In 2014, 20-year-old Adam Taggart won his first Isuzu UTE A-League Golden Boot, scoring 16 goals in his second season at Newcastle Jets.
No player under the age of 23 had ever won the Golden Boot outright in the competition’s history, and no player has done it since – but that could be about to change.
With five rounds left to play in the 2024-25 campaign, three young Australian forwards top the scoring charts in an historic season for young talent in the league.
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The current Golden Boot leaderboard features four young Aussies competing for top-scoring honours in 2024-25:
- Noah Botic, Western United: 11 goals, 23 years old
- Archie Goodwin, Adelaide United: 10 goals, 20 years old
- Nicolas Milanovic, Western Sydney Wanderers: 10 goals, 23 years old
- Adrian Segecic, Sydney FC: 9 goals, 20 years old
- Hiroshi Ibusuki, Western United: 9 goals, 34 years old
- Joe Lolley, Sydney FC: 9 goals, 32 years old
Western United striker Noah Botic, Adelaide United’s Archie Goodwin and Western Sydney Wanderers winger Nicolas Milanovic are separated by just one goal at the top of the leaderboard, and together are putting up numbers rarely seen throughout 20 seasons of the Isuzu UTE A-League.
All three players are currently placed in the top 10 for goals scored by Under-23 Australian strikers in a single league campaign – and could all rise up the standings by the end of the season.
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| MOST GOALS U23 AUS STRIKERS – SINGLE SEASON | ||||
| SEASON | PLAYER | GOALS | GAMES PLAYED | AGE (START OF SEASON) |
| 2015-16 | Jamie Maclaren | 20 | 25 | 22 |
| 2016-17 | Jamie Maclaren | 20 | 28 | 23 |
| 2013-14 | Adam Taggart | 16 | 25 | 20 |
| 2016-17 | Adam Taggart | 12 | 24 | 23 |
| 2008-09 | Matt Simon | 11 | 21 | 22 |
| 2024-25 | Noah Botic | 11 | 21 | 22 |
| 2008-09 | Nikita Rukavytsya | 10 | 19 | 21 |
| 2024-25 | Nicolas Milanovic | 10 | 20 | 22 |
| 2024-25 | Archie Goodwin | 10 | 21 | 19 |
| 2019-20 | Riley McGree | 10 | 23 | 20 |
Jamie Maclaren sits head and shoulders above the rest of the pack having bagged 20 goals in consecutive seasons at Brisbane Roar between 2015 and 2017.
The Socceroo’s goals-per-game ratio of 0.8 in 2015-16 is unmatched by any young Australian in the league’s history – but Botic, Milanovic and Goodwin all find themselves among the top 10 in terms of goals-per-game scored by Under-23 Australians.
| HIGHEST GOALS PER GAME RATIO OF U23 AUS PLAYERS – SINGLE SEASON (MIN 10 GOALS) | |||||
| SEASON | PLAYER | GOALS | GAMES PLAYED | AGE (START OF SEASON) | GOALS PER GAME |
| 2015-16 | Jamie Maclaren | 20 | 25 | 22 | 0.8 |
| 2016-17 | Jamie Maclaren | 20 | 28 | 23 | 0.71 |
| 2013-14 | Adam Taggart | 16 | 25 | 20 | 0.64 |
| 2008-09 | Nikita Rukavytsya | 10 | 19 | 21 | 0.53 |
| 2008-09 | Matt Simon | 11 | 21 | 22 | 0.52 |
| 2024-25 | Noah Botic | 11 | 21 | 22 | 0.52 |
| 2016-17 | Adam Taggart | 12 | 24 | 23 | 0.5 |
| 2024-25 | Nicolas Milanovic | 10 | 20 | 22 | 0.5 |
| 2024-25 | Archie Goodwin | 10 | 21 | 19 | 0.47 |
| 2019-20 | Riley McGree | 10 | 23 | 20 | 0.43 |
With five rounds left to play in the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season, Botic, Milanovic and Goodwin will continue to fight for the Golden Boot in a race A-Leagues legend Archie Thompson described as the closest he’s seen, on this week’s episode of A-Leagues Download.
“If I had to pick (a winner) it would be Botic,” Thompson said.
“He’s one goal ahead, but coming towards the end of the season, it’s hard to really pick because someone could get two or three and all of a sudden (be ahead).
“This is the closest I’ve ever seen a Golden Boot run. Usually, it was always Jamie Maclaren who was streets ahead or Besart Berisha who was killing it.”
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Botic leads the pack after 24 rounds with 11 goals to his name, one goal ahead of both Goodwin and Milanovic and two in front of Segecic, Ibusuki and Lolley – but with three players on eight goals apiece and 10 players with seven goals to their name, the fight for the Golden Boot is set to go down to the wire over the last five rounds of the regular season.
The Golden Boot title has been shared on two occasions in Isuzu UTE A-League history: in 2005-06 when four players (Alex Brosque, Bobby Despotovski, Dean Heffernan and Stewart Petrie) scored eight goals apiece, and in 2016-17 when Besart Berisha and Jamie Maclaren both finished the regular season on 19 goals.
There have been four seasons with a one-goal difference at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the regular season.
Former Melbourne City keeper Thomas Sorensen joined Thompson on A-Leagues Download and highlighted the importance of young players standing out as the league’s highest scorers, and backed Western United striker Botic to capitalise on his one-goal lead to secure this season’s Golden Boot.
“It’s just great that it’s three young players that are leading and have come through,” Sorensen said.
“Botic has obviously risen to it and the other two have really also stepped up. Goodwin has taken that jump from Newcastle to Adelaide, there were questions about his injuries but this week you saw he’s just a goalscorer. He always pops up in the right places with head and feet and just get those goals that you need as a team.
“They’re all different in their way, and who knows? It could be some of the ones behind them. I think Botic will be my favourite as well because he’s in that form.”
“And he is a nine,” Thompson added, “so he’s probably going to get lots more opportunities.
“But you can’t take away the fact that Milanovic is a wide player, and he’s scored 10 goals, I think that’s great.”
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Only once in Isuzu UTE A-League history has there been a season where more players aged 23 or under scored 10 or more goals, and that was in 2010-11 when Kosta Barbarouses (12), Jean Carlos Solorzano (11), Robbie Kruse (11) and Bruce Djite (10) all featured prominently in a Golden Boot race won by Sergio van Dijk on 17.
This season, three Under-23 players have already breached the 10-goal barrier, and with 20-year-old Sydney FC forward Adrian Segecic currently on nine goals, the 2024-25 crop of young attackers is likely to repeat the feat set in 2010-11.
In-form Newcastle Jet Eli Adams is also within reach of the 10-goal mark. The 23-year-old has seven goals to his name, having scored a classy brace against Macarthur Bulls last time out.
Sorensen picked Botic as his Golden Boot favourite, but predicted the Golden Boot race – much like the fight for spots in the top six – would go down to the wire.
“It’s similar to the finals picture; there’s not that runaway (leader),” he said.
“(Thompson) mentioned a couple (of players), for Bruno Fornaroli there were a couple of years where he was 10 goals ahead of the number two.
“You know what? Let them fight it out. Let them get in there. We’ve got four or five games left; it’s anyone’s.”
