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KICK Rating · All-time · forwards

All-time forwards — kick rating leaderboard

The top forwards right now, ranked by rolling 40-game KICK-F. KICK-F rewards marks-inside-50 and goal-assists higher than overall KICK does, then calibrates so the 95th-percentile forward sits at 76 — correcting for the disposal-volume gap that otherwise buries forwards below mids. Raw formula + overall KICK shown for transparency. 227 forwards in the pool, top 100 shown. Career average, players with 100+ games.

See how positional KICK works.

A caveat on pre-2000 forwards

AFL Tables stopped tracking rebound-50s, contested marks, one-percenters and some hit-out data progressively through the 1990s. Forwards whose careers finished before ~2000 have thinner raw stat lines than modern forwards — the formula gives them fair credit for what was tracked, but they're structurally underweighted here. The era normaliser lifts 1965–99 scores, but it can't invent missing data. If you want a truer read of older eras, the decade leaderboards control for era and may surface names this list buries.

# Player Team GP KICK-F career Raw KICK-F R40 KICK
ref
1 Nick Riewoldt 2001-17 St Kilda 330 94 69 93 63
2 Gary Ablett 1982-96 Geelong 248 91 67 88 46
3 Jason Dunstall 1985-98 Hawthorn 269 90 66 73 45
4 Matthew Richardson 1993-2009 Richmond 280 88 64 94 52
5 Lance Franklin 2005-23 Sydney 350 88 64 64 57
6 Isaac Heeney 2015-2026 Sydney 225 88 64 100 60
7 Wayne Carey 1989-2004 Adelaide 271 88 64 65 48
8 Leigh Matthews 1969-85 Hawthorn 332 88 64 71 45
9 Steve Johnson 2002-17 Greater Western Sydney 289 88 64 72 59
10 Matthew Lloyd 1995-2009 Essendon 270 87 64 77 53
11 Matthew Pavlich 2000-16 Fremantle 349 87 64 72 59
12 Tony Lockett 1983-2002 Sydney 281 87 63 90 43
13 Garry Wilson 1971-84 Fitzroy 268 86 62 75 45
14 John Murphy 1967-80 North Melbourne 246 85 62 76 45
15 Peter McKenna 1965-77 Carlton 191 85 62 58 43
16 Toby Greene 2012-2026 Greater Western Sydney 263 84 62 80 58
17 Adam Goodes 1999-2015 Sydney 370 84 62 68 58
18 Warren Tredrea 1997-2010 Port Adelaide 252 83 61 76 54
19 Brad Johnson 1994-2010 Western Bulldogs 364 83 61 78 53
20 Stephen Kernahan 1986-97 Carlton 251 82 60 66 43
21 Jonathan Brown 2000-14 Brisbane Lions 253 82 60 72 54
22 Stewart Loewe 1986-2002 St Kilda 321 80 59 80 44
23 Travis Cloke 2005-17 Western Bulldogs 251 79 59 72 53
24 Jarryd Roughead 2005-19 Hawthorn 280 79 59 79 53
25 Kevin Bartlett 1965-83 Richmond 403 79 58 56 42
26 Cyril Rioli 2008-18 Hawthorn 182 79 58 78 55
27 Chad Wingard 2012-23 Hawthorn 209 78 58 71 54
28 David Clarke 1971-82 Carlton 211 78 58 72 41
29 Lance Whitnall 1997-2007 Carlton 214 76 57 76 48
30 Jeremy Cameron 2012-2026 Geelong 281 76 56 86 50
31 Darren Jarman 1991-2001 Adelaide 230 76 56 66 42
32 Jason Akermanis 1995-2010 Western Bulldogs 325 76 56 77 50
33 Jack Riewoldt 2007-23 Richmond 345 76 56 61 50
34 Barry Hall 1996-2011 Western Bulldogs 289 76 56 78 48
35 Jesse Hogan 2015-2026 Greater Western Sydney 184 76 56 75 50
36 Tom Hawkins 2007-24 Geelong 358 75 56 69 50
37 Tom Lynch 2010-21 Adelaide 156 75 56 69 52
38 Nathan Brown 1997-2009 Richmond 217 75 56 79 50
39 Gary Buckenara 1982-90 Hawthorn 154 75 56 80 40
40 Charlie Curnow 2016-2026 Sydney 151 75 56 74 50
41 Mark LeCras 2005-18 West Coast 216 74 55 66 51
42 Nicky Winmar 1987-99 Western Bulldogs 251 74 55 77 40
43 Jarrad Waite 2003-18 North Melbourne 235 74 55 86 51
44 Peter Bedford 1968-78 Carlton 186 74 55 60 40
45 Tom Lynch 2011-2026 Richmond 234 74 55 71 49
46 Malcolm Blight 1974-82 North Melbourne 178 74 55 88 39
