Although a teenage Jack Graham kicked a game-high, crucial three goals in Richmond’s 2017 Grand Final triumph over Adelaide, in what was just his fifth AFL match, he produced the breakout performance of his senior playing career with the Tigers against Carlton at the MCG yesterday.
It was some sort of display by the strongly-built, 21-year-old midfielder – 22 disposals, with eight inside-50s, four clearances, four inside-50s, four goals, nine score involvements, 14 tackles and 594 metres gained.
Career-high four goals for @jackmgraham_ #AFLTigersBlues #gotiges pic.twitter.com/EMRl5sHuSW
— Richmond FC (@Richmond_FC) August 11, 2019
To highlight just how well Graham went, it’s the first time since the inception of player statistics in AFL/VFL football a player has had that many combined disposals, tackles and goals in a match.
Graham set a swag of AFL personal bests in key statistical categories during the game.
Here’s what he achieved in his role through the midfield and drifting forward . . .
• Most goals (four).
• Most goal assists (three).
• Most score involvements (nine).
• Most tackles (14).
• Most tackles inside 50 (four).
• Most kicks (19).
• Most inside-50s (eight).
• Most metres gained (594).
In 12 games at senior level for Richmond this season, Graham is averaging 18.4 disposals, 8.1 tackles, 4.9 score involvements, 3.9 inside-50s and 288.2 metres gained. He’s also kicked a total of eight goals – six of them in his past two outings.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick acclaimed Graham’s standout showing in his post-match press conference . . .
“He’s played that role a little bit for us before. Obviously, when Dustin (Martin) withdrew yesterday, we did have to flick the magnets around a little bit and find a happy medium that we were after to look at, but also give a couple of guys an opportunity to go more through the middle,” Hardwick said.
“The thing I love about Jack is he just competes.
“Regardless of his possession rate, we always know he’s going to bring pressure.
“And it was great for him to hit the scoreboard again today.”