NCFL SHARP-SHOOTERS - The top 50 goalkickers from 2012-19

READ MORE - "It's a sad moment to know there's going to be no football for North Central": chairman

WHENEVER Wedderburn's Danny Benaim kicked the ball into the direction of team-mate Sam Barnes in the Redbacks' forward line, he did so knowing that if Barnes didn't mark it, he'd at least get the ball to ground.

He wouldn't get outmarked by his opponent.

"One-on-one, I've never seen him get beaten... he's the old-school forward," Benaim said this week.

Barnes easily ranks No.1 in the list of North Central leading goalkickers between 2012 and 2019 compiled by the Addy, with the Redbacks' spearhead - who has just been appointed Wedderburn co-coach with Benaim - one of just three players through the timeframe with more than 300 goals.

Barnes leads the way with 358 goals, followed by Donald's Seamus Young (328) and Wycheproof-Narraport's Corey Jones (313).

Barnes kicked goals in 65 games for the Redbacks during the timeframe, including nine where he booted a double-figure haul led by his 15 against Birchip-Watchem in round nine of 2013.

"Before he came to us he wasn't really a full-forward, but then to come off a bad injury that he had when he broke his leg and do what he has done makes his career all the more exceptional," Benaim said.

"Having him down in the forward line, he was such an enforcer and intimidating... I'd hate to know what it must have been like to play on him; it wouldn't have been much fun."

Throughout the timeframe Barnes was the NCFL's leading goalkicker in 2012 (103), 2013 (82) and 2014 (100) - all premiership seasons - before heading to North Bendigo, where he played in two more flags in 2015 and 2016, kicking 174 goals.

Barnes returned to Wedderburn in 2018 and kicked 41 goals in an injury-interrupted 2018 and then 32 in just five games in 2019 before suffering a season-ending eye injury.

Meanwhile, since returning to Donald from Western Australia in 2014 Young has been the Royals' leading goalkicker in each of the past six seasons, slotting 46 in 2014, a league-best 74 in 2015, 60 in 2016, 39 in 2017, 58 in 2018 and 51 in 2019.

Young's tally of 328 goals through the timeframe features a best haul of 10 against Wycheproof-Narraport in round eight last year, while he has kicked goals in 90 of a possible 101 matches since his return to the Royals and booted at least five 31 times.

Star veteran Jones' 313 goals for Wycheproof-Narraport during the timeframe includes three double-figure hauls - 10 against Charlton in round 11 of 2016, 10 against Birchip-Watchem in the 2016 preliminary final and 10 against Boort in round 17, 2012.

Jones kicked at least one goal in 80 games throughout the period for the Demons and twice topped the league goalkicking in 2016 (91) and 2017 (71).

Behind Barnes, Young and Jones, rounding out the top five goalkickers in the NCFL from 2012-19 is St Arnaud's Nick Coghlan with 275 and Charlton's Joe McGrath with 267.

A total of 640 players kicked at least one goal in the competition through the period, while there were 402 hauls of at least five across the 512 games.

Wycheproof-Narraport has three players in the top 10 - Jones at No.3, Ricky Allan at No.6 with 214 goals and James Coatsworth at No.10 with 174.

1 - Sam Barnes

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 358

High: 15 Games: 65

5+: 38 10+: 9

............................................

2 - Seamus Young

(Donald)

Goals: 328

High: 10 Games: 90

5+: 31 10+: 1

............................................

3 - Corey Jones

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 313

High: 10 Games: 80

5+: 27 10+: 3

............................................

4 - Nick Coghlan

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 275

High: 9 Games: 88

5+: 20 10+: 0

............................................

5 - Joe McGrath

(Charlton)

Goals: 267

High: 10 Games: 86

5+: 18 10+: 1

............................................

6 - Ricky Allan

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 214

High: 7 Games: 85

5+: 11 10+: 0

............................................

7 - Stephen Paulke

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 184

High: 10 Games: 45

5+: 17 10+: 1

............................................

8 - James McNamee

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 181

High: 11 Games: 62

5+: 13 10+: 1

............................................

9 - Lachlan Foott

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 177

High: 7 Games: 71

5+: 9 10+: 0

............................................

10 - James Coatsworth

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 174

High: 8 Games: 69

5+: 9 10+: 0

............................................

11 - Brady Herdman

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 171

High: 12 Games: 41

5+: 15 10+: 2

............................................

