Coaches with Scoreless First Quarters
Melbourne’s slow start on Thursday night made their coach the newest member of a somewhat undesirable club
Simon Goodwin has become the ninth current AFL coach to have their team fail to score in the first quarter after Carlton kicked 5.0 to 0.0 on Thursday night.
Goodwin had gone 168 games without a scoreless first quarter, lasting longer than Brad Scott (who had a scoreless first quarter in his second game as a senior coach), Matthew Nicks (third game) and Justin Longmuir (ninth game), but falling well short of John Longmire, who made it to his 295th game as senior coach before going an entire opening quarter without troubling the scorers.
Alastair Clarkson has the undesirable record of having four games with scoreless first quarters.
Table: Current AFL Coaches with Scoreless First Quarters
| Times | Coach(es) |
|---|---|
| 1x | SIMON GOODWIN, John Longmire, Justin Longmuir, Ross Lyon, Brad Scott |
| 2x | Ken Hinkley, Matthew Nicks |
| 3x | Adam Simpson |
| 4x | Alastair Clarkson |
On the other end of the spectrum, there are nine coaches who have avoided a scoreless first quarter to date. Chris Scott and Damien Hardwick have both coached over 300 games without one, which is quite impressive.
The timeframe of this stat is limited based on what data are freely/easily available and/or accessible. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you spot any errors in what I have presented.