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Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

Long kicking is a feature of Australian Rules Football, and over the years there have been many competitions to see who has the longest kick. The most recent incanation of the longest kick competition involves players attempting to kick a ball across the Yarra River.

players attempt to kick the ball over the yarra river

The longest kick recorded was in 2016 when Carlton's Bryce Gibbs nearly cleared the river with a kick measuring 72.3m. In addition to players representing the men's AFL teams, there have also been celebrity competitors, athletes from other sports, female AFL players and wild-card entrants. In 2021 the competition was held on the Marvel Stadium turf instead of the banks of the Yarra (the Grand Final was in Perth), and there was no event in 2020.

Results Summary

• 2015 - 60.4m Drew Petrie (North Melbourne)
• 2016 - 72.3m Bryce Gibbs (Carlton)
• 2017 - 66.1m Brendan Fevola (ex-Carlton, ex-Brisbane)
• 2018 - 66.9m Jack Gunston (Hawthorn)
• 2019 - 66.8m Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
• 2020 - not held
• 2021 - 59.0m Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn)
• 2022 - 62.9m Charlie Curnow (Carlton)
• 2023 - 69.5m Daniel Rich (Brisbane)

2023 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

The longest kick competition was again held on the Yarra River near the MCG, on Grand Final morning. Below is the final order with each player's best kick listed. After two kicks each, the top five were given another two kicks.

The winner was Brisbane Bears player Daniel Rich with a biggest kick of 69.5m. A notable mention goes to the 2017 winner Fevola who came out of retirement and still had decent form.

1. 69.5m Daniel Rich (Brisbane Lions)
2. 68.3m Isaac Smith (Geelong Cats)
3. 67.3m Brendan Fevola (Wildcard)
4. 64.9m Redman (Essendon)
5. 64.0m Adam Saad (Carlton)
6. 58.0m James Sicily (Hawthorn)
7. 54.8m Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (Western Bulldogs)
8. 53.7m Arie Schoenmaker (Tasmania Devils)
9. 53.5m Trent Rivers (Melbourne)
10. 48.3m Daniel Gorringe (Wildcard)

2022 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

The longest kick competition was again held on the Yarra River near the MCG, on Grand Final morning. The winner was Carlton's Charlie Curnow with a 62.9m torp. Curnow also won the Coleman Medal in 2022. Here is the final order with each player's best kick listed. After two kicks each, the top five were given another two kicks.

1. Charlie Curnow: 62.9m
   
2. Sam Draper: 60.0m
3. James Sicily: 58.9m
4. Cameron Zurhaar: 54.9m
5. Jack Ginnivan:52.9m
6. Steven May: 45.7m
7. Tom Randle: 45.6m
8. Mabior Chol: 42.0m
9. Darcy Fogarty: 40.1m
10. Al Downie: 35.6m

2021 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

The longest kick competition returned after a year's break. Although the Grand Final was being held in Perth, the competition was held in Melbourne as usual, but on the Marvel Stadium turf instead of the banks of the Yarra. Here is the final order with each player's best kick listed.

1. Jarryd Roughead: 59.0m
2. Jack Riewoldt: 57.9m
3. Nick Riewoldt: 51.5m
4. Brad Johnson: 50.2m
5. Nick Dal Santo: 50.2m
6. Cameron Mooney: 47.4m
7. Leigh Montagna: 47.2m
   
8. Jonathan Brown: 47.0m
9. Eddie Betts: 46.6m
10. Chloe Molloy: 41.2m
11. Jordan Lewis: 39.9m
12. Ellie Blackburn: 39.8m

2020 - not held

2019 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

This year they had a slightly different format. There were six match-ups, kicking in pairs. The longest kick of the pair goes through to a bonus round. The field included two AFLW players, Tayla Harris and Sabrina Frederick. There was a wild card entrant, Alex Bland from SA.

The winner of the longest kick, whether it was produced in the match-up round or the bonus round, won $10,000. To get across the Yarra river is 75 metres. The winner was Melbourne's Clayton Oliver.

1. 66.8m Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
2. 66.0 m Brodie Smith (Adelaide)
3. 61.5m Tayla Harris (Carlton AFLW)
4. 61.5m Daniel Rich (Brisbane)
5. 61.4m Chad Wingard (Hawthorn)
6. 61.0m Charlie Curnow (Carlton)
7. 57.4m Taylor Walker (Adelaide)
8. 49.6m Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
9. 48.9m Jaidyn Stephenson (Collingwood)
10. 47.5m Sabrina Frederick (Richmond AFLW)
11. 46.5m Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)
12. 44.1m Alex Bland

In 2019 there was also a celebrity challenge event, involving two teams of sporting and TV celebrities, the team with the longest combined distance won. The best of the celebrities was cricketer Nathan Lyon with a kick of 61m. The other cricketer Pat Cummins was not too far behind either.

