Kieren Briggs, a Sydney local from the football factory of Pennant Hills, was instrumental in creating a VFL/AFL record.
It’s taken 130 years of football and thousands of VFL/AFL matches for a team to kick 14 goals in a third quarter and yet it was achieved in Sydney on the weekend by the GIANTS who were led in the ruck by Sydney born and bred Kieren Briggs.
14 goals... it’s worth pondering over that stat for a while. 14.2 – 86 points... in a quarter. For a comparison, 86 points matches the total score Brisbane kicked in the 2023 Toyota AFL Grand Final. What’s more, they kept Brisbane goalless in the same quarter.
After the GIANTS’ 11th goal of the quarter, commentator Gerard Healy asked “is there a mercy rule?”.
Yet the standard for the GIANTS was set as early as the first quarter by their ruckman Kieren Briggs.
He set the tone by being instrumental in the first four centre square clearances. His follow up, his harassment and handpassing to players who were clear of the pack were a feature of this early period.
What’s more, Briggs’ handpass to Riccardi set up the GIANTS' second goal of the match. Brisbane responded by changing their ruckman to Darcy Fort after the third GIANTS goal, but it didn’t alter the pattern of play as the GIANTS still obtained another centre square clearance.
In the GIANTS’ record breaking third quarter, Briggs was instrumental early as his clear tap in the first contest resulted in a clearance and a goal and then soon after he got involved in a handpass chain that resulted in Stringer’s goal. Of the first six centre clearances of the quarter, the GIANTS won four of them. The tone had been set for the quarter.
All up, Briggs almost doubled his disposal average for a match of 11 with his total of 20 possessions plus 26 hit outs. There is no doubt that the big ex-Pennant Hills ruckman was a key element in the GIANTS' win.
Briggs’ foundational years at Pennant Hills would have been instrumental in building the player that is dominating for the GIANTS today. After playing his junior football and senior football at Pennant Hills, including being in the 2017 premiership team, he has since played 78 games for the GIANTS.
Over the years, dating back to the 1980s, Pennant Hills has developed some stars of the game including Terry Thripp, Kieren Jack, the McVeigh brothers and Lenny Hayes, yet none of these ex-players can say they could match Briggs’ record of being involved in a record shattering win… against the reigning premiers no less.
Casey Bunton Medal Leaderboard – NSW player leading in AFLCA votes
39 (-) Isaac Heeney (Cardiff/ Sydney Swans)
28 (-) Nick Blakey (University of NSW-Eastern Suburbs/ Sydney Swans)
24 (-) Shaun Mannagh (Walla Walla/ Geelong)
Bill Mohr Medal Leaderboard – NSW player leading goalkicker in the AFL
19 (1) Shaun Mannagh (Walla Walla/ Geelong)
16 (3) Patrick Voss (Turvey Park/ Fremantle)
15 (1) Isaac Heeney (Cardiff/ Sydney Swans)
14 (2) Phoenix Gothard (Albury/ GWS Giants)
13 (-) Cooper Sharman (Leeton-Whitton Crows/ St Kilda)