12 - Daniel Needs

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 158

High: 9 Games: 48

5+: 11 10+: 0

............................................

13 - Ben DeAraugo

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 148

High: 9 Games: 64

5+: 9 10+: 0

............................................

14 - Billy McInnes

(Sea Lake Nandaly)

Goals: 141

High: 10 Games: 44

5+: 9 10+: 1

............................................

15 - Danny Benaim

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 137

High: 9 Games: 61

5+: 4 10+: 0

............................................

16 - George Turner

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 127

High: 7 Games: 67

5+: 2 10+: 0

............................................

17 - Andrew Mead-Harding

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 124

High: 7 Games: 44

5+: 8 10+: 0

............................................

18 - Daniel Castellano

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 123

High: 8 Games: 30

5+: 9 10+: 0

............................................

19 - Thomas Finlay

(Charlton)

Goals: 115

High: 9 Games: 51

5+: 5 10+: 0

............................................

20 - Jordan Doering

(Sea Lake Nandaly)

Goals: 112

High: 11 Games: 26

5+: 9 10+: 2

............................................

21 - Anthony Judd

(Charlton)

Goals: 101

High: 5 Games: 61

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

22 - Nathan Gordon

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 97

High: 6 Games: 45

5+: 4 10+: 0

............................................

23 - Darcy Harrison

(Donald)

Goals: 91

High: 5 Games: 49

5+: 2 10+: 0

............................................

24 - Brad Collins

(Sea Lake Nandaly)

Goals: 87

High: 5 Games: 37

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

25 - Rick Easton

(Boort)

Goals: 82

High: 7 Games: 31

5+: 4 10+: 0

............................................

26 - Rohan Nolan

(Boort)

Goals: 82

High: 9 Games: 26

5+: 6 10+: 0

............................................

27 - Marc Reiffel

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 78

High: 5 Games: 35

5+: 3 10+: 0

............................................

28 - Charlie Hallam

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 72

High: 6 Games: 35

5+: 2 10+: 0

............................................

29 - Daniel Thiesz

(Charlton)

Goals: 71

High: 5 Games: 38

5+: 3 10+: 0

............................................

30 - Cody Gunn

(Charlton)

Goals: 71

High: 6 Games: 25

5+: 5 10+: 0

............................................

31 - Kain Robins

(Charlton)

Goals: 70

High: 6 Games: 29

5+: 3 10+: 0

............................................

32 - Nick Baldwin

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 69

High: 3 Games: 48

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

33 - Nathan Holt

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 67

High: 5 Games: 43

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

34 - Matt Giri

(Charlton)

Goals: 65

High: 6 Games: 29

5+: 4 10+: 0

............................................

35 - Luke Kyriakides

(Charlton)

Goals: 64

High: 6 Games: 36

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

36 - Nathan Coghlan

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 62

High: 6 Games: 31

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

37 - Ben Brennan

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 60

High: 9 Games: 31

5+: 1 10+: 0

............................................

38 - Brody Haddow

(Donald)

Goals: 59

High: 3 Games: 39

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

39 - Cameron Chalmers

(Boort)

Goals: 57

High: 4 Games: 33

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

40 - Joel Turner

(Wycheproof-Narraport)

Goals: 56

High: 4 Games: 39

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

41 - Nathan Wight

(Sea Lake Nandaly)

Goals: 56

High: 8 Games: 24

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

42 - Paul Messer

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 56

High: 6 Games: 18

5+: 3 10+: 0

............................................

43 - Jacob Tillig

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 55

High: 4 Games: 39

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

44 - Jackson Hogan

(Donald)

Goals: 55

High: 4 Games: 28

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

45 - Ben Rose

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 54

High: 4 Games: 25

5+: 0 10+: 0

............................................

46 - Matt Gilmore

(Birchip-Watchem)

Goals: 54

High: 10 Games: 16

5+: 4 10+: 1

............................................

47 - Tom Eltringham

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 54

High: 10 Games: 14

5+: 5 10+: 1

............................................

48 - Declan Quin

(Wedderburn)

Goals: 53

High: 7 Games: 21

5+: 2 10+: 0

............................................

49 - Simon Weekley

(Sea Lake Nandaly)

Goals: 53

High: 8 Games: 16

5+: 4 10+: 0

............................................

50 - Liam Cunningham

(St Arnaud)

Goals: 53

High: 7 Games: 15

5+: 4 10+: 0

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