With a remarkable 721 hit-outs through 18 matches, Goldstein is likely to pass his personal season-high of 741 (in 2011) on Sunday against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
Since the statistic started being recorded in 1975 Gary Dempsey holds the all-time record of 952 hit-outs in a year. The former North ruckman had the benefit of two finals to get to the mark, but it was no mean feat to register 878 in the regular season.
If Goldstein maintains his current average of 40 hit-outs per game, he will finish the year on a total of 881, narrowly edging Dempsey.
However it’s been his consistency which has impressed most – only two of his 18 games have resulted in less than 30 hit-outs.
| Player | H&A hit-outs (Year) | Games played | Average per game |
| Gary Dempsey | 878 (1982) | 22 | 39.9 |
| Todd Goldstein | 741 (2011) | 21 | 35.2 |
| Gary Dempsey | 738 (1983) | 21 | 35.1 |
| Matthew Leuenberger | 724 (2011) | 22 | 32.9 |
| Todd Goldstein* | 721 (2013) | 18 | 40.0 |
| Mark Lee | 711 (1984) | 22 | 32.3 |
| Will Minson* | 710 (2013) | 18 | 39.4 |
| Simon Madden | 703 (1983) | 22 | 31.9 |
| Gary Dempsey | 688 (1981) | 22 | 31.3 |
| Aaron Sandilands | 684 | 21 | 32.5 |
Normally when a player is approaching a record, he is well clear of his contemporaries. However this isn’t the case for Goldstein in 2013. Western Bulldogs' ruckman Will Minson is just 11 hit-outs behind with 710 for the year and could also be in the mix for the record.
Goldstein’s taps go to his teammates more often than most ruckman. Since the hit-out to advantage statistic was introduced in 1999, the number 22 has the second-highest career average per game in the AFL.
