	1992	22.5 (137) d. 20.14 (134)	[14] [15]
Jarrad Grant	Williamstown	Coburg	13	2009	19.5 (119) d. 18.8 (116)	[16]
Luke Reynolds	Northern Blues	Frankston	2	2014	15.12 (102) d. 15.9 (99)	[17]
Jean-Luc Velissaris	Northern Blues	Port Melbourne	15	2019	10.12 (72) d. 10.8 (68)	[18]
Jacob Bauer	Richmond reserves	Greater Western Sydney	11	2023	10.22 (82) d. 12.8 (80)	[19]
Jacob Bauer	Richmond reserves	Brisbane	15	2023	8.11 (59) d. 7.16 (58)	[20]
Jack Toner	Williamstown	Coburg	2	2024	12.11 (83) d. 11.11 (77)	[21]
Joel Garner	Richmond	Sandringham	2	2025	11.14 (80) d. 11.8 (74)	[22]
Charlie West	Collingwood	Sandringham	13	2025	14.9 (93) d. 14.6 (90)	[23] [24]
Tobyn Murray	Geelong reserves	North Melbourne reserves	18	2025	16.8 (104) d. 15.12 (102)	[25]

Goal to draw

Player	Team	Opponent	Year	Score	Details
Doulton Langlands	Sandringham	Coburg	2018	79–79	[26]
Jack Carroll	Sandringham	Gold Coast	2025	72–72	[27] [28]

Behind to win

Player	Team	Opponent	Year	Score	Details
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti	Essendon	Gold Coast	2023	77–76	[29]
Fergus McFadyen	Brisbane	Collingwood	2025	107–106	[30] [31]

Missed opportunities

Player	Team	Opponent	Year	Score	Outcome	Details
Dave McNamara	Essendon A	Brunswick	1911	63–65	A goal would have won the premiership for Essendon; the loss forced a Grand Final the following week.	[32] [33]
Ben Lennon	Richmond reserves	Port Melbourne	2017	70–74	Richmond would have won the 2017 VFL premiership.	[34] [35]
Max Williams	Frankston	Greater Western Sydney reserves	2023	54–55	A goal would have won the game for Frankston by 5 points.	[36] [37]

Notes

1. A snap COVID-19 lockdown affecting south-eastern Queensland was announced on the morning of the VFL match between Gold Coast reserves and Southport, leading to the match being abandoned for no result after ten minutes of play. ^{[5] [6]}

References

1. Ron Carter (3 December 1960). "V.F.A. decides on two divisions". The Age. Melbourne. p. 16.
2. Amanda Buivids (22 June 1989). "Talks on future of VFA". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 77.
3. van Wyngaarden, Geoff. "Williamstown's monstrous world record score". Williamstown Football Club. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020.
4. Nixon, Rex. "Some interesting Stats". St Mary's Football Club.
5. "Gold Coast SUNS v Southport". AFL.com.au. 31 July 2021. Archived from the original on 16 August 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
6. Morris, Tom (31 July 2021). "VFL game cancelled after NINE minutes as Covid-19 mayhem hits Queensland". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 16 June 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
7. "Victorian Football Association - Season 1981". Elite to Grassroots.
8. Marked on the final bell and goaled from 40yds. Observer (22 June 1895). "Football – the battle for the premiership". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 6.
9. The Luck of Football, The Argus, Monday, 8 July 1895, p.6; The football Season, The Age, (Monday, 8 July 1895), p.6.
10. 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. "Goal After Bell Beats Zebras". The Argus . Melbourne. 5 May 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 10 May 2014– via National Library of Australia.
11. Whallis kicked a goal after the final siren from 35 yards, giving Yarraville a one point victory
12. Noel Carrick (28 May 1956). "Williamstown topples from lead in V.F.A. surprise". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 30.
13. 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."West sneaks into final". Geelong Advertiser. Geelong, VIC. 28 August 1972. p. 12.
14. 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.
15. Darrin Farrant (27 April 1992). "Bullants rejoice at replacements last-gasp winner". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25.
16. Mallinder, Terry (14 July 2009). "Seagulls Grant-ed reprieve after final siren – Sport – Sport – Hobsons Bay Leader". Hobsons-bay-leader.whereilive.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011.
17. "Luke Reynolds sees Northern Blues to victory with goal after the siren in VFL". Herald Sun. Preston Leader. 14 April 2014. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
18. Awarded a free kick for holding the ball with seconds remaining, 40m out from goal, kicked truly after the siren "VFL After the siren thriller". 13 July 2019.
19. Marked 10m out almost directly in front and kicked truly. "Bauer boots after-the-siren goal to see VFL Tigers home". 4 June 2023.
20. 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. "Bauer's brilliance topples Brisbane". 30 June 2023.
21. Converted a set shot from 30m out. "REVIEW: Smithy's VFL Round 2". 2 April 2024.
22. Converted a set shot from 35m out.El-Houli, Zakariya (29 March 2025). "Tigers down Sandringham with goal after the siren in comeback victory". Richmond Football Club. Archived from the original on 6 April 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
23. Converted a set shot from 35m out. "West boots six in thrilling win over Sandringham". Collingwood Football Club. 21 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
24. Keating, Mitch (21 June 2025). "WATCH: Collingwood forward boots match-winner after the siren in VFL thriller". ZeroHanger. Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
25. Converted a set shot from the goal line following a free kick and 50m penalty. "VFL Match Report - Clutch Cats secure victory in a Sunday afternoon thriller". Geelong Football Club. 27 July 2025. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
26. 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
27. Kicking from beyond 50m, Carroll tied the match with his second goal of the match. "VFL report: SUNS, Zebras level after last-gasp drama". 25 May 2025. Archived from the original on 1 June 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
28. Beddard, Jake (26 May 2025). "VFL Match Report: Round 9 vs Gold Coast". Sandringham Football Club. Archived from the original on 27 May 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
29. 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.
30. Marked just inside the 50m arc kicking a behind to win the match. "McFadyen the Hero as Lions Pip Pies". Brisbane Lions. 18 April 2025. Archived from the original on 18 April 2025. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
31. "Hayes shining light in Pies' first VFL loss". Collingwood Football Club. 18 April 2025. Archived from the original on 18 April 2025. Retrieved 18 April 2025.
32. 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.
33. Old Boy (18 September 1911). "Association Final – Magnificent contest". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 5.
34. Grand Final, took mark 52 metres out directly in front with seconds remaining, missed to the right hand side.
35. Amy, Paul (24 September 2017). "Brilliant Port Melbourne claims VFL premiership with grand final victory over Richmond at Etihad Stadium". Caulfield Glen Eira Leader .
36. Williams marked with seconds to go, but his kick fell short of recording a score.
37. "Tiger makes case for AFL return, Werribee record 15 different goalkickers: VFL Wrap". Zero Hanger. 17 July 2023.