With all the hype around Buddy Franklin’s 100th goal on the weekend, it got me thinking to if the top goal kicker actually has any influence the premier. This was mainly triggered by the fact that Brendon Fevola nipping at Buddy’s heels, and Carlton aren’t exactly premiership material, so when would two so polar teams produce two key goal kickers, does there is perhaps no advantage to having a dominant forward position anymore in AFL football?
| Year | Player | Team | Goals | Ladder Pos | Premier | Ladder Pos |
| 2008 | L. Franklin | Hawthorn | 100 | 2 | ||
| 2007 | J. Brown | Brisbane | 77 | 10 | Geelong | 1 |
| 2006 | B. Fevola | Carlton | 84 | 16 | West Coast | 1 |
| 2005 | F. Gehrig | St Kilda | 74 | 4 | Sydney | 3 |
| 2004 | F. Gehrig | St Kilda | 90 | 3 | Port Adelaide | 1 |
| 2003 | M. Lloyd | Essendon | 87 | 8 | Brisbane | 3 |
| 2002 | D. Neitz | Melbourne | 75 | 6 | Brisbane | 2 |
| 2001 | M. Lloyd | Essendon | 96 | 1 | Brisbane | 2 |
| 2000 | M. Lloyd | Essendon | 94 | 1 | Essendon | 1 |
| 1999 | S. Cummings | West Coast | 88 | 5 | Kangaroos | 2 |
| 1998 | T. Lockett | Sydney | 107 | 3 | Adelaide | 5 |
| 1997 | T. Modra | Adelaide | 81 | 4 | Adelaide | 4 |
| 1996 | T. Lockett | Sydney | 114 | 1 | North Melbourne | 2 |
| 1995 | G. Ablett | Geelong | 118 | 2 | Carlton | 1 |
| 1994 | G. Ablett | Geelong | 113 | 4 | West Coast | 1 |
| 1993 | G. Ablett | Geelong | 124 | 7 | Essendon | 1 |
| 1992 | J. Dunstall | Hawthorn | 139 | 5 | West Coast | 4 |
| 1991 | T. Lockett | St Kilda | 118 | 4 | Hawthorn | 2 |
| 1990 | J. Longmire | North Melbourne | 98 | 6 | Collingwood | 2 |
| 1989 | J. Dunstall | Hawthorn | 128 | 1 | Hawthorn | 1 |
| 1988 | J. Dunstall | Hawthorn | 124 | 1 | Hawthorn | 1 |
These are some quick numbers that I threw together on the past Coleman medalists, and the corresponding premiers. As you can see, there are only 4 occurrences in the last 20 years where a Coleman medalist has played in a premiership team. Premierships aside, the ladder position of the Coleman medalist’s team might also tell us something. Surely kicking more goals is a good thing, no? Apparently not, at least not in all cases. There are certainly quite a few 1 & 2’s, but finishing positions seem to run the gamut, right down to the wooden spoon, WTF? It is obviously not inconceivable that the wooden spooners would produce a Coleman medalist, but if that is the case, that suggests a seriously unbalanced team. Although it might go without saying, these numbers strongly suggest that a dominant keen forward may not be the only way to win through to a premiership.
On a slight aside, I also did a quick graph of the number of goals kicked by Coleman medalists (or would be Coleman Medalists as the medal was only introduced in 1955). This has not been adjusted to allow for the number of games played in each season, but it is still interesting to examine the goal kicking in AFL over time.
