Free Kick Ladder 2026: The home and away numbers

The 2026 home and away season is done and dusted and with that brings some reflection.

We’ve been on the ride all season, keeping up with which clubs win the most free kicks and who gives the most away.

Now that we’ve been through 24 rounds of regular season footy it’s time to take a look at the overall numbers.

Best differentials

1 - St Kilda (+40)
2 - Adelaide (+35)
3 - Melbourne (+32)
4 - Sydney (+28)
5 - Essendon (+16)

Worst differentials

1 - GWS Giants (-104)
2 - Gold Coast (-54)
3 - North Melbourne (-17)
4 - West Coast (-15)
5 - Richmond (-3)

Most frees for

1 - Adelaide (484)
2 - Sydney (469)
3 - West Coast (460)
4 - North Melbourne (458)
5 - Essendon (447)

Least frees for

1 - GWS Giants (379)
2 - Collingwood (394)
3 - Brisbane (397)
4 - Melbourne (418)
5 - Geelong (425)

Most frees against

1 - Gold Coast (485)
2 - GWS Giants (483)
Eq.3 - West Coast & North Melbourne (475)
5 - Adelaide (449)

Least frees against

1 - Collingwood (379)
2 - Melbourne (386)
3 - St Kilda (392)
4 - Brisbane (395)
5 - Geelong (420)

The 2026 Free Kick Ladder - Round 24

St Kilda (+40) has maintained its position on or near the top for a lot of the campaign.

The Saints gave away the third fewest frees against (392) and sat mid-table for frees for (432).

Just behind them is Adelaide (+35) due to the fact the Crows have been awarded the most frees (484), while Melbourne (+32) is narrowly third with the fourth fewest frees for (418) offset by the second fewest frees against (386).

In fourth is Sydney (+28) after landing the second most frees for (469) ahead of Essendon (+16) in fifth.

The GWS Giants (-104) have comfortably the worst differential of the season with the least frees for (379) and second most frees against (483).

They’ve been bottom two for the past three seasons, finishing 17th last year and in 2024 with differentials of -58 and-48.

Their end result of -104 is the worst since Richmond’s -122 in 2019.

The closest to the Giants on differential is the Gold Coast Suns (-50) who have given away the most frees (485).

Way back in 16th is North Melbourne (-17) who despite having the third most frees for (458) also gave away the equal third most frees (475).

West Coast (-15) is fourth bottom and Richmond (-3) comes in bottom fifth.

See the FK Ladder below: