RIGHT from the 1930s when Frank Crapper first topped the ‘ton' in BFL ranks, our local competition has never been short of gun full-forwards.

We've had the likes of country footy's greatest ever sharpshooter Ron Best, Eaglehawk's Daryl Gilmore, current Central Vic Footy CEO Steven Oliver and 2011 VCFL boss Steven Reaper banging through their hundreds on a regular basis.

And don't overlook Square's Leigh "Bones" Williams who snared 102 majors in 1982 and North Bendigo's Andrew "Nibbett" McLellan who drilled 112 in 1993.

Add Maryborough's Shane McCluskey in 1994 and the Flat's "Hollywood" Dave Lancaster in 1995 and we have a pantheon of star spearheads.

It stretches right up to last season when ex-Colbinabbin, now Golden Square, full-forward Grant Weeks topped the entire VCFL list with 145 home and away majors.

Add on his finals hauls, and Weeksy bagged a staggering 157 for 2010 overall.

Defenders always used to complain to me during my time at the Advertiser that they never garnered much recognition.

True. But the simple fact is that footy followers, not to mention club officials, just love having a glamorous, high scoring full-forward to draw the crowds.

I HAVE been lucky enough to have seen all the recent top goalkickers dating right back to 1977 when I started writing footy at the Addy.

In that very first season of attending BFL matches Peter Woodford of Castlemaine topped the BFL home and away table. He nailed 76 goals.

But with his Sandhurst side winning the '77 grand final, the Maroons' Robbie Earl equalled Woodford's 76 majors with 14 in the finals series following 62 in the ordinary rounds.

Then came the Ron Best period of dominance. Admittedly he nailed 137 in 1969 (129 regular season, eight in finals) but then in eight, straight years from 1973-1980 he won the goalkicking award seven times.

He never kicked less than 94 goals in the home-and-away matches in that spell. That was in 1973 and he topped the ‘ton' anyway, with an additional 14 finals six-pointers.
Besty's top tally was totalled in 1980. That season he snared 161: 145 in the regular season and 16 in the finals.

That leaves Best just two goals off Frank Crapper's all-time Bendigo record of 163 goals, set in 1933.

The gun Eaglehawk full-forward, recruited from Raywood, slipped through 154 goals in the home-and-away rounds plus an extra nine goals in the finals.

But Eaglehawk did not win the flag that season. Sandhurst was at the tail-end of the superb Bob McCaskill era when the Maroons defeated Maryborough in the grand final: 29.15 to 10.12.

Crapper and Eaglehawk had bowed out in the preliminary final!

Crapper, incidentally, was named in Eaglehawk's Team of the Century (1880-2005) back in 2005.

IT WAS in 1980 that three BFL full-forwards topped the ‘ton'. Best as I've pointed out bagged 161. But Eaglehawk's John Price and Sandhurst's Steve McKerrow also nailed more than 100 majors.

And despite Best's dominance of the season, Price had the last laugh. The Two Blues toppled Square in one of the most thrilling BFL grand finals I've seen.

Despite inaccuracy, the Denis Higgins-coached Eaglehawk won a nail-biter by two points: 17.20 (122) to Square's 19.6 (120).

A dozen years later, there was huge excitement during the 1992 season. Media scribes thought Castlemaine's Oliver was about to smash not only Best's mark of 145 goals, but also Crapper's 154.

He was closing in on the elusive target, it was felt.

In the end with the Maine winning the '92 flag by a kick, Olly booted 147 goals that year: 136 in the regular season and 11 in the finals.

In 2000 when the Magpies again won the flag, Oliver did not kick a grand final goal. His total that year was 135 (132, plus three).

BEFORE Crapper's tremendous goalkicking feats --- 108 (1930), 145 (1932) and 163 (1933) --- the best totals recorded straight after World War 1 fell in the 70-range.
Percy Forbes of Sandhurst bagged 70 in 1926. Dr. John Cook of South was the BFL's record-setter when he landed 86 majors in 1928: 84 in the regular season and two in the finals.

That was the best individual total recorded by any player to that date.

After Crapper's period of dominance, Eaglehawk's Mancel Davies headed the individual table three times. In 1935 and '36 he snaffled 82 and 88 goals, respectively.
The BFL records show Davies with 100 majors in 1938. But folklore in the Davies' family (and among Borough historians) has it that the Eaglehawk grocer was gifted one extra goal.

He'd landed only 99 the legend goes. Longtime Advertiser editor Cyril Michelsen --- the man who founded the weekly BFL Guide right back in the 1920s --- credited Davies with one more goal than he actually kicked in a late season match report for the paper.

By the end of August, that gave the Two Blues man 100 goals exactly. And there was no demur from Davies, his teammates, the coach or the club!

So he has gone down in history with the ‘ton' for 1938.
Along came another Eaglehawk man in Harry Morgan during the 1950s. A member of the BFL Hall Of Fame, Harry bagged 113 in 1953: 107 goals in the home-and-away rounds and six in the finals.

In between Morgan and the Two Blues' Greg Kennedy, South's Bob Morton snagged 116 in 1968: 108 and eight.
Kennedy was a revelation.

Recruited from the North Central League and destined for a VFL career with Carlton, Kennedy went past the 100-mark in 1970 and again in 1971.
His overall figure was 125 (105, 20) in 1970 and a year later he passed that total with 152 (139 and 13 in September).

Richard's tips for Round 13: Sandhurst, Eaglehawk, Golden Square, Castlemaine and South Bendigo.
Season total: 42.

By Richard Jones