WHO’S FLYING

Each week throughout the 2023 season, we will present Who’s Flying, a series of stories which will encapsulate everything that is good about our great game. It could be a star player, a coach who has inspired his men or a team that is – pardon the pun – flying.

BRENDAN RHODES analyses

Charlie Curnow’s nine-goal haul for Carlton last week.

Are we looking at the renaissance of forwards kicking big bags on a regular basis?

The signs are good based on what we’ve seen so far this season, and especially on the weekend when two of the modern-day top goalkickers churned out personal best hauls within 18 hours of each other.

Charlie Curnow is already a Coleman medallist but he is taking his game to a new level with a career-best nine goals against West Coast on Saturday night, beating his old mark of seven against Western Bulldogs in 2019.

And on Sunday Geelong great Tom Hawkins became the third most experienced player in AFL/VFL history to record a career best when he blasted eight past Essendon in his 334th match, with only Brent Harvey and Kevin Bartlett sitting ahead of him.

Curnow’s haul was the biggest in an AFL game since Josh Bruce’s 10 for the Bulldogs against North Melbourne on Good Friday in 2021 and the third time this season he has bagged at least five after kicking that many against Geelong

Footy Fun Facts

The first Australian Football International Cup was held in Melbourne in 2002. Teams flew in from Denmark, USA, Japan, NZ, Canada and South Africa to compete.

in round two and six against the Kangaroos in round four.

He has now kicked at least five goals in a game 10 times in his 91 matches for a career tally of 173 majors, but seven of those bags have come in his past 23 outings.

Saturday night’s 9.3 in a 108-point bashing of the Eagles came from 18 disposals, 14 marks (another career high), with 11 of those marks taken inside-50 and eight of them being contested –regardless of how undermanned West Coast might be, that is a seriously imposing performance.

Nine players have kicked at least six goals in a game in the first seven rounds of the season, with a handful coming on 14 other occasions and 11 of the 18 clubs having had a player snag at least five in a single game.

Last year those numbers were seven and 16, but the highest tally to this point was seven for Jeremy Cameron, Tom Lynch and Matt Taberner.

Let’s see if this year’s goal glut stretches beyond last year’s 59 five-goal-plus hauls.

FIVE-GOAL HAULS 2023

9 C. Curnow (Carl) R7

8 T. Hawkins (Geel) R7

7 J. Cameron (Geel) R4; C. Cameron (BL) R6

6 N. Larkey (NM) R1; J. Cameron (Geel) R2; C. Cameron (BL) R4; C. Curnow (Carl) R4; T. Papley (Syd) R5

5 C. Curnow (Carl) R2; K. Langford (Ess) R2; L. McDonald (Syd) R2; J. Lukosius (GCS) R3; R. Thilthorpe (Adel) R3; J. Ugle-Hagan (WB) R3; J. Higgins (StK) R4; J. Daniher (BL) R5; D. Fogarty (Adel) R5; J. Cameron (Geel) R6; J. Finlayson (PA) R6; T. Hawkins (Geel) R6; B. King (R6); S. Weideman (Ess) R7. Coll best 3 (Mihocek x3, Hill x2)

Frem best 4 (Walters x2)

GWS best 4 (Greene x3, Daniels x1)

Haw best 3 (Breust x3, Greene x2, Brockman x1)

Melb best 4 (Brown x2, Pickett x1, Fritsch x1)

Rich best 4 (Riewoldt x2)

WCE best 4 (Waterman x2, Allen x1, Culley x1)