Nobody scored a perfect KICK 100 in Round 18 — the first time the ceiling has held since Round 13, and the end of a four-week run of centuries.
Will Ashcroft came the closest. His 99 — 33 disposals, three goals and eight clearances for Brisbane in a 90-point demolition of Essendon — was the round’s best, a raw 99.48 that sat a hair under the 99.5 it takes to round up to a hundred. Seven players reached 90 or better on the round; none of them reached 100.
A quick refresher: KICK Rating is our open, reproducible player rating — one score out of 100 for every player in every game, computed from the public box score, formula published, code public. A game score of 70 means a quality senior contribution. 85+ puts a player in All-Australian territory. A perfect 100 is the ceiling — once-a-season form. The full methodology is on the site, including where v1 falls short.
Round 18 — 9 to 12 Jul 2026
Nine games, no byes, and a clean split between the blowouts and the squeakers. Brisbane’s 149-59 rout of Essendon at the Gabba was the biggest margin of the season — 90 points — and produced two of the round’s top three rated players: Ashcroft (99, the round’s best) and Lachie Neale (98, from 40 disposals and 13 marks in his 311th game). Adelaide were nearly as ruthless, beating Gold Coast by 79 at Adelaide Oval behind Izak Rankine (97) and Sam Berry (90), while Hawthorn held Carlton to just 39 points at the MCG, Lloyd Meek piling up 49 hit-outs for a KICK 93. At the other end, four games finished within 16 points: Collingwood edged North Melbourne by 4 — the match of the round — GWS beat Geelong by 13, St Kilda beat Port Adelaide by 14, and the Bulldogs held off West Coast by 16. Melbourne accounted for Richmond by 46 (Jacob van Rooyen six goals), and Fremantle opened the round on Thursday by beating Sydney by 38 despite five goals from Charlie Curnow in the loss.
The story of the top ten, though, was the big men. Five of the round’s ten best KICK games came from ruckmen — Tristan Xerri (99, 32 hit-outs in North’s four-point loss), Meek (93, 49 hit-outs), Kieren Briggs (88, 51 hit-outs for GWS), Darcy Cameron (88) and Rowan Marshall (87). Xerri’s 99 was the pick of them: his fourth top-five finish of the year, and, as with almost all of his best games, it came in a defeat.
- 99
Will Ashcroft 33 disposals · 3 goals · 3 tackles · 8 clearances
- 99
Tristan Xerri 22 disposals · 1 goal · 7 tackles · 5 clearances · 32 hit-outs
- 98
Lachie Neale 40 disposals · 3 tackles · 5 clearances · 13 marks
- 97
Izak Rankine 31 disposals · 1 goal · 8 tackles · 7 clearances
- 97
Marcus Bontempelli 25 disposals · 2 goals · 8 tackles · 12 clearances
The season tally — 19 weeks in
No new century this week, so the 100 Club stayed put at 20 games from 13 players. The season-average race stayed at three, but the gap at the top opened up.
The 100 Club (perfect KICK 100 games, 2026 season)
Bars show raw KICK Game Score; every game here displayed as a perfect 100. The dashed line marks the raw ceiling of 100 — bars reaching it cleared 100 outright, the shortest rounded up to it.
- R10
- R12
- R2
- R8
- R5
- R16
- R14
- R15
- R10
- R7
- R6
- R3
- R16
- R1
- R11
- R10
- R17
- R8
- R15
- R16
Most top-five appearances across the 19 weeks
Bailey Smith leads on 7, Max Gawn next on 6. Lachie Neale and Marcus Bontempelli are next on 5 — both climbing there this week — with Luke Jackson, Tristan Xerri, Harry Sheezel and Nick Daicos tied on 4.
Most 90+ KICK games
Bailey Smith has 6. Marcus Bontempelli, Tristan Xerri, Nick Daicos and Harry Sheezel are next on 4.
Top season averages, three games minimum
| # | Player | Team | Season avg | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailey Smith | Geelong | 16 | |
| 2 | Nick Daicos | Collingwood | 16 | |
| 3 | Max Gawn | Melbourne | 17 | |
| 4 | Isaac Heeney | Sydney | 15 | |
| 5 | Marcus Bontempelli | Western Bulldogs | 17 | |
| 6 | Jordan Dawson | Adelaide | 14 | |
| 7 | Harry Sheezel | North Melbourne | 17 |
Bailey Smith didn’t even have a big round — he wasn’t in the top ten this week — but he didn’t need one. Nick Daicos and Max Gawn both had quiet ones, and a lead that was four-tenths of a point a week ago is now a length and a half: Smith 82.4, Daicos 80.8, Gawn 80.6. It’s still a three-way race for the KICK season crown, and the top three are pulling clear of the field — Isaac Heeney (77.1) is the next best, three and a half points off third. But after the lead changed hands in back-to-back rounds — Daicos took it in Round 16, Smith reclaimed it in Round 17 — the top of the table held still this week. Everyone from fourth down would need a real run home just to reach the front three, let alone pass them. Five rounds to play.
Another round-up next Tuesday after Round 19. One match of the round, one season tally refresh, same format. If you want the current form at any time, the live leaderboard re-ranks after every build.
As always: formula here, failures published too, code open-source, no paywall. The current shipped version is v1.1; v1.2–1.4 were held after sweeps (results in the methodology page), and the AFLCA-aligned view lives as its own lens — Coaches’ Eye ranks players by coach votes scaled within position. If you think the rating is wrong, tell us or check Positional KICK for the within-position view.
See you after Round 19.