2018 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

All players had two kick attempts as per previous years, then additionally the top four have one more attempt. The winning prize of $10,000 was won by Jack Gunston from Hawthorn. The field included a couple of AFLW players and one wildcard entrant, James Pennycuick, his third time in the competition. A change this year was the inclusion of out of bounds markers. To get across the Yarra river is 75 metres.

1. 66.9m Jack Gunston (Hawthorn)
2. 63.0m James Pennycuik (Wildcard)
3. 57.5m Bachar Houli (Richmond)
4. 57.4m Jack Silvagni (Carlton)
5. 55.0m Michael Hibberd (Melbourne)
6. 54.9m Mitch Duncan (Geelong)
7. 49.0m Cyril Rioli (Hawthorn)
8. 46.8m Zach Merrett (Essendon)
9. 45.9m Ben Griffiths (Richmond)
10. 45.6m Sabrina Frederick-Traub (Brisbane Lions)
11. 44.1m Cam Rayner (Brisbane Lions)
12. 44.0m Phil Davis (GWS Giants)
13. 39.9m Katie Brennan (Western Bulldogs)

2017 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

All players had two kick attempts as per previous years, then additionally the top four having one more attempt. The winning prize was $10,000, won by ex-Carlton and ex-Brisbane player Brendan Fevola. There were eight AFL players, a couple of AFLW players and one wildcard winner (same guy as last year) James Pennycuick.

1. 66.1m Brendan Fevola (ex-Carlton, ex-Brisbane)
2. 64.7m Dustin Flectcher (ex-Essendon)
3. 59.7m Matt Suckling (Western Bulldogs)
4. 59.4m Bryce Gibbs (Carlton)
5. 57.6m Josh Kennedy (WCE)
6. 57.3m James Pennycuick (Wildcard)
7. 55.7m Josh Kelly (GWS Giants)
8. 55.5m Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
9. 55.4m Jayden Hunt (Melbourne)
10. 51.5m Sarah Perkins (Adelaide)
11. 47.2m Katie Brennan (Western Bulldogs)

2016 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

In the lead up to the day, a wildcard competition was held, with Brisbane left-footer James Pennycuick booting a 73.9m torpedo to secure his place in the Grand Final Day competition.

Results

1. Bryce Gibbs (Carlton) 72.3m
2. Bernie Vince (Melbourne) 69.2m
3. Alex Rance (Richmond) 66.5m
4. James Pennycuick (Wildcard Winner) 62.8m
5. Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) 62.2m
6. Jonathon Patton (GWS Giants) 59.6m
7. Taylor Walker (Adelaide) 59.3m
8. Tom Hawkins (Geelong) 58.8m
9. Leigh Montagna (St Kilda) 52.7m
10. Grant Birchall (Hawthorn) 50.2m
11. Drew Petrie (North Melbourne) 49.9m
12. Tayla Harris (Brisbane)

2015 Fox Footy's Longest Kick Competition

The inaugural Foxtel AFL Longest Kick Competition was held in Grand Final day, 3rd Oct 2015. Participants had two attempts to kick the ball 75m across Melbourne's Yarra River, the winner to pocket $10,000 prize money. The winner Drew Petrie went very close to crossing the river.

Results

1. Drew Petrie (North Melbourne) 60.4m
2. Travis Cloke (Collingwood) 55.0m
3. Alex Rance (Richmond) 49.8m
4. Jake Stringer (Western Bulldogs) 49.4m
5. Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle) 48.m
6. Brendan Fevola (ex-Carlton and Brisbane) 48.8m
7. Tom Hawkins (Geelong) 44.6m
8. David Armitage (St Kilda) 44.2m
9. Bernie Vince (Melbourne) 42.8m
10. Jonathan Simpkin (Hawthorn) 40.4m
11. Taylor Walker (Adelaide) 40.2m
12. Dustin Fletcher (Essendon) 36.1m

Related Pages

• AFL Football Kicking Competitions
• Grand Final Sprint
• Half time mile race from 1977 & 1978
• Goal kicking and kicking efficiency skill tests
• Longest Throw in American Football

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