In basketball parlance they talk of a ‘triple double’ to acknowledge the rare performance of a player who posts double-figure statistics in three separate statistical categories (normally points, rebounds and assists).  There is no such equivalent in the AFL, but Gary Ablett is suggesting loud and clear that perhaps there should be.  Something to recognise the rare performance of collecting 30+ possessions and kicking four goals in the same game.

Ablett did it again on Sunday as the Gold Coast SUNS consolidated their position in the top eight and added further to the club record books with a 38-point win over St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.  He had 37 possessions and kicked four goals, which means it was the fifth time he has posted the 30/4 double, having also done so against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium in 2011, North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium in 2012, and against St Kilda and GWS Giants at Metricon in 2013.

He’s also had four occasions in SUNS colours in which he’s had 30 possessions and kicked three goals.

It’s a simply freakish performance which prompted FoxFooty commentator Anthony Hudson to suggest on Sunday “it’s not fair – he’s too good” as Ablett worked his magic yet again to kick his third goal of the first quarter against the Saints.

If you wanted to add an additional category to Ablett’s astonishing record of possessions and goals it could easily be “contested possessions” after the little champion also had a season-high 22 against St.Kilda. It was third-highest all-time in SUNS history.

So, if the AFL equivalent of basketball’s triple double is four goals, 30 possessions and 20 contested possessions, Ablett now has two of them. He also had 23 contested possessions to go with his four goals and 41 possessions against Adelaide in 2011.

Ablett’s Herculean effort came as the SUNS cracked the 20-win mark overall when they coasted in the second half to beat the Saints 19-11 (125) to 13-9 (87) following a blistering opening.  Fittingly, Ablett and Jarrod Harbrow remain the only players to have played in each of the club’s 20 wins. Trent McKenzie and Danny Stanley are next best with 19.

It was an afternoon of statistical standouts which looked like being anything when the SUNS threatened to blow the Saints away early.  Their first quarter of 8-4 (52) was the highest first-quarter score in club history and the equal highest score for any quarter, matching the 8-4 they posted in the fourth quarter against GWS in Canberra last year.

Their halftime score of 13-7 (85) was the highest in SUNS history and their highest score for any half of football in the 74 matches they have played.

So much did the sting go out of the contest as St Kilda mounted a comeback in the second half that the final score of 19-11 (125) was only fourth highest among all-time scores.  Still, it was enough to complete the first time in which the SUNS have scored 100 points three games in a row. And to give them their seventh biggest win all-time and their third-biggest away win.

It was the fifth time this year the SUNS have led at every change and won. This has doubled their total for this statistic from the first three years of the club’s history.  More importantly, for the first time now the SUNS have won four games in a row, and three games in a row interstate. After starting with a 1-13 win/loss record in Victoria their record there is now 4-13.

In 20 wins the SUNS have beaten 10 different opponents – GWS (4 times), Melbourne and Richmond (3), Brisbane, North Melbourne and St Kilda (2), Carlton, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and Western Bulldogs (1).  They are still to beat Adelaide and Hawthorn in five attempts, Fremantle and Geelong in four attempts, and Essendon, Sydney and West Coast in three attempts.

In other statistical highlights to emerge from a game in which the SUNS posted their second consecutive win at Etihad and their highest score at the venue:

• Sam Day became the 11^th player to post 50 games for the club. He was the sixth to do so before his 22^nd birthday, and the sixth youngest at 21 years 254 days.

• David Swallow and Dion Prestia equalled the club record of Trent McKenzie for most games before their 22^nd birthday. This stands at 59.

• Swallow posted an equal-career high 28 possessions. It is the fourth time he has totalled this amount – once in each year of his young AFL career.

• Zac Smith, in a magnificent comeback from a 12-month absence due to a knee reconstruction without even a run in the NEAFL, became the 20^th player to post 10 wins for the SUNS. The club had played 21 games while he was sidelined, yet Smith sits only 10^th on a list detailing games between appearances that is headed by Tom Nicholls at 46. He didn’t play senior football from round 8, 2011, until round 10, 2013. Others in this bracket are Nathan Bock (34), Jack Hutchins (32), Daniel Gorringe (29), Alik Magin (27), Liam Patrick (26), Seb Tape (24), Taylor Hine (24) and Alex Sexton (24).

•  Gary Ablett’s three goals in the first quarter was the third time he has kicked three goals in a quarter for the SUNS. Others to do so have been Steven May, Sam Day, Danny Stanley and Alex Sexton.

• With Tom Lynch and Brandon Matera matching Ablett’s four-goal total, which equalled Ablett’s pre-existing club record at Docklands, it was the first time the SUNS have had three players kick four or more goals in a match. Lynch, with hauls of 2-5-2-4 in his last four games, has joined Ablett at the top of the team’s 2014  goal-kicking list with 18, while Matera, with 2-2-3-4 in his last four outings, is hot on their heels with 15.

• Aaron Hall and Jaeger O’Meara posted their 30^th consecutive match for the SUNS. This saw them surpass the 29-game streak of Gary Ablett and Jared Brennan and jump to outright second on the club list for consecutive games behind only Harley Bennell (34).

• The inclusion of Smith and Sexton for their first games of the season meant the SUNS fielded a season-high five Queenslanders. It was Sexton’s first game at Etihad.

• Maverick Weller became the fourth ex-SUN to play against Gold Coast, following Tom Hickey, Taylor Hine and Joel Tippett. Weller had 15 possessions and kicked a goal in his third game for the Saints.