47 Drew Petrie 2001-17 West Coast 328 73 55 67 51
48 Jack Gunston 2010-2026 Hawthorn 281 73 55 71 49
49 Brendan Fevola 1999-2010 Brisbane Lions 203 73 55 84 48
50 Daniel Giansiracusa 2001-14 Western Bulldogs 248 73 55 67 52
51 Brett Burton 1999-2010 Adelaide 174 73 55 71 49
52 Scott Lucas 1996-2009 Essendon 268 73 54 74 48
53 Kelvin Templeton 1974-85 Melbourne 177 72 54 57 38
54 Nick Holland 1994-2005 Hawthorn 172 72 54 53 43
55 Bernie Quinlan 1969-86 Fitzroy 366 71 54 73 38
56 Josh Kennedy 2006-22 West Coast 286 71 54 59 48
57 Joe Daniher 2013-24 Brisbane Lions 202 71 54 84 48
58 Taylor Walker 2009-2026 Adelaide 301 71 53 62 48
59 Chris Grant 1990-2007 Western Bulldogs 337 70 53 56 42
60 Shai Bolton 2017-2026 Fremantle 164 70 53 68 50
61 Michael Walters 2009-24 Fremantle 229 70 53 52 49
62 Charlie Dixon 2011-24 Port Adelaide 216 70 52 72 48
63 Luke Breust 2011-25 Hawthorn 287 69 52 55 48
64 Aaron Hamill 1996-2006 St Kilda 187 69 52 69 45
65 Garry Lyon 1986-99 Melbourne 226 69 52 57 37
66 Greg Parke 1968-77 Fitzroy 171 69 52 61 37
67 George Bisset 1963-74 Collingwood 207 68 52 76 37
68 Brad Green 2000-12 Melbourne 251 68 52 78 48
69 Peter Daicos 1979-93 Collingwood 250 68 52 71 37
70 Brian Royal 1983-93 Footscray 199 68 51 60 37
71 Corey Jones 2001-10 North Melbourne 154 68 51 69 48
72 Michael OLoughlin 1995-2009 Sydney 302 67 51 66 43
73 Blake Caracella 1997-2006 Collingwood 179 67 51 63 45
74 Jack Darling 2011-2026 North Melbourne 323 67 51 54 46
75 Aaron Naughton 2018-2026 Western Bulldogs 165 67 51 73 45
76 Quinten Lynch 2002-13 Collingwood 226 67 51 61 47
77 Peter Wright 2015-2026 Essendon 156 67 51 68 46
78 Tony Modra 1992-2001 Fremantle 165 67 50 66 35
79 Saverio Rocca 1992-2006 Kangaroos 256 66 50 62 39
80 Royce Hart 1967-77 Richmond 187 66 50 51 36
81 David Schwarz 1991-2002 Melbourne 173 66 50 61 40
82 Angus Monfries 2005-17 Port Adelaide 199 66 50 64 47
83 Peter Sumich 1989-97 West Coast 150 66 50 46 35
84 Michael Roach 1977-89 Richmond 200 65 50 51 35
85 Tom Papley 2016-2026 Sydney 199 65 50 69 46
86 Alan Didak 2001-13 Collingwood 203 65 50 76 47
87 Nathan Thompson 1998-2008 North Melbourne 176 65 50 64 43
88 Jake Stringer 2013-2026 Greater Western Sydney 222 65 49 62 46
89 Anthony Rocca 1995-2009 Collingwood 240 65 49 63 42
90 Rodney Ashman 1973-86 Carlton 236 65 49 71 35
91 Terry Daniher 1976-92 Essendon 313 64 49 59 35
92 Dermott Brereton 1982-95 Collingwood 211 64 49 53 35
93 Darren Bewick 1988-2000 Essendon 238 64 49 58 36
94 Simon Beasley 1982-89 Footscray 154 64 49 64 34
95 Ross Glendinning 1978-88 West Coast 230 64 49 76 35
96 Doug Wade 1961-75 North Melbourne 267 64 49 61 32
97 Jamie Elliott 2012-2026 Collingwood 217 64 49 61 45
98 Brad Hardie 1985-92 Collingwood 150 64 49 70 35
99 Jay Schulz 2004-16 Port Adelaide 176 63 48 68 44
100 Wayne Johnston 1979-90 Carlton 209 63 48 60 35

Why a separate forwards leaderboard?

KICK Rating's overall leaderboard is award-aligned — Brownlow votes, All-Australian squads, and AFLCA Champion Player selections all heavily favour midfielders, and KICK tracks them. That's the right number when you want "who does everyone agree is the best player going around?".

But if you're looking for the best forwards, that mid-heavy bias is the wrong lens. Filtering by position strips it out. Forwards here are ranked against each other, by the same formula, over the same data since 1897. No re-weighting, no Champion Data licences, no guesswork — just the subset of the same leaderboard that played in the same role.

Read the validation story →