Among 206 Queenslanders who have played in the AFL, how many have had 35 possessions in a game? Who was first? Who was quickest to this mark? Who was youngest? Who has had most 35-plus games. Who has had most possessions in a game? And which player who topped 35 for the first time on Saturday might finish his career with most?
Answer A – 13 players
Answer B – Scott McIvor
Answer C – Scott McIvor
Answer D – Josh Thomas and Josh Smith
Answer E - Dayne Beams
Answer F – David Armitage
Answer G - Will Ashcroft ???
Ashcroft earned membership to the 35-plus club when, in his 38th game on Saturday, he had 35 possessions in the Lions’ 45-point win over St.Kilda at Marvel Stadium.
It’s an in-between number …. not 40, which is a mark achieved by only Beams, Armitage and Dayne Zorko, but enough to identify the more prolific of the 30-plus players, which isn’t quite the big thing it was.
Will Ashcroft was the 13th member of the 35-plus group and, aged 20 years 355 days in his 38th game, he was the second-youngest and the third-quickest.
It’s a collective history that dates back to Round 14 1987, when Scott McIvor, playing his 50th AFL game with Fitzroy against Melbourne at Princes Park, had 35 in a 48-point win.
He was followed by Collingwood’s Gavin Crosisca in 1991, and the Brisbane trio of Marcus Ashcroft (1994), Michael Voss (1997) and Jason Akermanis (2004).
At 27-plus when he reached 35 possessions for the first and only time in his 205th game Akermanis was oldest and slowest.
At 20 years 322 days McIvor was the youngest - 33 days younger than Will Ashcroft. Next youngest was Jarrod Harbrow, playing with the Western Bulldogs aged 21 years 286 days in 2010, and Collingwood’s Josh Thomas at 21 years 326 in his debut season in 2013.
Thomas had 35 in just his 17th game to share the ‘quickest’ title with Collingwood’s Josh Smith, who had 35 in his 17th game in Round 22 2016.
Yet another Collingwood player, Dayne Beams, has had 17 games of 35-plus to be a runaway leader from Zorko (8), McIvor (5), St.Kilda’s David Armitage (5), Voss (4) and Ben Keays (3).
Armitage holds the single-game possession record by a Queenslander at 45 in his 113th game against the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in 2015. It was part of an extraordinary run in which he went 36-33-27-35-45-31-32-31 from Rounds 2-9.
At first glance Beams’ total of 17 games of 35-plus looks a long way off for Ashcroft, but he didn’t hit 35 until his 67th game. He had only five in his first 100 games, played only 177 games, and at 38 games he had a total of 746 possessions.
But Will Ashcroft, winner of the Norm Smith Medal in his 31st game last year, has 876 possessions a 38 games. Suddenly it doesn’t seem quite so far.
SUBMITTED BY PETER BLUCHER