Two players hit the KICK ceiling in Round 21 — and a third quietly turned the season on its head.
Tim Taranto and Jai Newcombe both scored a perfect 100, the fifth time this season a round has produced more than one. Taranto’s was the bigger of the two by some distance: a raw 107.1 from 32 disposals, 11 clearances and nine tackles in Richmond’s 11-point win over West Coast — and, across 191 career games, the best he has ever rated. Newcombe’s was the opposite kind of century: a raw 99.7 for Hawthorn, 34 disposals and 12 clearances against North Melbourne, which rounds up to the ceiling by three-tenths of a point. It is the narrowest 100 anyone has scored in 2026, level with Nick Daicos’s Round 16.
The third man was Max Gawn, whose 94 — his best game of the year — did not win the round but may yet decide the season. More on that below.
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 21 — 30 Jul 2026 to 2 Aug 2026
Nine games, no byes, and a tight one: six of the nine finished inside 25 points. Melbourne’s nine-point win at Carrara was the closest — the match of the round — followed by Richmond over West Coast by 11, GWS over Port Adelaide by 12, Hawthorn over North Melbourne by 16 at York Park, Sydney over St Kilda by 19, and Geelong opening the round on Thursday with a 25-point win over Collingwood at the MCG. The other three were one-sided: Carlton put 154 on Brisbane at Docklands to win by 76 — the biggest margin of the round, and the eighth-biggest of the season — Adelaide beat Essendon by 72 in the Sunday twilight game, and Fremantle beat the Bulldogs by 37 in Perth.
Below the two centurions, the round rewarded the contested-ball workers again. Matt Rowell was third on 97 despite Gold Coast losing by nine, Gawn fourth on 94 with 33 hit-outs and ten marks, and George Hewett fifth on 92 from 33 disposals in Carlton’s rout. Adelaide’s Riley Thilthorpe was the best of the forwards — 92 from five goals, 15 disposals and nine hit-outs — while John Noble (90) and Harley Reid (90) both starred in defeats. The round’s biggest bag went to Essendon’s Peter Wright, six goals in a 72-point loss.
- 100
Tim Taranto 32 disposals · 1 goal · 9 tackles · 11 clearances
- 100
Jai Newcombe 34 disposals · 3 tackles · 12 clearances · 6 marks
- 97
Matt Rowell 30 disposals · 9 tackles · 8 clearances · 3 marks
- 94
Max Gawn 25 disposals · 3 tackles · 9 clearances · 10 marks
- 92
George Hewett 33 disposals · 1 goal · 3 tackles · 8 clearances
The season tally — 22 weeks in
Two more centuries takes the 100 Club to 24 games from 17 different players. But the number that matters is at the top of the average table, where three players are now separated by less than two-tenths of a point.
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
- R19
- R12
- R20
- R2
- R8
- R5
- R16
- R14
- R15
- R10
- R7
- R21
- R6
- R3
- R16
- R1
- R11
- R10
- R17
- R8
- R15
- R21
- R16
Most top-five appearances across the 22 weeks
Max Gawn and Bailey Smith are tied on 7 — Gawn drawing level this week. Lachie Neale and Marcus Bontempelli are next on 5, then Luke Jackson, Tristan Xerri, Harry Sheezel and Nick Daicos on 4.
Most 90+ KICK games
Bailey Smith still leads with 6. Marcus Bontempelli, Max Gawn, Tristan Xerri, Nick Daicos and Harry Sheezel are next on 4 — Gawn joining that group with his 94.
Top season averages, three games minimum
| # | Player | Team | Season avg | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailey Smith | Geelong | 19 | |
| 2 | Nick Daicos | Collingwood | 19 | |
| 3 | Max Gawn | Melbourne | 20 | |
| 4 | Isaac Heeney | Sydney | 18 | |
| 5 | Harry Sheezel | North Melbourne | 20 | |
| 6 | Marcus Bontempelli | Western Bulldogs | 20 | |
| 7 | Jordan Dawson | Adelaide | 17 |
Nineteen-hundredths of a point. That is what separates Bailey Smith (80.3), Nick Daicos (80.1) and Max Gawn (80.1) with two rounds to play. A week ago the same three sat on 81.0, 80.0 and 79.3 — a spread of 1.7 points. Gawn is the one who moved: his 94 was the best game he has played in 2026 and lifted him from 79.3 and a clear third into a virtual tie, having now played more games than either rival. Smith has not cracked the top ten in four rounds and his average has slid every week since Round 18; Daicos has been the steadiest of the three. Behind them the gap is enormous — Isaac Heeney is fourth on 75.9, more than four points back — so barring injury this is a three-horse race, and on current form any of them wins it with one big Saturday.
Another round-up next Tuesday after Round 22. 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 22.