Among 12,774 AFL players over 123 years (and one round) only 14 have kicked 14 goals in a game. And only one in the 21^st century - Scott Cummings.

It was Round 4 2000, and the headline event of the West Coast Eagles “best of round four” memories.

Cummings kicked 14.1 from 15 marks and 18 possessions in a 114-point win over Adelaide at the WACA Ground.

He took 14 marks inside 50 - an all-time AFL record since records were first kept in 1999, and three better than anyone else in Eagles history. Josh Kennedy, Mark LeCras, Quentin Lynch and Troy Wilson each have a best of 11.

Also, he took six contested marks, one short of Jeremy McGovern’s club record and four short of Wayne Carey’s AFL record of 10. His effort was equal second-best on the club list with Jack Darling, Nic Naitanui, Dean Cox, Troy Wilson and Darren Glass.

In his second season with West Coast and coming off a career-best 95 goals in 1999 when he won the Coleman Medal, 26-year-old Cummings had 23 goals after four games and 34 after six games following a 10-goal haul in round six (against Fremantle).

Sadly, a thigh and then a groin injury restricted him to one game after Round 12 and he finished the season with 47.

It was all part of Cummings’ 46-game, 158-goal stay with the Eagles from 1999-2001 which was stop three in a four-stop career that spanned seven years, 128 games and 340 goals.

Originally drafted by Essendon from WAFL club Swan Districts at #20 in the 1992 National Draft, he was something of a football journeyman.

Oddly, Cummings was drafted in between two Eagles picks in a draft in which the club picked up a total 11 players. They took Lee Walker at #19 before Cummings and Shane Bond immediately after him at #21.

This was after claiming Drew Banfield (#1) and Paul Symmons (#8) and before Travis Burton (#34), Jarrad Schofield (#49), Tony Godden (#64), Brett Spinks (#79), Rhys Croxford (#94), David Muir (#109) and Brayden Lyle (#124).

Banfield was far and away the best value draftee of this group, playing 265 games to sit sixth on the club’s all-time games list. Symmons played 99 games for the Eagles, Schofield 63 (plus 131 for Port and 12 for Fremantle), Bond 34 (plus 57 for Port), Lyle 26 (plus 90 for Port), Spinks 21 (plus 19 for Geelong) and Godden 13 (plus 11 for Fremantle).

Walker never played for West Coast but did play 16 games for Collingwood, while Burton, Croxford and Muir did not play in the AFL.

Cummings was 26 and playing his 105^th career game when he kicked his 14 goals to rank about mid-table among the famous 14 in terms of age and experience.

Richmond’s Doug Strang, who played only 64 games in the 1930’s, booted 14 in just his second game aged 18. And John Longmire was only 19 in his 41^st game when he kicked 14 for North in 1990.

Two others joined this exclusive group in their 41^st game - Harold Robertson when he kicked 14 for South Melbourne in 1919, and Peter Hudson when he kicked 16 in 1969.

At the other end of the scale, Collingwood’s Gordon Coventry was beyond 200 games when he kicked 14 and 15 in his 30s, Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall was 31 when he kicked 14 in his 244^th game in 1996, and Geelong’s Gary Ablett Snr 32 in his 191^st game when he kicked 14 in 1994.

Cummings’ 14-goal haul came in a game in which West Coast posted their equal third-highest score and had their equal seventh biggest win. Darren Glass made his AFL debut, Fraser Gehrig played his 100^th game for the club, Ben Cousins (33) and Michael Braun (30) headed the possession count, and David Wirrpanda (2) and Cousins (1) took the minor Brownlow Medal votes behind the man of the moment.

A ROUND 4 SPECIALIST

Darren Glass, the former captain now back at the club in a key football administration role, was a round four specialist. Not only did he debut in round four, 2000 but he played his 100^th game in round four, 2006 against North in Canberra, and his 200^th game in round four, 2011 against Hawthorn in Launceston.

ROUND 4 AT A GLANCE

The Eagles have enjoyed a 21-12 win/loss record in round four matches including an unbroken run of five in a row since 2015 – and despite losing their first three. They have played 24 times at home in round four and, oddly, have played in Victoria only twice in round four – at Princes Park and Kardinia Park.

They’ve played every opposition club except St Kilda, Port Adelaide and GWS, and are unbeaten in round four  matches against Brisbane (3-0), Essendon (2-0), Fremantle (2-0), Western Bulldogs (2-0), Fitzroy (1-0), Richmond (1-0) and Gold Coast (1-0). They are 2-1 against North and Hawthorn, have an even 2-2 split against Carlton, are 1-2 against Adelaide and Sydney, and have never beaten Geelong (0-3), Collingwood (0-1) and Melbourne (0-1).

A BAD START

It wasn’t a good first round four game for the Eagles. They lost by 87 points to Carlton at Princes Park as John Worsfold made his debut and Dean Turner played his first game in blue and gold. John Annear was the first Eagles player to have 30 possessions in a game – he had 34 – and Laurie Keene kicked a personal-best six goals in a career that would last 36 games.

The scoreline was West Coast 15.14 (104) to Carlton 29.17 (191). Thirty-three years later the score conceded remains the second-highest in club history, behind only the 30-21 (201) Sydney kicked in Round 16 of the same season.  And the combined points tally of 295 is still the most in an Eagles game.

TURLEY ON FIRE

In Round four 1991 West Coast pumped North Melbourne by 72 points at the WACA Ground. Peter Sumich kicked seven goals and Chris Lewis four, as Craig Turley (three), Peter Matera (two) and Sumich (one) took the Brownlow Medal votes.

It was game two in a stunning five-game Brownlow surge by Turley which would see him finish second in the medal to Melbourne’s Jim Stynes. Having earlier picked up three votes in round two before missing round three, his best afield rating in round four was followed by hauls of two-three-two in Rounds 5-6-7.

With 13 votes at round 13 he led by five from Brisbane’s Michael McLean and five players locked together on six votes – Stynes, Richmond’s Matthew Knights, Hawthorn’s Paul Hudson, Richmond’s David Cloke and Geelong’s Damian Bourke.

Turley, later to win the 1991 John Worsfold Medal and All-Australian, still led by six votes at Round 15, but Stynes polled 1-3-3-3-2 five games in a row to pull level at Round 18 and win by five despite Turley picking up two votes in round 20.

In the end it was Stynes (25), Turley (20), Geelong’s Garry Hocking (19), Peter Matera (18) and a three-way tie for fifth between McLean, Knights and Hudson (17).