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SINCE 2012 there have been 845 players kick a goal in the Heathcote District league.
But only one has booted more than 300 - former Leitchville-Gunbower spearhead Matt Perri.
Perri easily comes out on top in a collation of the HDFNL's top 50 goalkickers since 2012 with 342.
Perri spent four years with the Bombers between 2015 and 2018 and was the club's leading goalkicker each season - 59 in 2015, 81 in 2016, 124 in 2017 and 78 in 2018.
"He had a bit of a soccer background as well and that helped him with his ability to kick goals from all angles.
"His best year was certainly the premiership year in 2017 when he did a lot of work on his goalkicking routine and his conversion that season improved out of sight.
"Early on with us he did miss a lot of opportunities, particularly set-shots. But he improved on that more as time went on and he was a fantastic target for us."
Like Hawken, Perri also attributed his stellar 124-goal season in 2017 to time spent honing his routine.
"In the off-season I did a lot of work on my goalkicking routine. Only having moved forward the past few years, I've never really had a routine before," Perri told the Bendigo Advertiser after reaching the ton in round 17.
"It's not the most orthodox routine, but it seems to be working."
Perri kicked goals in 66 games for the Bombers during his four seasons at the club, in which he won two premierships before he joined Wallan last year.
And there must be a few Mount Pleasant backmen who still have nightmares whenever they hear the name Matt Perri.
Of the seven bags of 10-plus goals Perri kicked for the Bombers, four were against the Blues, while his biggest day out was the 13 he kicked against Heathcote in round 14 of 2017 - a game Leitchville-Gunbower won by 185 points.
Second on the list of top HDFNL goalkickers since 2012 is North Bendigo's Brady Herdman with 286.
Herdman played four years with the Bulldogs, kicking 73 goals in 2015 (flag), 79 in 2016 (flag), 67 in 2017 and 67 last year (flag).
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As well as coming in at No.2 in the list, Herdman was at No.11 in the list of North Central league top goalkickers since 2012 with 171 for Wedderburn.
Huntly's Chris Gleeson is third on the list with 283 goals, while North Bendigo's Sam Barnes (244) and Lockington-Bamawm United's Lachlan Collins (207) round out the top five.
Colbinabbin's Grant Weeks (No.12, 182 goals) kicked the league's two biggest bags of goals since 2012 in consecutive weeks late in his Cheatley Medal winning season of 2015.
After booting 15 against Elmore in round 17 Weeks topped that effort the following week with a 20-goal haul in a 245-point win over Heathcote.
Since 2012 there have been 16,028 goals kicked in 624 senior matches in the HDFNL.
HDFL 2012-19 TOP 50 GOALKICKERS
1 - Matt Perri
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 342
High: 13 Games: 66
5+: 30 10+: 7
............................................
2 - Brady Herdman
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 286
High: 12 Games: 66
5+: 24 10+: 3
............................................
3 - Chris Gleeson
(Huntly)
Goals: 283
High: 9 Games: 80
5+: 23 10+: 0
............................................
4 - Sam Barnes
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 244
High: 13 Games: 44
5+: 24 10+: 4
............................................
5 - Lachlan Collins
(LBU)
Goals: 207
High: 9 Games: 71
5+: 13 10+: 0
............................................
6 - Danny Brewster
(Elmore)
Goals: 201
High: 12 Games: 58
5+: 14 10+: 4
............................................
7 - Aarryn Craig
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 193
High: 6 Games: 97
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
8 - Harry Whittle
(Huntly)
Goals: 191
High: 10 Games: 75
5+: 8 10+: 1
............................................
9 - Ryan Semmel
(Huntly)
Goals: 190
High: 9 Games: 78
5+: 8 10+: 0
............................................
10 - James Harney
(Elmore)
Goals: 187
High: 7 Games: 71
5+: 4 10+: 0
............................................
11 - Tyson Findlay
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 185
High: 8 Games: 78
5+: 9 10+: 0
............................................
12 - Grant Weeks
(Colbinabbin)
Goals: 182
High: 20 Games: 29
5+: 16 10+: 6
............................................
13 - Michael Spooner
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 167
High: 12 Games: 32
5+: 17 10+: 2
............................................
14 - Ben Weightman
(Mount Pleasant)
Goals: 155
High: 12 Games: 35
5+: 14 10+: 1
............................................
15 - Jarrod Bacon
(LBU)
Goals: 152
High: 7 Games: 54
5+: 10 10+: 0
............................................
