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Top 10 Players by percentage off bench

54 senior players have played their whole Carlton career starting on “The Bench” since the 19th man was introduced in 1930, with the most by Clem Smith with 7 games in 2015. 30 of these players played only one Carlton senior game.


WHOLE CARLTON CAREER OFF "THE BENCH" 1930-2020
Player Games Seasons
Clem Smith 7 2015
Greg Bentley** 5 2009
Murray Vance 5 1999+2001
Tony Bourke 4 1998-1999
Trevor Fletcher 4 1976-1977
Jack Hardy 4 1949
Gerard Butts 3 1988-1989
Paul Constance 3 1966
Jeff Trotman 3 1965
Bradley Walsh 3 2015
Barry Archbold 2 1955
Noel Bishop 2 1968
Fred Brooks 2 1931
Jim Carroll 2 1961-1962
Frazer Dale 2 2012
Les Gregory 2 1944-1945
Peter Halsall 2 1978
Ben Harrison* 2 1995
Michael Jez 2 1979-1980
Bob Lane 2 1966
Gil Lockhart 2 1966
Paul O'Brien 2 1971-1972
Jesse Smith 2 2006
Peter Turner** 2 1996
Andrew Balkwill 1 1997
Bruce Bentley 1 1964
Peter Bevilacqua 1 1953
Gordon Casey* 1 1968
Adam Chatfield 1 2000
Wayne Deledio 1 1975
Craig Devonport** 1 1996
Noel Evans 1 1953
Andrew Graham 1 1983
Peter Green 1 1994
Daryl Gutterson 1 1971
Len Harris 1 1946
Stan Harrison 1 1965
Ray Harry 1 1933
Brian Holcombe 1 1961
Trent Hoppner 1 1998
Jack Hosking 1 1953
Rex Job 1 1931
Ken Jungwirth** 1 1967
Tom Leehane* 1 1948
Pat McCarthy 1 2012
Bobby Mills 1 1934
Rhys Palmer** 1 2017
Kevin Ryan 1 1958
Angus Schumacher 1 2019
Sam Smart 1 1997
Jeremy Smith 1 1993
Scott Spalding 1 1993
John Stephenson 1 1958
Ben Thompson 1 1999


The three players marked with the * played their only Carlton game(s) off "the bench" before continuing their League career at another League Club(s)
Tom Lehane played 7 games for Essendon and finished his career in 1951
Gordon Casey played 125 games for Footscray and finished his career in 1975
Ben Harrison played 159 games for Richmond and Footscray and finished his career in 2005

The five players marked with the ** finished their League career at Carlton playing their only Carlton games off "the bench"
Ken Jungwirth played 7 games for Melbourne where he started his career in 1966
Carig Devenport played 94 games for St. Kilda where he started his career in 1989
Peter Turner played 3 games for Adelaide where he started his career in 1994
Greg Bentley played 21 games for Port Adelaide where he started his career in 2006
Rhys Palmer played 122 games for Fremantle and GWS and had started his career in 2008 when he won the AFL Rising Star Award




Top Percentage of Career with 19+ games off “the Bench” (1930-2020)
Player Career Span Career Off Bench Career Off Bench%
Nick Graham 2013-2018 48 41 84.42%
Ted Hopkins 1968-1971 29 19 65.52%
Peter Kerr 1967-1970 39 24 61.54%
David Ellard 2008-2015 63 38 60.32%
Jim Plunkett 2001-2003 37 21 56.76%
Kane Lucas 2010-2014 42 23 54.76%
David Cuningham* 2016-2020* 37 20 54.05%
Brock McLean 2010-2014 63 34 53.97%
Shaun Grigg 2007-2010 43 22 51.16%
Kris Massie 1998-2001 43 21 48.84%
Justin Davies 2002-2006 41 20 48.78%
Paddy Dow* 2018-2020* 42 20 47.62%
Tom Bell 2012-2015 51 24 47.06%
Adam White 1997-2000 44 20 45.45%
Ian Prendergast 2001-2006 65 28 43.08%
Fraser Murphy 1984-1991 107 39 36.45%
Jack Silvagni* 2016-2020* 63* 22* 34.92%
Shaun Hampson 2007-2013 63 22 34.92%
Luke O'Sullivan 1988-1997 62 21 33.87%
Simon Fletcher 1999-2003 84 28 33.33%
Neil Chandler 1968-1974 76 25 32.89%
* Current 2020 player




Only three players that were Carlton’s leading MPBW during a season played all their games in that season off “The Bench”. Two were in their debut season in Ryan Houlihan in 2000 with his first 13 career games and John Reilly an equal winner in 1962 with his first 7 career games and other was Chris Bond in his final season at Carlton in 1992 with his last 6 games.


Top Percentage of Carlton Career off the Bench in over 10 Games (1930-2020)
Player Career Span Career Off Bench Career Off Bench%
Callum Chambers 2005-2006 12 11 91.67%
Heath Culpitt 1999-2001 15 13 86.67%
Nick Graham 2013-2018 48 41 85.42%
David Clarke jnr 2004-2005 12 10 83.33%
Allan Greenshields 1947-1949 16 12 75.00%
Chris Bond 1990-1992 22 16 72.73%
Brett Backwell 1999-2001 18 13 72.22%
Jordan Doering 2001-2002 18 13 72.22%
Paul McCormack 1992-1994 14 10 71.43%
Sam Jacobs 2009-2010 17 12 70.59%
Jacob Anstey 1997-1998 16 11 68.75%
Peter Fyffe 1970-1973 19 13 68.42%




Two father and son combinations have also won the MPBW Award at Carlton with Brian Buckley being one of three players to share it in 1957 (all with 5 times as a reserve) and his son Mark winning it outright in 1983 also being a reserve 5 times. The other father and son combination were the David Clarke senior and junior and they both shared the award with another player with dad winning it in 1982 with 5 times as a reserve and his son in 2004 when being an interchange player 8 times.

The record for the most games starting on “The Bench” during a season is held by Matthew Allan who was an interchange player 16 times during a 24 match season, (which included 2 finals games) in 1996. He also played another 3 games when he started on the field in this season.

Most Proficient Bench Warmer | Multiple winners of the MPBW | Top 10 Players by Games off bench
Contributors to this page: WillowBlue and molsey .
Page last modified on Tuesday 27 of October, 2020 20:36:47 AEDT by WillowBlue.

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