Who kicks it out on the full?

Shining the spotlight on one of the less desirable outcomes in football.

The out of bounds on the full rule was first introduced in 1969, where – as the name implies – a free kick is paid against any player who kicks the ball out of bounds on the full. Since then, football games at every level are met by groans from supporters when a player concedes this type of free kick, whether it be from a rushed kick out of the back line that just carries over the boundary on the wing, or a crucial shot at goal that gets absolutely sprayed off the boot.

But which player and team kicks it out on the full the most? And which games have seen the most balls end up in the crowd, instead of their intended location?

In the 328 AFL games that have been played since the start of the 2024 season, there have been 1903 free kicks for out on the full against 541 players. There have been 133 players with a single kick out on the full, 157 players who have kicked it out on the full at least five times, 15 players who have kicked it out on the full at least 10 times, and one player who has kicked it out on the full 15 or more times.

That one player? Shai Bolton.

I was surprised to see a number of these names on the list. Bolton and Izak Rankine were a little unexpected, given they aren’t always high-possession players (although the number of kicks a player has does impact the proportion of kicks that can go out on the full). Max Holmes has been touted as the best draft pick of the 2020s to date, while Hugh McCluggage and Jordan Dawson are arguably having career-best seasons.

Joe Daniher having 10 out on the fulls also surprised me somewhat, as the former Bomber and Lion retired after winning last season’s Grand Final. I suppose this speaks to the enigma that Daniher was as a footballer – kicking the unlikeliest of goals in a clutch situation but missing far simpler kicks.

Based on the list above, you can begin to understand why the Brisbane Lions, Geelong, and Adelaide find themselves at the pointy end of the table in terms of having the most out on the full kicks. And despite Carlton’s trouble moving the ball in 2025, they don’t seem to have as much of an issue kicking the ball out on the full (got to celebrate the small victories, right?).

The breakdown of how often a team has kicked out on the full (and the number of players who have done this) is also interesting to consider when you look at each team’s number one for kicking the ball out on the full. There are lots of players who roll through the midfield and the forward half, but only (one key position) defender: Carlton’s Jacob Weitering.

Injured Blue Brodie Kemp (seven) sits second, ahead of Adam Cerra, Blake Acres, and Charlie Curnow (five each). Cerra and Acres being closer to the top certainly matches seeing them play over the past 18 months, where many of their disposals have missed the intended target.

Also wanted to flag Jamarra Ugle-Hagan being the number one out on the full kicker for the Western Bulldogs, given that he hasn’t played at all this season. However, Lachlan Bramble, Ed Richards, and skipper Marcus Bontempelli all have six out on the fulls, so presumably one of them will overtake Jamarra by the end of the year.

Looking at the players who bring the ball back in after a kick out on the full suggests that the majority of out on the fulls happen in the attacking part of the ground, as these players are all defenders (although some of them do spend time forward based on the circumstances of individual games).

Admittedly, the numbers could fall also this way based on how teams structure themselves on the field when they receive a free kick for out on the full, even if the free kick is paid on a flank or a wing. For example, they could press the majority of their numbers forward in case the kick needs to go long down the line, save for two or three defenders behind the player bringing the ball in available for the switch.

(Note: I have the coordinate data for where disposals data are taken from – so it’s completely possible to explore where these kicks go – but I haven’t been able to figure out a good way to map them, so if anyone wants to team up to do some visualisations on this topic, hit me up.)

Since the start of 2024 the most out on the full kicks by an individual player during a match is three, which has been done 10 times – most recently by Brisbane’s Zac Bailey against Adelaide last weekend (including two in the final quarter when the game was on the line). Other players to have three out on the fulls in a single game include Oskar Baker (Round 5, 2024), Brody Mihocek (R7 2024), Nathan Broad (R19 2024), and Jack Gunston (R6 2025).

Zooming out slightly, there have been nine matches where there were 12 or more kicks that went out on the full, with two of these matches seeing 15 out on the fulls. Geelong have been involved in five of these nine matches, including both games with 15.

And in case you’re wondering about Kardinia Park being a skinny ground, only two of these games (the ones against St Kilda and Richmond) were played in Geelong. The remaining games were played at the Gabba, the Adelaide Oval, and the MCG.

I hope that, at the very least, this post makes for some interesting discussion with your footy-loving mates.