Only one match remains in the 2017 AFL season and it has become almost a certainty that the Adelaide Crows star midfielder Scott Thompson has played his last AFL game.

There has been minimal media coverage of Thompson’s retirement to-date, especially in Adelaide, most likely since he has only managed to play a single game for the top-of-the-table Crows this season. Thompson isn’t quite in the league of fellow 2017 retirees Nick Riewoldt, Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Steve Johnson but his career statistics will surprise even Crows fans.

Thompson has played 308 games (39 for Melbourne and 269 for Adelaide) and in the history of the VFL/AFL is ranked #4 for most disposals in a single match, #5 for career clearances, #6 for career tackles, #15 for career disposals, #21 for career Brownlow votes and (sorry, Scott) #1 for career clangers.

Brownlow consistency

Thompson currently sits at #21 on the all-time leader board for career Brownlow votes with 155 votes. Gary Ablett, Sam Mitchell and Joel Selwood are the only current players ahead of him.

Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Pendlebury and Nick Riewoldt should move past him this year but his spot in the top 30 looks safe for the next 5-10 years. In fact, if Thompson had polled just one more vote in 2012, he would have joined Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin in awkwardly being awarded Jobe Watson’s Brownlow medal.

Statistics such as disposals, tackles and clearances have greatly increased in modern football, mostly due to increased congestion. Therefore, the all-time leaders of these categories tend to be dominated by modern footballers however the Brownlow medal voting system itself has not changed since 1931.¹ The maximum number of votes a player can attain from a single match has always been 3, regardless of whether a player has 25 or 50 disposals.

Even when you allow for the fact that the Brownlow has recently favoured players who win a lot of possessions, being ranked #21 in the history of the Brownlow is a huge testament to Thompson’s consistency.

Career at Adelaide

Scott Thompson is loved by Adelaide fans for his ability to win possessions, his clearance work and his toughness and aggression. This has seen him consistently lead the club in disposals, clearances, tackles and (occasionally but comparatively less often) free kicks against.

The statistics in this section are all average-per-game figures and don’t count the 2017 season (his 13th season at Adelaide) given Thompson has only played one match.

Disposals: led the Crows in 7 seasons and never finished outside the top 6.

Clearances: led the Crows in 8 seasons, was top-2 in 10 seasons and never finished outside the top 5.

Tackles: led the Crows in 8 seasons and only finished outside the top 2 once (fifth in 2014).

Free kicks against: led the Crows in 5 seasons (well, 6 if you want to be a piece of work and count the one match he played this season and gave away five frees).

Brownlow votes: led the Crows in 5 seasons and was top-3 nine times.

It would be unfair to Thompson to say he went on one year too long given he remains in the leadership group and in 2016 led the club in clearances per game, tackles per game and was fourth in disposals per game.

Clangers

A clanger is a relatively new statistic, having only been tracked since 1998, and they tend to be accumulated by inside midfielders. It’s a slightly ambiguous term which loosely translates to “error” and, to Scott Thompson’s detriment in particular, it includes free kicks against and 50 metre penalties conceded.

Thompson has the unfortunate honour of being the all-time leader in clangers since the statistic began being monitored in 1998. Although, he is in illustrious company with Lance Franklin, Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Adam Goodes rounding out the top 5. Thompson will be relieved to hear he only sits in at #6 on the clangers per game leader board, which is packed with young, inside midfielders, with Toby Greene just leading Dustin Martin.

It should be noted that Dustin Martin’s current season (in which he is the runaway favourite to win the Brownlow) sits in at #4 on the list of most ever clangers in a season and will almost certainly finish at either #1 or #2 once his year is over.

Career highlights

308 games (ranked #55 all-time)

2x Adelaide club champion

1x All Australian (2012)

155 Brownlow votes (ranked #21 all-time, #1 at Adelaide)

1 vote off sharing Sam Mitchell and Trent Cotchin’s 2012 Brownlow

Most Brownlow votes for the Crows in 5 of his seasons

7,233 career disposals (ranked #15 all-time)

1,423 career clearances (ranked #5 all-time)

1,410 career tackles (ranked #6 all-time)

Recorded 51 disposals against Gold Coast in 2011 (ranked #4 all-time for most disposals in a single match)

In 1976 and 1977 the 2 field umpires voted separately meaning 12 votes per match were up for grabs compared with the usual 6. All statistics as at 22/8/2017, taken from either footywire.com, afltables.com and afl.com.au. “All-time” here means “in VFL/AFL history”