Armitage’s tackling record – by Peter Blucher
St.Kilda’s David Armitage has written himself into the Queensland football record books again with a supreme tackling performance on Saturday.
Armitage had a staggering 18 tackles in the Saints’ win over Fremantle at Etihad Stadium – the most ever by a Queenslander.
His effort surpassed the previous best of 14 by Ricky Petterd for Melbourne against Richmond in 2011.
It gave Armitage seven of the top 17 tackling performances by Queenslanders in AFL history. He also has had hauls of 13, 12 and 11, and three hauls of 10.
Others with 10+ tackles in a game have been Cheynee Stiller (12), Dayne Zorko (10, 12), Dayne Beams (11 twice), Marcus Ashcroft (10), Tom Bell (10), Rohan Bail (10) and Sam Gilbert (10).
Armitage’s record-breaking tackling effort comes after he had an all-time Queensland record of 14 clearances against Port Adelaide in Round 1 this year, surpassing the previous mark of 12 held by Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis and Dayne Beams.
Last year, too, he broke the record for most possessions in a game when he bagged 45 possessions against the Western Bulldogs. This bettered Marcus Ashcroft’s previous record of 39 in 1999.
Armitage also had 28 possessions and a goal as St.Kilda came from behind at three-quarter time to extend the Dockers’ losing streak to 10 games.
This gave him a Champion Data score of 149 – second only to teammate Tom Hickey’s 157 in Round 1 among Queenslanders this year.
In other Queensland highlights in Round 10 of the Toyota AFL premiership:-
- Port Adelaide’s Charlie Dixon kicked his second bag of five goals for the year. This gives him a season tally of 26. He is equal seventh on the Coleman Medal list behind Sydney’s Buddy Franklin (40), West Coast’s Josh Kennedy (37), Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch (34), North Melbourne’s Jarrad Waite (27) and Adelaide’s Josh Jenkins (27) and Eddie Betts (27), and equal with Melbourne’s Jesse Hogan (26).
- Sydney’s Kurt Tippett had a career-best 37 hit-outs as they ended North Melbourne’s nine-game winning streak.
- Brisbane’s Dayne Zorko had 23 possessions, two goals and nine tackles for 114 Champion Data points in their loss to Hawthorn.
- Brisbane’s Tom Bell kicked an equal career-best four goals in the same game. He also had four goals in a game for Carlton in 2014 and 2015.
- Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt became just the fifth Queenslander to post 150 AFL wins. Only Jason Akermanis (197), Jason Dunstall (177), Michael Voss (167) and Marcus Ashcroft (153) have sung their club song more often. Riewoldt also had 24 possessions and kicked two goals. He’s now had 20+ possessions in his last seven games – the most consecutive 20+ games by a Queenslander this year.
- Kilda’s Tom Hickey had 41 ruck hit-outs against Fremantle. This was the equal fourth-highest hit-out count in a game all-time by a Queenslander and gives him three of the top six. Hickey already heads this list with 56 hit-outs in Round 1 this year. Others to top 40 have been Shaun Hampson (52), Trent Knobel (42) and David Hale (40).
- Fremantle’s Lachie Weller kicked two goals in a game for the first time as he played against older brother Mav for the first time. The ex-Gold Coaster, now at St.Kilda, squared the family win/loss ledger with the Saints’ 34-point win.
- Daniel Merrett moved to outright 11th on the all-time Queensland games list with his 189th. This took him ahead of Matthew Kennedy.
In the NEAFL, Archie Smith continued to push for a senior opportunity with 23 possessions, 23 hit-outs in the Lions’ 112-point thumping of an undermanned Gold Coast Suns. He was named his side’s second best player. Claye Beams was fifth best with 26 possessions, and Reuben William sixth best after his best game of the year with 24 possessions. Liam Dawson (five goals) and Eric Hipwood (4 goals) and Matthew Hammelmann (21 possessions) also featured prominently on the stats sheet.
In the WAFL, ex-Redland key position player Matthew Uebergang had 17 possessions for Peel Thunder against East Fremantle after senior coach Ross Lyon on Thursday gave him a glowing endorsement. Said Lyon: “We’ve been really pleased with him. He attacks the ball really hard … he’s a lovely kick and decision-maker and he’s quite young at 19 so we’ve been thrilled with his development.”
In the VFL, restricted to one game due to the VFL v SA representative fixture, Mabior Chol had 14 disposals and was named fourth best for Richmond against Essendon. Sam Michael had 13 possessions and 23 hitouts for Essendon and has been flagged as a possible senior call-up as a key defender following Michael Hartley’s hamstring injury.
