Two perfect KICK 100s landed in Round 8. It’s the first time the 2026 season has produced a pair in the same weekend — and the second name on the list is one nobody had picked up yet.
Tristan Xerri hit the ceiling for the third time in five games — 30 disposals, 14 clearances, 23 hit-outs and 7 tackles against Geelong, raw 115.1. North Melbourne lost the match by 49 points anyway. The other 100 came in the Showdown: Sam Berry carried Adelaide to a one-point win over Port with 19 tackles and 29 disposals — the kind of tackle-driven game KICK has historically under-rated, here cracking the display ceiling at raw 100.4.
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 8 — 30 Apr to 3 May 2026
A round shaped by extremes at both ends. Three teams sailed past 130 — Brisbane put 143 on Essendon (a 64-point hammering at Marvel), Geelong reached 135 against North, Sydney 131 over Melbourne. At the other end the Collingwood–Hawthorn Thursday-night opener at the MCG ended a 93–93 draw, the closest finish on the weekend and the round’s match of the round on margin alone. The Showdown produced the next-closest result — Adelaide 76, Port Adelaide 75 — with Sam Berry tackling everything that moved. Richmond edged West Coast by 11. Brodie Grundy returned to the MCG against his old club Melbourne with 26 disposals, 11 clearances, a goal and 45 hit-outs. Noah Balta cracked the top five for Richmond with three goals out of a 20-disposal, 20-hit-out flex role. Four of the round’s top five contributed in the ruck. The week’s biggest goal-kicking haul — Malcolm Rosas bagged seven for Gold Coast in their 20-point win over GWS — landed at KICK 67, a reminder of where the rating still falls short on small forwards. The methodology page is honest about it.
- 100
Tristan Xerri 30 disposals · 14 clearances · 23 hit-outs · 7 tackles
- 100
Sam Berry 29 disposals · 19 tackles · 5 clearances · 3 marks
- 94
Brodie Grundy 26 disposals · 1 goal · 4 tackles · 11 clearances
- 94
Noah Balta 20 disposals · 3 goals · 2 tackles · 6 clearances
- 87
Luke Jackson 18 disposals · 1 goal · 8 tackles · 3 clearances
The season tally — 9 weeks in
The 100 Club ticked from six to eight. Xerri leapfrogged Daicos for the season-average lead and vaulted into the most-90+-games club, joining Gawn and Bailey Smith on three apiece.
The 100 Club (perfect KICK 100 games, 2026 season)
Bars show raw KICK Game Score; every game here exceeded the display ceiling of 100. The dashed line is the ceiling.
- R2
- R8
- R5
- R7
- R6
- R3
- R1
- R8
Most top-five appearances across the 9 weeks
Max Gawn and Bailey Smith tied on 4 each. Next: Tristan Xerri, Lachie Neale, Marcus Bontempelli with 3.
Most 90+ KICK games
Tristan Xerri, Max Gawn and Bailey Smith tied on 3 each.
Top season averages, three games minimum
| # | Player | Team | Season avg | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tristan Xerri | North Melbourne | 5 | |
| 2 | Nick Daicos | Collingwood | 7 | |
| 3 | Max Gawn | Melbourne | 8 | |
| 4 | Bailey Smith | Geelong | 8 | |
| 5 | Brodie Grundy | Sydney | 8 | |
| 6 | Isaac Heeney | Sydney | 6 | |
| 7 | Christian Petracca | Gold Coast | 6 |
Tristan Xerri has now hit a perfect KICK 100 in three of his five games this year, and he’s vaulted to the top of the season averages at 90.9 — more than seven points clear of Daicos, and the only player above 85 anywhere on the list. The small sample is the obvious caveat — North will continue to manage his minutes — but a 60% strike rate on the ceiling from a true ruckman is the form line, not the average. He now owns three of the eight perfect-100 games in the 2026 100 Club. The other thing worth saying out loud: Sam Berry is the first non-marquee name in the 100 Club this year. Nineteen tackles is rare in any era and tackle-heavy games typically land in the 70s on KICK rather than the ceiling. This one tipped 100 because the volume was high across the board at once — 29 disposals, 19 tackles, 5 clearances. If you’ve been waiting for evidence the rating can find a defensive midfielder doing the work, this is one.
Where this is going
Another round-up next Tuesday after Round 9. 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 swept and shelved (results are in the methodology page) and the next real lever for positional fairness is an AFLCA-aware composite. If you think the rating is wrong — especially if you think forwards are undervalued, which they measurably are, and Rosas’s 7-goal KICK 67 above is exhibit A — tell us or check Positional KICK for the within-position view.
See you after Round 9.