Five players hit the KICK ceiling in Round 22 — the most in any round of 2026 — and one of them produced a game unlike anything else this season.
Matt Rowell had 40 disposals, 17 clearances and 16 tackles in Gold Coast’s two-point win over Greater Western Sydney. That is a raw KICK Game Score of 136.6, capped at the display ceiling of 100. It is the biggest single game of 2026 by nearly 17 points — Brodie Grundy’s 119.9 in Round 10 was the previous high — and across Rowell’s 126 games it is comfortably the best he has rated, ahead of the 116.4 he posted last season.
It also reaches further back than that. Scanning every match in our dataset, only nine games have ever produced a bigger raw KICK score, and none since Clayton Oliver’s 136.7 in May 2021. His 17 clearances are the most in any game this season, two clear of the next best, and his 16 tackles are bettered only by Sam Berry’s 19 in Round 8.
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 22 — 6 to 9 Aug 2026
Nine games, no byes, and a round that split cleanly into blowouts and thrillers. Gold Coast’s two-point win over Greater Western Sydney at Manuka Oval was the tightest result — only six games all season have been closer, a draw and five one-point finishes — and Melbourne edged Fremantle by four at the MCG on Saturday afternoon. Adelaide beat Richmond by nine in the Adelaide Oval twilight, Collingwood won by 19 at Perth Stadium, and North Melbourne opened the round on Thursday night with a 23-point win over the Western Bulldogs at Docklands. The other four were one-sided: Sydney put 167 on Port Adelaide at the SCG to win by 97 — the biggest margin of the round and the fifth-biggest of the season — while Brisbane beat Hawthorn by 67 at the Gabba, Geelong beat Essendon by 67 at Kardinia Park, and Carlton beat St Kilda by 44 on Sunday night.
Below Rowell, the round belonged to the midfielders who won their own ball. Luke Davies-Uniacke was second on a raw 105.1 — 31 disposals, ten tackles and ten clearances against the Bulldogs — though it is only the third-best game of his 151, behind the 120.6 he posted last season. Izak Rankine’s 103.7 in Adelaide’s nine-point win is a career best across 123 games, and Lachie Neale’s 101.8 against Hawthorn was his sixth top-five finish of the year. The most unlikely of the five was Jase Burgoyne, whose raw 100.0 came in a 97-point defeat: 34 disposals and eight marks while Port Adelaide were being beaten out of sight, and by some distance the best of his 77 games — his previous best was 76.6. Behind them, Bailey Smith (95) and Nick Daicos (93) both returned to the top ten at the right moment, St Kilda’s Max Hall rated 90 in a 44-point loss, and three players kicked five goals — Kai Lohmann, Charlie Curnow and Jye Amiss.
- 100
Matt Rowell 40 disposals · 16 tackles · 17 clearances · 4 marks
- 100
Luke Davies-Uniacke 31 disposals · 2 goals · 10 tackles · 10 clearances
- 100
Izak Rankine 36 disposals · 1 goal · 6 tackles · 11 clearances
- 100
Lachie Neale 35 disposals · 9 tackles · 6 clearances · 7 marks
- 100
Jase Burgoyne 34 disposals · 6 tackles · 7 clearances · 8 marks
The season tally — 23 weeks in
Five more centuries takes the 100 Club to 29 games from 21 different players — 22 of those in wins, seven in defeats. And at the top of the average table, last week’s three-way dead heat has broken apart.
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.
- R22
- R10
- R19
- R12
- R20
- R2
- R8
- R5
- R16
- R14
- R15
- R10
- R7
- R21
- R6
- R22
- R3
- R16
- R22
- R22
- R1
- R11
- R10
- R17
- R8
- R22
- R15
- R21
- R16
Most top-five appearances across the 23 weeks
Max Gawn and Bailey Smith are still tied on 7, though neither added to the tally this week. Lachie Neale moves to 6 on his own, Marcus Bontempelli is next on 5, then Luke Jackson, Tristan Xerri, Harry Sheezel and Nick Daicos on 4.
Most 90+ KICK games
Bailey Smith leads with 7, having added his 95 this week. Nick Daicos is second on 5 after his 93. Marcus Bontempelli, Max Gawn, Tristan Xerri, Harry Sheezel and Lachie Neale are next on 4 — Neale joining that group with his perfect 100.
Top season averages, three games minimum
| # | Player | Team | Season avg | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bailey Smith | Geelong | 20 | |
| 2 | Nick Daicos | Collingwood | 20 | |
| 3 | Max Gawn | Melbourne | 21 | |
| 4 | Isaac Heeney | Sydney | 19 | |
| 5 | Harry Sheezel | North Melbourne | 21 | |
| 6 | Jordan Dawson | Adelaide | 18 | |
| 7 | Marcus Bontempelli | Western Bulldogs | 21 |
A week ago these three were separated by nineteen-hundredths of a point: Bailey Smith 80.3, Nick Daicos 80.1, Max Gawn 80.1. Round 22 broke it open. Smith finished sixth with 95 — his first top-ten result since Round 17 — and Daicos seventh with 93, so both gained; Gawn rated 46th in the round and fell from 80.1 to 79.4. Smith now leads on 81.0 from Daicos on 80.8, with Gawn 1.6 back in third and Isaac Heeney a distant fourth on 75.3. With two rounds to play, Smith and Daicos are separated by about two-tenths of a point. Gawn is not out of it — the season average is built from raw game scores, which are not capped at 100, so two very large games would still put him back in range — but he now needs one of the two ahead of him to fade as well.
Where this is going
Another round-up next Tuesday after Round 23. 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 23.