16 - Ryan Hon
(Colbinabbin)
Goals: 146
High: 7 Games: 45
5+: 12 10+: 0
............................................
17 - Matt Sawyer
(White Hills)
Goals: 142
High: 7 Games: 54
5+: 8 10+: 0
............................................
18 - Braidy Dickens
(Huntly)
Goals: 140
High: 6 Games: 60
5+: 7 10+: 0
............................................
19 - Nick Knight
(Colbinabbin)
Goals: 128
High: 8 Games: 48
5+: 7 10+: 0
............................................
20 - Jarrod Findlay
(Mount Pleasant,
North Bendigo)
Goals: 127
High: 6 Games: 68
5+: 5 10+: 0
............................................
21 - Joel Helman
(Leitchville-Gunbower,
North Bendigo)
Goals: 125
High: 6 Games: 54
5+: 7 10+: 0
............................................
22 - Tim Lincoln
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 123
High: 7 Games: 52
5+: 5 10+: 0
............................................
23 - Daniel Coates
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 118
High: 11 Games: 43
5+: 6 10+: 1
............................................
24 - Sean Morris
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 106
High: 6 Games: 48
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
25 - Jack Dye
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 102
High: 7 Games: 38
5+: 6 10+: 0
............................................
26 - Jeremy Mills
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 95
High: 7 Games: 43
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
27 - Darcy Richards
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 94
High: 6 Games: 41
5+: 5 10+: 0
............................................
28 - Damien Webb
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 94
High: 10 Games: 39
5+: 4 10+: 1
............................................
29 - Ryan Alford
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 92
High: 4 Games: 55
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
30 - Lachlan O'Toole
(Huntly)
Goals: 88
High: 6 Games: 34
5+: 6 10+: 0
............................................
31 - Kahl Oliver
(LBU)
Goals: 88
High: 7 Games: 32
5+: 5 10+: 0
............................................
32 - Jake Vandongen
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 86
High: 8 Games: 28
5+: 6 10+: 0
............................................
33 - Nick Grigg
(Mount Pleasant)
Goals: 86
High: 7 Games: 23
5+: 8 10+: 0
............................................
34 - Sean Christopher
(North Bendigo,
White Hills)
Goals: 86
High: 11 Games: 23
5+: 7 10+: 1
............................................
35 - Brad Morgan
(Heathcote)
Goals: 83
High: 4 Games: 52
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
36 - Jake Condon
(Heathcote)
Goals: 82
High: 4 Games: 50
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
37 - Alex Van Ruiswyk
(Colbinabbin)
Goals: 79
High: 5 Games: 50
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
38 - Jacob Greenwood
(Huntly)
Goals: 79
High: 5 Games: 38
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
39 - Gavin Bowles
(White Hills)
Goals: 78
High: 3 Games: 54
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
40 - Ayden Walton
(Leitchville-Gunbower)
Goals: 78
High: 7 Games: 29
5+: 5 10+: 0
............................................
41 - Zeik Johnston
(LBU)
Goals: 77
High: 7 Games: 44
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
42 - Anthony Mellington
(Heathcote)
Goals: 73
High: 8 Games: 17
5+: 8 10+: 0
............................................
43 - Chris Hudson
(LBU)
Goals: 71
High: 5 Games: 33
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
44 - Marc Millard
(Heathcote)
Goals: 70
High: 4 Games: 41
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
45 - Hayden Wright
(White Hills)
Goals: 69
High: 7 Games: 38
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
46 - Jeremy Mundie
(LBU)
Goals: 67
High: 6 Games: 36
5+: 2 10+: 0
............................................
47 - Jake Ward
(White Hills)
Goals: 67
High: 6 Games: 27
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
48 - Zach Alford
(North Bendigo)
Goals: 65
High: 5 Games: 34
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
49 - Sam Hill
(Colbinabbin)
Goals: 65
High: 8 Games: 28
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
50 - Travis Mills
(Elmore)
Goals: 65
High: 4 Games: 28
5+: 0 10+: 0
............................................
MOST GAMES WITH AT LEAST ONE GOAL KICKED 2012-19:
97 - Aarryn Craig
80 - Chris Gleeson
78 - Ryan Semmel
78 - Tyson Findlay
75 - Harry Whittle
71 - Lachlan Collins
71 - James Harney
68 - Jarrod Findlay
............................................
TOMORROW - The HDFL's top ranked players since 2012.
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