As nice as Bryce: Each WA club’s game scoring record-holder

After Bryce Cotton nudged aside James Crawford in the Wildcats’ record books, it got us thinking: Who else in WA sport can lay claim to being the kings and queens of single-game scoring greatness? Here’s who Cotton joined on the list of WA single-game record-holders for scoring supremacy. WEST COAST EAGLES Scott Cummings is the man who holds an Eagles record that is unlikely to ever be broken, booting 14 goals in a game against Adelaide in 2000. On an April Fool’s Day Saturday night at the WACA Ground, the joke was on the Crows as Cummings banged through a super-efficient 14.1 from his 17 kicks for the game to outscore the visitors off his own boot. It surpassed the 13.3 Peter Sumich kicked against Footscray at the same venue in 1991. To prove it was far from a fluke, Cummings backed up his haul with 10 majors in a western derby just a fortnight later. FREMANTLE DOCKERS In just his 10th game in Dockers colours after crossing from Adelaide, Tony Modra secured his place in Freo folklore on a historic night at the MCG. Modra banged through 10.2 on a cold Friday night in 1999, giving Fremantle their first win at the home of footy on their 11th try. Paul Medhurst (9.1) and Matthew Pavlich (9.0) came close to equalling the mark in the years that followed, but Modra’s effort in the iconic ‘3D anchor’ jumper remains untouched. WA – SHEFFIELD SHIELD Geoff Marsh remains at the top of the tree for his unbeaten 355 against South Australia at the WACA Ground in 1989. Marsh faced 545 deliveries and peeled off 53 fours and a pair of sixes in the knock, which included a ridiculous opening stand of 431 with Mike Veletta that remains the fifth-largest Shield partnership of all time. Of the 10 highest scores in Shield history, Marsh’s is the only one to be recorded in the past half-century. WA – ONE-DAY CUP It was somewhat overshadowed by West Coast winning the AFL premiership just one day later, but D’Arcy Short’s knock in 2018 needed to be seen to be believed. Short set a new record for any player across the history of the 50-over competition with 257 against Queensland at Sydney’s Hurstville Oval. Coming in at No.3, Short destroyed the smaller venue with 23 sixes and 15 fours in his 148-ball demolition job. PERTH SCORCHERS - BBL Craig Simmons had possession of this record for much of the past decade before Colin Munro surpassed him in 2021. Munro blazed an unbeaten 114 against a strong Adelaide attack that included Rashid Khan and Peter Siddle, with the knock coming off 73 balls at Sydney Showground. PERTH SCORCHERS - WBBL Sophie Devine owns not just one, but the two highest scores in Scorcher’s women’s history. The star Kiwi nudged over her own record of 103 – set in 2020 – by racing to 106 off just 62 balls against the Heat at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field last year. PERTH GLORY It’s a four-way tie at the top for four-goal efforts in Glory history. Damian Mori (2001) and Bobby Despotovski (2003) set the standard in the old NSL days, to later be matched by Shane Smeltz (2012) and Andy Keogh (2021) in the A-League era. The effort of Smeltz stands out due to him scoring all four of Glory’s goals to help them twice overcome a deficit to carve out a 4-2 victory against Melbourne Victory. PERTH GLORY WOMEN Is it any great surprise that the answer here is Sam Kerr? The star striker scored three goals in a game on four different occasions, including a superb hat-trick to help Perth secure a grand final berth in 2019. WEST COAST FEVER This record is fresh, having been set just months ago in June. Five-time league MVP Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard broke her own Fever mark with a 76-point haul against NSW – which, like Cotton, also came on a Sunday afternoon at RAC Arena. WESTERN FORCE Inaugural Force star Cam Shepherd racked up 25 of his team’s 30 points in an upset win over South Africa’s Northern Bulls in Pretoria. Shepherd ran in two tries and produced the rest of his boot in the victory, and almost beat his own mark a month later by being responsible for 23 against Queensland in Perth. PERTH LYNX 41 is the magic number for the WNBL club, having been set by two different players in the same calendar year. Sami Whitcomb hit the mark against Dandenong late in the 2016-17 season, before Courtney Williams matched it in the 2017-18 campaign with an outburst against Adelaide.