Tom Lynch continues to demonstrate just why Fox Footy commentator Anthony Hudson has rated him the No.1 key forward in the AFL under the age of 22.

It’s a hot field, and includes the likes of Jeremy Cameron, Jeremy Cameron and Jack Darling, who sit alongside Lynch in the 45-man preliminary squad named recently from which the 2014 AFLPA 22Under22 Team of the Year will be chosen.

But the numbers don’t lie. Even with the team struggling at times in the latter part of a long season Lynch keeps getting the job done.

Last Saturday the 21-year-old vice-captain equalled the Gold Coast SUNS club record for most marks inside the forward 50m zone against Essendon at Etihad Stadium.

He pulled down six marks inside the scoring zone against the Bombers to equal the record set by Charlie Dixon against the GWS Giants in Canberra last year.

This took his season tally for marks inside 50 to 58. Another two against West Coast in the season-closer against West Coast on Sunday and he will have doubled the previous club best for a season of 30, set by Campbell Brown in 2012.

Continuing a stellar 2014 season, Lynch also equalled the club record for most goals in a game at Etihad with four as he took his club record goals tally for the year to 43.

This was the SUNS fifth four-goal back at Etihad and his second. Gary Ablett also has twice kicked four goals in a game there, and Brandon Matera has done so once.

Lynch, chosen with SUNS teammates Steven May, Trent McKenzie, Kade Kolodjashnij, Brandon Matera, Jaeger O’Meara, David Swallow and Harley Bennell in the biggest single club representation in the 22Under22 squad, has been on the SUNS goal sheet 19 times in 21 games this year.

That’s easily a club best for a single season, surpassing the 15 times of Danny Stanley in 2011, Gary Ablett in 2012 and Aaron Hall in 2013.

Lynch also has re-written the club record book for games in which he’s been a multiple goal-kicker. His 2014 tally of 12 is better than the previous best of nine, set by Gary Ablett last year. Ablett and Campbell Brown had eight multiple goal-kicker games in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Ablett leads the MGK games list overall with 30, from Harley Bennell (23) and Lynch (21).

In other statistical highlights to emerge from Saturday’s game:-

• Nineteen-year-old Jack Leslie, a late inclusion for Daniel Gorringe, became the 67th player and the 36th teenager to wear the red and yellow of the SUNS in the AFL. The 6th debutant of 2014 behind Craig Cameron, Jack Martin, Sean Lemmens, Kade Kolodjashnij and Louis Herbert, he was introduced to AFL football in front of a crowd of 33,281 at Etihad Stadium. Leslie, a Gippsland Power product selected at No.20 in the 2013 National Draft, became the 2nd player to wear jumper No.38 for the SUNS after Joel Wilkinson wore it in 26 games through the first three years. Leslie finished with 12 possessions.
• The 11th and final away game of the season underlined the growing appeal of the AFL’s 17th team across the country. The average “away” attendance this year was 25,590 – up from 21,835 in 2012 and 21,544 in 2013.
• The 19-point loss to Essendon saw the Gold Coast with a 3-2 a record in Victoria this year. They beat Melbourne at the MCG and North Melbourne and St.Kilda at Etihad before losing to Carlton and Essendon at Etihad. The SUNS ended up 3-8 overall away from Metricon, with two losses in Perth, and one each in Adelaide, Cairns, Brisbane and Launceston.
• Jarrod Harbrow had 22 possessions against Essendon to become the third SUNS player to 1500 possessions. Now with 1504, he joins Gary Ablett (2416) and Dion Prestia (1604) in this club.
• Harley Bennell became the sixth SUNS player to 500 contested possessions behind Ablett (1167), David Swallow (697), Dion Prestia (640), Danny Stanley (586) and Michael Rischitelli (532). Bennell now has 512.
• Clay Cameron had a twin first – he played his first game at Etihad Stadium and kicked his first AFL goal.
• Sean Lemmens trebled his career goal tally with his first double against the Bombers. This came on top of his only other goal against Brisbane in Round 3.
• A “minus 10” free kick differential from a 10-20 free-kick tally against Essendon Saturday night was the worst of this year and the equal third-worst in club history. It  matched the 14-24 count against Geelong in 2011, and has been “bettered” only by a 15-26 count against the SUNS in their first win against Port Adelaide in 2011, and a 14-26 count endured against West Coast last year. Of the SUNS’ 10 free-kickers against the Bombers, David Swallow received five of them. This equalled Greg Broughton’s club season high against Geelong in Round 14. Most free kicks received by a SUNS player in a game overall is Josh Toy’s eight against Essendon in Round 6 2011.
• With the 18-game SUNS Reserves season now behind them, Henry Schade has topped the games list with 17, from Leigh Osborne (16), Jared Ellis (16), Jackson Allen (15), Tom Murphy (13) and Louis Herbert (12). Herbert, with 11 goals, was the leading goal-kicker in the Reserves, ahead of Timmy Sumner (8) and Schade (7). No less than 62 different youngsters enjoy a taste of NEAFL football as a SUNS top-up player, with James Holland (9), Robert Blood (8), Darcy Trask (8), Will Wolbers (8), Harrison Fraser (7) and Tom Michael (7) topping the list. Kieren LeJeune, with five goals, was the leading goal-kicker among the top-up players from Ryan Agita (4) and Blood (4). Bradie Foster, a contestant on the hit realty TV show “The Recruit” currently showing on Fox8, played five games for the SUNS Reserves.