Can Jamie Maclaren do the unthinkable? Catch the uncatchable?
On his current trajectory, the Melbourne City spearhead could end his career as the all-time leading men’s goalscorer in Australian national league history – but he’s got some mountain to climb to get there.
Maclaren climbed above John Kosmina into fourth spot on the all-time list of men’s Australian national league goalscorers on Sunday afternoon, netting his 14th goal of the current Isuzu UTE A-League season – and 134th in total – in a 3-3 draw with Adelaide United.
Watching on from the Adelaide dugout was Reds assistant Damian Mori. He’s the man Maclaren’s trying to catch: the most prolific striker in Australian national league history with 240 goals netted in 447 games.
“I don’t think anyone is catching Damien Mori for the next 20 years!” Said Paramount+ commentator Simon Hill during Sunday’s broadcast.
With Mori currently 106 goals clear of Maclaren, most would view that as a sensible statement.
Knowing Maclaren, the City marksman might view it as a challenge.
On track to scoop up a fourth consecutive A-League Men Golden Boot, Maclaren has jumped from 10th on the all-time leaderboard to fourth in just 13 games this season; he has 13 regular-season games remaining to bag the nine goals he needs to leapfrog both Rod Brown and Besart Berisha into second spot on the list.
Then, he’ll turn his attention to the long road to that magic number: 240.
As Maclaren continues his rapid rise up the scoring charts, KEEPUP looks at the top-10 players on the men’s Australian national league goalscoring leaderboard.
- Damian Mori
- Games: 447
- Goals: 240
A legend of National Soccer League (NSL) club Adelaide City, Damian Mori made a name for himself as a dominant goalscorer in what was formerly the premier men’s football competition in the country, culminating in a decorated spell at Perth Glory between 2000-2004 where he developed a fierce strike partnership with Bobby Despotovski.
Mori earned a move to German club Borussia Mönchengladbach in the mid-1990’s – but it was an unsuccessful stint which garnered just six appearances and zero goals. Mori’s swift return to Adelaide City saw him pick up where he left off in the NSL.
Mori played for a number of clubs in both the NSL and Isuzu UTE A-League, ending his career at Adelaide City in 2011. He was capped 45 times by the Socceroos, scoring 29 goals.
2. Besart Berisha
- Games: 236
- Goals: 142
Widely regarded as one of the best overseas imports the A-League Men has seen, Besart Berisha scored goals for fun across 236 league appearances, winning four Championships – two at Brisbane Roar, and two at Melbourne Victory.
The Kosovo international and two-time A-League Men Golden Boot winner was a dominant force at both Roar and Victory. He called time on his career in January of 2022 after two seasons at Western United which garnered 26 goals from 50 appearances.
3. Rod Brown
- Games: 346
- Goals: 137
Rod Brown, capped seven times for the Socceroos, called time on his career after spells at Marconi, APIA Leichhardt, Newcastle Breakers and Brisbane Strikers with 137 goals to his name – at the time, the most of any player in Australian national leagues history.
Of Brown’s 137 league goals, none was more important than his Grand Final finish in 1997 which lifted Brisbane Strikers to a 2-0 win over Sydney United in front of more than 40,000 fans at Lang Park.
4. Jamie Maclaren
- Games: 189
- Goals: 134
Melbourne City’s master marksman, Maclaren has won the A-League Men Golden Boot a record four times – and he’s on track for number five in 2022-23, having bagged 14 goals in 13 games to start the season.
Maclaren, formerly of Perth Glory and Brisbane Roar, returned to Australia from a spell abroad in 2019. Born in Victoria, the Socceroos striker said at the time of his arrival he would relish the experience of playing at a club in his home state, and he’s since proven that with a staggering 83 goals in 97 games.
The 29-year-old is still more than 100 goals shy of Mori’s all-time record – but it’s not an insurmountable total for the City striker to target, should he elect to remain in the A-League Men whilst continuing to score at a prolific rate.
5. John Kosmina
- Games: 289
- Goals: 133
A member of the Football Australia Hall of Fame, John Kosmina scored with regularity for both club and country.
He added 43 Socceroos goals (102 caps) to the 133 he bagged across 289 games in the NSL – including the competition’s very first goal, scored for West Adelaide against Canberra City at Manuka Oval on April 2, 1977.
It was the first of many for a legend of Australian football who held the all-time scoring record until 1997, when overtaken by Rod Brown.
6. Archie Thompson
- Games: 334
- Goals: 129
An icon of the early days of the A-League Men, Archie Thompson played for a number of NSL clubs – including Bathurst ’75 SC, Gippsland Flacons, Carlton Soccer Club and Marconi Stallions – before becoming a key figure at Melbourne Victory, scoring the bulk of his 129 goals whilst wearing the navy blue and white of the A-League Men club.
Thompson won three Premierships and Championships at Victory, scoring five of his 129 league goals in the 2007 Grand Final against Adelaide United.
7. Pablo Cardozo
- Games: 303
- Goals: 127
A four-time Australian international, Pablo Cardozo earned his way into the Socceroos squad in 2000 off the back a consistent run of form for Sydney Olympic in the NSL. Eight years prior, he made his league debut with Olympic as a teen, but a move to Adelaide City is what helped Cardozo flourish into one of the best in the Australian game.
He would return to Olympic in 1998 where the best form of his career preceded that Socceroos call-up, and the four caps that followed. He ended his career with 127 Australian national league goals to his name.
8. Francis Awaritefe
- Games: 323
- Goals: 124
Born in London, England before growing up in Nigeria, Francis Awaritefe’s journey to becoming a Socceroo was different to most. But his three caps in green and gold were earned through prolific NSL form in the 1990’s, where Awaritefe scored the bulk of his 124 goals across stints at Melbourne Knights, North Geelong Warriors, South Melbourne and Marconi Stallions.
9. Bobby Despotovski
- Games: 265
- Goals: 123
Signed by Perth Glory in their maiden NSL campaign, Bobby Despotovski quickly became one of the expansions club’s most important players.
Across the latter days of the NSL and the earliest days of the A-League Men, Despotovski put together the body of work which led to him becoming the club’s all-time record goalscorer and a two-time NSL champion, winning the club’s ‘Most Glorious Player’ award on four occasions and the coveted Johnny Warren Medal in 2005-06 as the A-League Men’s best player in the competition’s inaugural season.
10. Marshall Soper
- Games: 318
- Goals: 121
Marshall Soper introduced himself to the NSL with a stint at APIA Leichhardt in the early 1980’s, but became one of the competition’s most lethal strikers across the seven years at Sydney Olympic that were to follow, with domestic form helping to earn him a place in the Socceroos.
He would go on to play for Wollongong City Parramatta Eagles and Marconi Fairfield in and around stints in Malaysia at Penang FA and Perak FC.
