Five mammoth and niche AFL records that could be broken this season
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Last year’s AFL season saw perhaps one of the greatest moments in the modern era with Buddy Franklin hitting 1000 career goals.
He currently sits fifth on the all-time scorers' list, sitting almost 300 goals behind leader Tony Lockett who slotted home 1360 goals in his career.
In his final season, we can all but rule out the possibility of him hitting that achievement, however, the momentous occasion that was his 1000th goal got our minds ticking.
So we have collated a few notable and niche AFL/VFL records that could potentially be overtaken this year.
After all, records are made to be broken.
Scott Pendlebury becomes the all-time tackler
Scott Pendlebury is close to hitting a few records in the AFL.
But one that he definitely could break this season is the all-time tackling record, currently held by Joel Selwood.
The Geelong legend retired at the end of a Premiership-winning season, finishing his career on a total of 1799 tackles.
Pendlebury sits behind him on 1713 - 83 shy.
It may seem like a mammoth effort, but with 112 tackles in 2022, if Pendles keeps up that same defensive form it could see him slip into number one.
Buddy Franklin with the most behinds of all time
Now, this is a record that Lance Franklin definitely won’t want to achieve.
Kevin Bartlett currently holds the record with 781 behinds, with Buddy’s notorious inaccuracy throughout the early stages of his career coming back to bite him.
He should avoid this feat in his final season at the Swans as he sits 52 behind, however, some wayward kicks could land him in the realm.
Buddy might think about retiring a little early to make sure he doesn’t hit the unwelcome record.
A new all-time Premiership leader
Now, this has been a record that has been contested for over two decades now.
Both Essendon and Carlton sit on 16 Premierships each and there’s every possibility we get a new all-time Premiership leader.
While neither team is up there as a favourite this season, Carlton is looking impressive and could be an outside shot to take home their first cup since 1995.
Or, there could be a certain team from Collingwood that joins the two clubs on 16 Premierships.
Of course, all outside chances - but always a possibility.
Buddy Franklin will break the most marks inside 50 record
This is a record that Buddy will want to break and for all intents and purposes should break.
Nick Riewoldt is the current leader on 1016 marks, but Buddy will equal that record with just a single mark.
And with an average of nearly three forward 50 marks a game - he should hit that on his first game of the season for the Swans.
Berating down his neck, however, is Geelong’s Tom Hawkins and Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt, both within touching distance of the record.
Scott Pendlebury breaks another record
We told you he could potentially break a few records this season.
This is one that he should get - the most AFL disposals of all time.
It’s a pretty significant record to get and sitting just 341 disposals behind leader Robert Harvey on the all-time list, we’d expect the Collingwood icon to lead by the end of the year.
He hit 468 disposals in the 2022 season, averaging 22.29 per game.
Scott Pendlebury - the record breaker.
Featured Image Credit: Flickered/Wikipedia Commons.
Topics: Australia, Australia Afl