Mount Gravatt may sit on the bottom rung of the 12-team AFL Queensland League ladder, but 1500km to the south, the side’s Kyabram recruits have all made an immediate impact in the Goulburn Valley League this season.
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While the Bombers sit seventh on the ladder, having struggled with injury almost from the outset of the year, some of the statistical returns of ruckman Marcus Khoo, running half-back Jake Torney, on-baller Jackson Griffiths and tackling machine Bailey Tome have been celebrated by the club’s officials and supporters.
The four Queensland juniors feature prominently in this week’s GVL Data focus: Outstanding individual efforts of 2024.
In this article we take a close statistical look at some of the outstanding matches and quarters in the different categories of the 11 games the Bombers have played this year.
Marcus Khoo played 10 games in the QAFL’s top competition last season and has played nine games with the Bombers in 2024, the crowning glory of his season coming in round two against Rochester.
That is one of three 130-plus ranking point games, Khoo opening with a 139-point game (23 disposals, 40 hit-outs and six clearances) and scored 140 against Shepp United on the back of 41 hit-outs (six to advantage), 19 disposals and eight tackles (four inside the forward 50).
Since moving to half-back Torney has been a star for the Bombers, regularly leading the statistical counts from individual games in the rebound-50s and intercept marking categories. He is 14th in the competition for marks and 11th in the league for intercept marks.
He is ranked 30th for rebound-50s, is averaging 19 disposals and almost two inside-50s a game.
He graduated from the Brisbane Lions NAB League team and played 17 games with Mount Gravatt last season, before joining the Bombers in 2024.
Griffiths has been back and forward between Victoria and Queensland all season, playing the first two rounds with Mount Gravatt (and has twice returned since then for games with the club in May and June), alongside nine games with Kyabram in two stints – among the Bombers’ best in three of those last four games.
Griffiths owns the best third-quarter ranking points total (53) for the Bombers this year, achieved in round three against Euroa, is averaging 21 disposals a game, four tackles and almost four clearances.
Tome played 18 games with Mount Gravatt last season, but has split his time between Northern Bullants (10 games) and Kyabram (four games) this season.
He has thrilled the club with his tackling and has the two standout games for tackling, against Benalla in round 10 and against Shepparton Swans in his first game for the Bombers. Tome also has the best clearance game of any player at the club this season, 12 against Shepparton in round nine.
His first quarter in that game (53 ranking points) is equal first with Mick Mattingly’s Seymour game and his 170 ranking points for the Benalla game is the highest return of any Bomber this season.
In that same game Tome amassed the second most contested possessions of any Bomber this season (16), Josh Dillon going one better in the same game when 17 of his 20 disposals were contested.
Tome produced the best of his four games with the Bombers against Rochester on Saturday.
He amassed 198 ranking points, more than any other Kyabram player this season, by collecting 34 disposals, kicking three goals and laying 13 tackles.
He produced season highs for the club with 26 contested possessions and 16 clearances, alongside his six inside-50s.
In the first half he had an amazing 126 ranking points, laying seven tackles in the first quarter alone and having 11 clearances for the half.
For the record, last season, Mount Gravatt won only five of its 18 games and finished second last on the ladder.
Back to the Bombers and, as you may have guessed, most of the individual records (statistically at least) belong to one man – Liam Ogden.
He has the most inside-50s in one game (10 versus Mooroopna), has led the clearance count on eight occasions this season and is ninth in the league (the top Kyabram player) for contested possessions this season.
Ogden’s 75-ranking-point final-quarter against Mooroopna in round one is the largest individual total of any player, marginally ahead of Anthony Depasquale’s 68-point second quarter against Shepparton United.
Ogden has three 130-plus ranking point games to his credit this year, with Depasquale (147), co-coach Kaine Herbert (141) and Archie Watt (133 in round nine versus Shepparton) the only other players to break through the barrier (along with Khoo, as mentioned earlier).
Herbert has taken the most marks (13) in a single game, 13 against the Swans in round eight when he kicked five goals. He and Depasquale share the best return for score involvements (14), while Depasquale, who leads all comers in the GVL with 45 goals this season, has the Bombers’ best return for goal involvements (11 against Tatura in round seven), the most inside-50 marks (eight in the same game) and the most contested marks in a match (seven against Mansfield in a losing side in round five).
Jake Parkinson has had an outstanding season and the numbers reflect this, having topped the Bombers’ tally for possessions in a single game on three occasions and owning the second-most rebound-50s in a game (11 in round five against Mansfield, second to Aidan Robinson’s 13).
Here are some of the other highlights for individual players this season:
Mitch Dodos – second quarter, round two versus Mansfield 49 ranking points.
Archie Watt – second quarter, round nine versus Shepparton 58 ranking points.
William Wild – game-high 11 marks in round 10 versus Benalla.
Nick Jephson – equal game-high 12 marks in round seven versus Tatura and 10 score involvements (second to Herbert and Depasquale’s 14) in round seven.
Will Golds – 14 marks and 120 ranking points in round 11 versus Echuca.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor