goalkickers – Collingwood Forever

10 things you might not know about Gordon Coventry

Michael Roberts — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 05:52:41 +0000

A left-field look at our greatest goalkicker

Gordon’s widely used nickname, ‘Nuts’, came about because he apparently had a disproportionately large head as a child.
He was the youngest of seven brothers, his siblings including the legendary Magpie leader Syd (two years older). Gordon played with Diamond Creek at 13, and on several occasions as many as six Coventry brothers took the field in the same team.
He always believed that the best of the Coventry clan was neither him nor Syd but another brother, Norman, who was killed in the First World War,
Gordon hated wearing footwear and would remove his school shoes as soon as he left the school grounds before walking home. His parents lived on an orchard, and he loved to run across the often rugged and prickly terrain in his bare feet. The soles of his feet, he later said, were like leather. He initially hated wearing footy boots and could kick long distances – 45m-plus – without them.
Despite Diamond Creek being located right in the heart of Magpie territory, Gordon actually barracked for Fitzroy as a kid. His heroes were centreline players George Holden and Lal McLennan.
Gordon wore only THREE pairs of boots in his entire 18-year career at Collingwood. For his first two seasons he wore street boots into which stops had been placed. His second pair lasted until 1927, when he had to change after a bout of influenza swelled his ankles. He wore the replacements for the next 10 years until he retired – despite constant pleas from teammates, the club bootstudder and his wife to upgrade his dilapidated old footwear.
Coventry was a large man with strong, square features. So stern was his countenance that once, while on interstate duty, he was taken in by police in Sydney, who thought he was a wanted criminal!
After he kicked 16 goals (then a VFL record) against Hawthorn in 1929, John Wren wanted to give him 50 pounds. When Wren learned that he was forbidden from doing so by League laws, he gave the money to Coventry’s wife to buy a suite of lounge furniture.
Gordon wore no fewer than nine different guernsey numbers during his long career – a reflection of the fact that Collingwood issued its player numbers alphabetically in those days. The number he wore in his first game was 29, and the one he wore most often was seven.
He actually retired after his controversial suspension in 1936, apologising to Magpie fans for “forgetting my good manners” in belting Richmond’s Joe Murdoch after the Tiger backman had spent half a game hitting painful boils on the back of Coventry’s neck. But he decided he did not want to leave the game on such a sour note, so returned for the 1937 season — when he kicked 72 goals to win the League’s goalkicking title for a sixth and final time.

Goals Records

Michael Roberts — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 05:02:11 +0000

From its very earliest days, Collingwood has been blessed with some of the game’s greatest ever goalkickers. Archie Smith, who played in the club’s first game, was a star of the early years, notching seven club titles and twice winning the VFL’s goalkicking award. But that was just the start. Dick Lee was the game’s first goalscoring superstar, and he was followed seamlessly by Gordon Coventry, who held the League’s goalscoring record for more than 60 years. And he, in turn, was followed by Ron Todd, who might have been the best of them all had he not gone to the VFA. Then in later years, Peter McKenna, Peter Daicos, Brian Taylor and Sav Rocca all made their mark as prolific forwards. It’s a rich heritage, and one we as a club are only too happy to celebrate with the following collection of records. Click here for a list of Collingwood’s leading goalkickers, year-by-year

	Most Career Goals
1299	Gordon Coventry
838	Peter McKenna
707	Dick Lee
549	Peter Daicos
514	Saverio Rocca
453	Alby Pannam
441	Travis Cloke
423	Lou Richards
404	Anthony Rocca
371	Brian Taylor

	Most Goals in a Season
143	Peter McKenna 1970
134	Peter McKenna 1971
130	Peter McKenna 1972
124	Gordon Coventry 1929
121	Ron Todd 1938
121	Ron Todd 1939
118	Gordon Coventry 1930
108	Gordon Coventry 1933
105	Gordon Coventry 1934
100	Brian Taylor 1986

	Most Goals in a Game
17	Gordon Coventry, v Fitzroy R12 1930, at Victoria Park
16	Gordon Coventry, v Hawthorn R13 1929, at Victoria Park
16	Peter McKenna, v Sth Melbourne R19 1969, at Victoria Park
15	Gordon Coventry, v Essendon R11 1933, at Victoria Park
14	Gordon Coventry, v Hawthorn R14 1934, at Victoria Park
13	Peter McKenna, v Essendon R11 1972, at Victoria Park
13	Peter Daicos, v Brisbane R20 1991, at Carrara
12	Peter McKenna, v Essendon R14 1971, at Victoria Park
12	Peter McKenna, v Geelong R9 1972, at Victoria Park
12	Peter McKenna, v Essendon R20 1970, at Victoria Park
12	Peter McKenna, v Hawthorn R1 1966, at Victoria Park
12	Brian Taylor, v Sydney R16 1985, at the SCG

	Most Goals in a Final
11	Ron Todd, v Geelong 1938 preliminary final
11	Ron Todd, v St Kilda 1939 preliminary final
9	Gordon Coventry, v Richmond 1928 Grand Final
9	Peter McKenna, v Carlton 1970 second semi-final
8	Bill Twomey Jnr, v Footscray 1948 first semi-final
8	Ken Smale, v Footscray 1956 preliminary final
7	Gordon Coventry, v Geelong 1927 semi-final
7	Gordon Coventry, v Geelong 1930 Grand Final
7	Gordon Coventry, v Melbourne 1937 preliminary final
7	Des Tuddenham, v St Kilda 1966 second semi-final
7	Peter McKenna, v Footscray 1974 elimination final
7	Peter Daicos, v Carlton 1984 first semi-final

