Who kicked 18 goals in a single VFL match, the league record?

Fred Fanning kicked 18 goals in one VFL match, setting the league record for goals in a senior game.

Fanning achieved the feat for Melbourne against St Kilda at the Junction Oval on 25 July 1947. His enormous haul remains one of the most striking individual scoring performances in elite Australian rules football.

Fanning was a powerful full-forward who led the VFL goal-kicking list three times. He also holds Melbourne’s club record for career goals and was a key figure during the club’s successful 1940s period.

The record is often mixed up with records for goals in a final or goals in an AFL-era match. It refers specifically to a VFL/AFL senior premiership match. Tony Lockett’s 10-goal performance in the 1990s was famous, but it did not approach Fanning’s total.