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KICK Rating · Coaches' eye lens

Forwards — Coaches' eye leaderboard

AFL forwards ranked by coaches' votes per game. AFLCA Champion-Player votes (5-4-3-2-1 from each coach after every match), scaled 0-100 within the forward pool. Coaches reward goal-kickers and crumb-fed forwards differently to the box score — Riewoldt, Cameron, Heeney, Greene poll heavily here. 141 players in the pool, top 100 shown. Data: AFLCA Champion-Player votes 2003–2025.

A parallel lens to KICK Rating — not a replacement. See how the Coaches' eye is computed and the main KICK leaderboard for the box-score view.

# Player Team GP voted/total Coaches' eye Votes/game Votes KICK r40 Δ
1 Jonathan Brown Brisbane Lions 196/253 100 2.15 421 48 +52
2 Nick Riewoldt St Kilda 302/330 95 2.02 611 63 +32
3 Lance Franklin Sydney 350/350 95 2.01 704 43 +52
4 Matthew Pavlich Fremantle 288/349 91 1.91 550 49 +42
5 Matthew Richardson Richmond 123/280 87 1.81 223 63 +24
6 Isaac Heeney Sydney 220/227 87 1.81 398 71 +16
7 Barry Hall Western Bulldogs 184/289 87 1.80 332 49 +38
8 Jeremy Cameron Geelong 276/284 85 1.75 484 57 +28
9 Izak Rankine Adelaide 104/112 83 1.66 173 62 +21
10 Adam Goodes Sydney 283/370 82 1.59 451 47 +35
11 Toby Greene Greater Western Sydney 257/266 81 1.59 408 55 +26
12 Shai Bolton Fremantle 158/167 81 1.58 250 50 +31
13 Steve Johnson Greater Western Sydney 277/289 81 1.55 428 50 +31
14 Cyril Rioli Hawthorn 182/182 80 1.54 280 52 +28
15 Chad Wingard Hawthorn 209/209 79 1.48 310 50 +29
16 Brendan Fevola Brisbane Lions 162/203 78 1.43 231 54 +24
17 Jesse Hogan Greater Western Sydney 179/186 78 1.42 255 48 +30
18 Warren Tredrea Port Adelaide 145/252 77 1.37 199 49 +28
19 Fraser Gehrig St Kilda 113/260 77 1.37 155 45 +32
20 Brad Johnson Western Bulldogs 175/364 74 1.26 220 53 +21
21 Charlie Curnow Sydney 145/153 74 1.24 180 48 +26
22 Daniel Bradshaw Sydney 132/226 74 1.22 161 52 +22
23 Taylor Walker Adelaide 296/302 73 1.21 358 40 +33
24 Riley Thilthorpe Adelaide 75/84 72 1.15 86 55 +17
25 Mark LeCras West Coast 216/216 71 1.08 233 45 +26
26 Jason Akermanis Western Bulldogs 162/325 71 1.07 174 53 +18
27 Nathan Brown Richmond 102/217 70 1.06 108 54 +16
28 Aaron Naughton Western Bulldogs 159/168 70 1.06 168 45 +25
29 Matthew Lloyd Essendon 127/270 70 1.05 133 51 +19
30 Jarryd Roughead Hawthorn 280/280 70 1.04 292 53 +17
31 Scott Lucas Essendon 132/268 70 1.04 137 50 +20
32 Michael Walters Fremantle 229/229 69 1.03 235 35 +34
33 Jake Stringer Greater Western Sydney 216/225 69 1.02 221 43 +26
34 Jack Gunston Hawthorn 276/284 69 1.02 282 47 +22
35 Charlie Dixon Port Adelaide 216/216 69 1.02 220 48 +21
36 David Neitz Melbourne 98/302 68 1.01 99 40 +28
37 Brett Burton Adelaide 105/174 68 1.01 106 47 +21
38 Kysaiah Pickett Melbourne 126/135 68 1.01 127 58 +10
39 Tom Hawkins Geelong 358/358 68 1.01 360 45 +23
40 Travis Cloke Western Bulldogs 251/251 67 1.00 250 49 +18
41 Harry McKay Carlton 137/145 67 0.99 136 54 +13
42 Alan Didak Collingwood 179/203 66 0.97 173 53 +13
43 Jarrad Waite North Melbourne 235/235 65 0.94 222 56 +9
44 Joe Daniher Brisbane Lions 202/202 64 0.94 189 56 +8
45 Jack Riewoldt Richmond 345/345 63 0.90 310 41 +22
46 Jack Darling North Melbourne 318/326 61 0.86 273 37 +24
47 Ben Brown Melbourne 171/171 60 0.84 144 35 +25
48 Tom Papley Sydney 193/202 60 0.84 162 47 +13
49 Jason Porplyzia Adelaide 117/117 60 0.84 98 51 +9
50 Charlie Cameron Brisbane Lions 253/262 59 0.83 210 38 +21
51 Hayden Ballantyne Fremantle 170/170 59 0.83 141 35 +24
52 Eddie Betts Carlton 344/344 58 0.81 277 32 +26