	Most Goals at Victoria Park
679	Gordon Coventry
399	Peter McKenna
334	Dick Lee
210	Lou Richards
200	Alby Pannam

	Most Goals at the MCG
329	Saverio Rocca
302	Travis Cloke
236	Anthony Rocca
156	Gordon Coventry
145	Brian Taylor

	Most Goals in VFA Years (1892-96)
86	Archie Smith
42	George Anderson
19	Harry Dowdall
19	Dick Hall
17	Frank Hailwood

	VFL/AFL Leading Goalkicker
1898	Archie Smith 31
1900	Archie Smith (tied) 21
1903	Ted Lockwood 35
1905	Charlie H. Pannam 38
1907	Dick Lee 47
1908	Dick Lee 54
1909	Dick Lee 58
1914	Dick Lee 57
1916	Dick Lee 48
1917	Dick Lee 54
1919	Dick Lee 56
1926	Gordon Coventry 83
1927	Gordon Coventry 97
1928	Gordon Coventry 89
1929	Gordon Coventry 124
1930	Gordon Coventry 118
1933	Gordon Coventry 108
1938	Ron Todd 120
1939	Ron Todd 121
1946	Des Fothergill 63
1958	Ian Brewer 73
1972	Peter McKenna 130
1973	Peter McKenna 86
1986	Brian Taylor 100

Please note: Ted Rowell (1902), Dick Lee (1910, 1913 and 1915) and Gordon Coventry (1937) each topped the table after the finals in the years noted but not after the home-and-away rounds (which is when the League’s Leading Goalkicker is determined).

Reserves Leading Goalkickers

Michael Roberts — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 02:00:10 +0000

Our records for the reserves are incomplete, especially for the period when Collingwood Districts acted as our reserves team, and also for the years between 1939 and 1957. Those years marked with an asterisk are years where we are not yet 100% certain of the leading goalkicker for that season. Until we get extra information we have included the name of the player with the most goals based on the details we have so far. There are some other years where we are sure of the identity of the winner, but some doubt exists over his final tally. We have marked those with two asterisks. We are confident of the details from 1958 onwards, as these entries have been compiled using Collingwood, VFL and AFL data. If you have ANY information about the reserves team/results/scores that you think might help us fill in some of the gaps please contact us at forever@collingwoodfc.com.au

Year	Leading Goalkicker
1919	Ern Utting 91 (as Collingwood Districts)
1920	Herbie Taylor 24*
1921	Ern Utting 24*
1922	George Clayden 12*
1923	George Clayden 36
1924	Cliff Monohan 23*
1925	Albert Collier 23*
1926	Tommy Bird 16*
1927	Bill Fitzgerald 10*
1928	Bill Fitzgerald 26*
1929	TBA
1930	Fred Froude 38*
1931	Dan Peterson 15*
1932	Dan Peterson 22*
1933	Phonse Kyne 23*
1934	Lou Riley, Jim Toone 18*
1935	Ron Todd 41**
1936	Des Fothergill 43**
1937	Lou Riley 30*
1938	Stan Dawson 40**
1939	Len Hustler 21* (as Collingwood Reserves)
1940	Lou Richards 38*
1941	Len Hustler 19*
1942	No team entered
1943	Jack Arnott 51
1944	TBA
1945	TBA
1946	TBA
1947	TBA
1948	TBA
1949	TBA
1950	Jack Finck 21*
1951	Jack Finck 33
1952	Barry Taylor 29
1953	Keith Bromage 35
1954	Kevin Wylie 15*
1955	Kevin Wylie 26
1956	Keith Bromage 22
1957	Tony Heath 20
1958	Keith Burns 27
1959	Merv Hicks 35
1960	Ian Abraham 23
1961	Barry Perry 24
1962	Peter Marshall 38 (VFL winner)
1963	Ian Graham 36 (VFL winner)
1964	Mick Erwin 29
1965	Max Ballantyne 32
1966	Peter McKenna 46 (VFL winner)
1967	Ross Dunne 50
1968	Robert Stevens 25
1969	Gordon Lawrie 33
1970	Gordon Lawrie 41
1971	John Jordan 39
1972	Graeme Dunstan 29
1973	Robert Bird 24
1974	Shane Bond 28
1975	Greg Beck 30
1976	Peter McCormack 50
1977	Terry Phillipe 74
1978	Ted Carroll 32
1979	David Twomey 63
1980	Wes Fellowes 66
1981	Glenn Bellinger 38
1982	Tony Russell 45
1983	Tony Russell 52
1984	Dale Woodhall 57
1985	Dannie Seow 27
1986	Darren Collins 44
1987	John Mrakov 34
1988	Ron McKeown 35
1989	Mark Bayliss 37
1990	Brian Taylor 51
1991	Mark Richardson 52
1992	Brad Hardie 47
1993	Ron McKeown 56
1994	Aaron James 37
1995	Chad Liddell 24
1996	Ben Wilson 65
1997	Aaron James, Brad Fuller 28
1998	Andrew Pugsley 24
1999	Matthew Manfield 28
2000	Brad Oborne 19 (as Collingwood in the VFL)
2008	Brent MacAffer 38
2009	Chris Bryan 35
2010	Scott Reed 27
2011	Brett Eddy 21
2012	Jackson Paine, Caolan Mooney 17
2013	Jackson Paine 45
2014	Patrick Karnezis 31
2015	Patrick Karnezis 30
2016	Travis Cloke, Jordan Collopy 18
2017	Kayle Kirby 43
2018	Andrew Gallucci 25
2019	Andrew Gallucci 18
2020	N/A
2021	Jack Ginnivan 16
2022	Sam Fowler 25