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Sport Nation
The 2025 AFL Free Kick Ladder - Round 20
Andrew Slevison • July 30th, 2025 4:34 pm
Round 20 is a nice even number and the perfect time to release the latest Free Kick Ladder numbers.
It’s been another intriguing season on the free kick count front.
The 6-6-6 free against the Demons got everybody talking. That’s not to say it was the wrong call, it just shows how much chat there can be about one particular umpiring decision at any given time.
And the Free kick Ladder always provides us with plenty of ammo to talk about.
After Round 20, who sits on top and who holds the rest up?
See below for the categories and scroll further for the full FK Ladder.
Best differentials
1 - Carlton (+56)2 - Hawthorn (+55)3 - Essendon (+40)4 - Brisbane (+37)5 - Geelong (+29)
Worst differentials
1 - Port Adelaide (-88)2 - North Melbourne (-64)3 - West Coast (-45)4 - GWS Giants (-43)Eq.5 - Fremantle & Richmond (-20)
Most frees for
1 - Carlton (421)2 - Adelaide (417)3 - Hawthorn (398)4 - Sydney (388)5 - Brisbane (385)
Least frees for
1 - GWS Giants (330)2 - Richmond (331)3 - Port Adelaide (338)4 - Western Bulldogs (349)5 - West Coast (350)
Most frees against
1 - Port Adelaide (426)2 - North Melbourne (415)3 - Fremantle (399)4 - West Coast (395)5 - Adelaide (393)
Least frees against
1 - Essendon (322)2 - Hawthorn (343)Eq.3 - Western Bulldogs & Geelong (346)
5 - Brisbane (348)
5 - Brisbane (348)
The 2025 Free Kick Ladder - Round 20
Back on top of the Free Kick Ladder is Carlton on +56.
The Blues have received most free kicks in 2025 to date and have wrestled back top spot from Hawthorn on +55.
The Hawks have had a strong foothold on the FK Ladder for much of the season.
Third is Essendon (+40) with a game in hand, ahead of Brisbane (+37) and Geelong (+29) making up the top five.
The Hawks have a 14-1-4 win-draw-loss record on the free kick front ahead of the 13-1-5 owned by the Cats.
Down the other end, Port Adelaide must have done something to upset the officials. Their -88 differential is by far the worst in the league.
Poor old Kenny. Copped a fine last year and now the umps are against him with the most frees against.
Second bottom is North Melbourne (-64) with the second most frees against. Third bottom is West Coast (-45) just below perennial FK cellar dwellers GWS (-43) and Richmond (-20) who are qual with Fremantle (-20).
The Power have a paltry 3-2-14 record from free kicks while the Roos sit on 4-1-14.
See the FK Ladder after Round 20 below:
NOTE: Gold Coast and Essendon have played 18 games, the rest of the clubs have played 19.