53 Josh Treacy Fremantle 80/89 58 0.80 64 49 +9
54 Brad Green Melbourne 189/251 57 0.79 150 52 +5
55 Jamie Elliott Collingwood 211/220 57 0.78 165 41 +16
56 Peter Wright Essendon 150/159 56 0.77 116 48 +8
57 Luke Breust Hawthorn 287/287 55 0.74 212 37 +18
58 Leon Davis Collingwood 164/220 54 0.73 120 52 +2
59 Drew Petrie West Coast 309/328 54 0.73 226 45 +9
60 Stephen Milne St Kilda 232/270 54 0.73 169 41 +13
61 Aaron Hamill St Kilda 54/187 54 0.72 39 48 +6
62 Orazio Fantasia Carlton 115/115 54 0.72 83 30 +24
63 Jeff Farmer Fremantle 107/245 53 0.71 76 45 +8
64 Daniel Giansiracusa Western Bulldogs 214/248 53 0.70 150 46 +7
65 Tom Lynch Adelaide 156/156 53 0.70 109 48 +5
66 Max King St Kilda 82/82 53 0.70 57 40 +13
67 Stewart Crameri Geelong 103/103 52 0.68 70 42 +10
68 Nick Larkey North Melbourne 134/143 52 0.68 91 40 +12
69 Josh Jenkins Geelong 148/148 51 0.67 99 50 +1
70 Justin Longmuir Fremantle 79/136 51 0.66 52 48 +3
71 Russell Robertson Melbourne 126/226 50 0.64 81 45 +5
72 Liam Ryan St Kilda 124/131 48 0.62 77 37 +11
73 Jonathon Patton Hawthorn 91/91 48 0.62 56 46 +2
74 Lance Whitnall Carlton 88/214 48 0.61 54 52 -4
75 Anthony Rocca Collingwood 98/240 48 0.61 60 42 +6
76 James Podsiadly Adelaide 103/103 48 0.61 63 47 +1
77 Darcy Fogarty Adelaide 126/129 48 0.61 77 37 +11
78 Ben King Gold Coast 120/129 47 0.61 73 37 +10
79 Justin Koschitzke St Kilda 171/195 47 0.61 104 39 +8
80 Brody Mihocek Melbourne 158/165 46 0.59 94 38 +8
81 Jay Schulz Port Adelaide 176/176 45 0.58 102 45 +0
82 Tim Membrey Collingwood 201/208 44 0.57 115 35 +10
83 Mitch Lewis Hawthorn 73/82 43 0.55 40 44 -1
84 Sam Reid Sydney 175/175 42 0.54 95 44 -2
85 Jeremy Finlayson Port Adelaide 122/122 42 0.54 66 45 -3
86 Scott Welsh Western Bulldogs 115/204 42 0.54 62 40 +2
87 Mitch Georgiades Port Adelaide 91/100 42 0.54 49 46 -4
88 Josh Bruce Western Bulldogs 163/163 41 0.53 86 34 +7
89 Todd Marshall Port Adelaide 109/114 40 0.51 56 40 0
90 Eric Hipwood Brisbane Lions 198/198 40 0.51 101 36 +4
91 Tyson Stengle Geelong 108/108 40 0.51 55 41 -1
92 Phillip Matera West Coast 59/177 40 0.51 30 37 +3
93 Quinten Lynch Collingwood 215/226 39 0.50 107 43 -4
94 Jack Higgins St Kilda 143/150 39 0.50 71 36 +3
95 Matthew Taberner Fremantle 119/119 38 0.49 58 37 +1
96 Mabior Chol Hawthorn 105/109 38 0.49 51 41 -3
97 Daniel Motlop Port Adelaide 118/125 38 0.48 57 43 -5
98 Paul Medhurst Collingwood 147/167 37 0.48 70 44 -7
99 Cameron Mooney Geelong 171/218 36 0.47 80 48 -12
100 Jeff Garlett Melbourne 182/182 36 0.47 85 41 -5

What this list reads

Every match, the two senior coaches each award 5-4-3-2-1 votes through the AFL Coaches Association. The top six players from each game get votes. This list aggregates forwards' votes per voted-era game and scales them 0-100 within the forwards pool — so an elite forward reads in the 90s here regardless of how many possessions the position averages.

It's the lens that captures what coaches actually see — defensive structure, decoy running, ruck dominance not measured by hit-out volume, leadership in tight games. The KICK formula is box-score-driven and misses some of these. The two lenses agree closely on midfielders; they diverge most on defenders and key forwards. Reading both together is more honest than either alone.

Data window: 2003 (first season AFLCA published per-game votes publicly) to 2025. The 2026 votes will be backfilled at end of season; current-year rankings here use the player's rolling 2003–2025 vote share, not 2026 form. For 2026 form see the main KICK leaderboard for forwards.