Skipper Tom Rockliff etched his name into the club record books yesterday with the best tackling performance in Brisbane Football Club history.
Rockliff’s 17 tackles against Melbourne at the MCG bettered the six-year-old single game club record of 16 tackles set by Jared Brennan against Essendon at the MCG in 2009.
The closest challenger to the Brennan mark in recent years had been Jack Redden, who twice had 15 tackles in a game in 2012 and 2014.
These figures cover all BFC games since tackle counts were recorded for the first time in 1990.
Next best on the BFC single game tackling honour board are Nigel Lappin, Simon Black, Rockliff and 2015 recruit Mitch Robinson, who each have had 14 tackles in a game.
Yesterday was the fifth time Rockliff has had 13 or more tackles in a game and sees him equal Redden at this level.
Lappin and Black have had 13+ tackles in a game twice. Brennan and Robinson have done so once.
The Rockliff tackle-a-thon yesterday comes after he re-wrote the club record books last year for most average tackles per game throughout a full season, when he averaged 9.06 tackles per game.
Although he played only 18 games Rockliff, with 163 tackles, fell just short of the club record for most tackles in a season. This stands at 166 to the credit of Redden in 2011, when he played 22 games and averaged 7.55 tackles per game.
Redden also boasts the third and fourth highest single-season tackle totals of 147 (2013) and 142 (2012). He averaged 6.68 tackles in 2013 and 6.45 in 2012.
Redden has had four 100+ tackle seasons and at this level trails only the incomparable Black, who topped triple figures five times in 2001-02-03-06-09.
Rockliff and Dayne Zorko have had three seasons of 100+ tackles, followed Luke Power (2), Daniel Rich (2), Lappin (1), Michael Rischitelli (1), Jed Adcock (1).
Redden leads the 2015 Lions tackle count with 77, followed by Robinson (75),Rockliff (67), Dayne Beams (63) and Zorko (60).