Hayden Parker leads WA country footy's race to 100 goals in 2026

The West Australian’s sports reporters take a look at what’s happening in the country and amateur leagues around WA in this weekly column.

Hayden Parker unstoppable for Jerramungup

The days of a player kicking 100 goals in a single season may well have been and gone at AFL level, but the old-school full-forward is alive and well in WA’s country football leagues. And the early running in the race to be the first Sandgroper to hit triple digits in 2026 has been made by one spearhead who narrowly missed out on the milestone last year.

Hayden Parker finished a premiership-winning season with Railways in the Great Southern Football League last year with 98 majors, having entered the grand final with 97 before managing only one in the Tigers’ victory in the last game of their campaign. Over the off-season, he made a move to the nearby Ongerup Football Association to link up with Jerramungup, where he has proven absolutely unstoppable.

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Remarkably, a five-goal performance against Gnowangerup on Saturday was by far the fewest majors he has kicked in a single game this year — he had opened his campaign with bags of nine, 10 and nine before slotting 14 against Boxwood Hill earlier this month. Parker’s tally of 47 goals for 2026 puts him nearly 20 clear of his two closest challengers from around the State in Cervantes’ James Corner and Dunsborough’s Matt Russo.

Other leading goal-kickers

Corner — a former leading goal-kicker in the Perth Football League A-grade competition with Curtin University-Wesley — started this season with a 13-goal haul against Moora and has been a dominant performer in the Central Midlands Coastal Football League since arriving at the Tiger Sharks in 2025. Having played with Southern Cross since 2021, Russo shifted to the fledgling Sharks ahead of this season and put himself atop the South West Football League’s goal-kicking charts by slotting nine against Harvey Bulls on Sunday.

He is one of five players from the powerhouse competition who have already managed more than 20 goals for the year, alongside WA Country representative Liam Creighton (27 goals), former Perth spearhead Kristian Cary (26), Byron George and Brian Hughes (both 20). In the Goldfields Football League, taking on coaching duties at reigning premiers Mines Rovers has not slowed down Sam Stubbs. The two-time Perth leading goal-kicker leads all comers in the competition with 22 goals for the Diorties, including 10 against Kambalda in round five.