The first football fixtures of the Australia Autumn produced a range of new milestones. In the latest edition of #MilestoneMonday, we’ve teamed up with resident Australian football stats guru Andrew Howe to catalogue the range of milestones achieved across the last seven days by Australian footballers.

In the A-League, three players reached appearance records, with Melbourne Victory’s James Troisi notching a century of appearances, Adelaide United’s naturalised Spanish-Australian midfielder Isaias making his 150th in the competition and Melbourne City’s Riley McGree chalking up 50 A-League matches.

Troisi, 30, impressively has achieved a century of appearances in just four seasons across two separate stints at Victory.

Having played the majority of his early career overseas, the South Australian-born Troisi first returned home to Australia in 2013 to sign with Victory on loan.

In that campaign, Troisi made an impression for the Boys in Blue, playing 29 matches and winning the club’s Golden Boot award with 12 goals.

At the end of that season, Troisi was recalled by via parent club Juventus, but lated returned to Victory two years later in August 2016. Since, Victory’s number 10 has played in three consecutive seasons, most notably helping guide Victory to a Grand Final win last season over Newcastle Jets.

Isaias, who became an Australian citizen in January this year, celebrated a big milestone on the pitch in 2019 by reaching 150 A-League appearances with Adelaide.

United’s club captain, three time Adelaide player of the season and one-time Joe Marston medallist, Isaias has been an immense figure for the Reds again this season, in what has been his sixth campaign in South Australia.

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Isaias has started 149 of his 150 appearances, having scored seven goals and secured the A-League Championship-Premiership double in 2016 and the 2014 and 2018 FFA Cups.

Isaias has also earned plenty of praise this season for not only scoring two goals from two matches – the first time in his career – but also for his classy leadership and quick thinking when protecting opponent Stefan Mauk who was concussed earlier this season at a match at Coopers Stadium. It was Isaias’ quick thinking that helped prevent Mauk suffering a potentially serious injury.

Riley McGree, who’s career highlight was his extraordinary scorpion kick in last year’s Semi Final win over Melbourne City, has reached 50 matches in the A-League with Adelaide United, Newcastle Jets and City. City’s 2-2 draw with Perth Glory on Sunday was McGree’s 21st appearance for the Melbourne club, while he accrued 12 appearance with the Jets and 17 with United.

Meanwhile, Sydney FC’s Andrew Redmayne secured his 50thA-League appearance for Sydney FC and Louis D’Arrigo made his A-League debut off the bench for Adelaide United.

Jamie Maclaren’s return to the A-League has been impressive; the Socceroos striker has now scored in each of first four appearances for Melbourne City. His most recent goals – a double against Perth Glory – the first a classic striker’s header before an emphatically executed penalty – now means Maclaren has five goals in his first four appearances for City.

As discovered by Howe, this has occurred just five times in Australian national league history;

  • Charlie Miller, Brisbane Roar, 2008
  • Rod Brown, APIA Leichardt, 1987
  • Robbie Slater, Sydney Croatia, 1987
  • Alun Evans, South Melbourne, 1978

Maclaren has also scored in 10 of his last 12 appearances, which has also only occurred five times in Australian football history”

  • Mark Viduka, Melbourne Knights,  1993–94
  • Damian Mori, Perth Glory, 2003
  • Bruno Fornaroli, Melbourne City, 2016
  • Bobo, Sydney FC, 2017–18

On Sunday’s win over South Korea, the Matildas played its 100th A-international game on home soil. The team’s first game was in 1979 against New Zealand, which ended in a 2-2 draw. Thanks to Howe’s thorough database, the Matildas record stands at 63W-16D-21L.

Lisa De Vanna’s first-half strike for the Matildas extended her lead at the top of the highest scorers in A-international games, with 46 goals, four short of a half century for her country.

Sam Kerr’s double, meanwhile, saw her move into the top five all-time goalscorer, leap-frogging Joanne Peters: 

  • Highest scorers in A-international games:
  • 46 LISA DE VANNA (2004–2019)
  • 41 Kate Gill (2004–2015)
  • 38 Cheryl Salisbury (1994–2009)
  • 32 Sarah Walsh (2004–2012)
  • 29 SAM KERR (2010–2019)
  • 28 Joanne Peters (1996–2009)

De Vanna and Aivi Luik became the fourth and fifth oldest Matildas starters in history, while the Matildas’ win in the Cup of Nations tournament came on the same day as the young Matidas – the first time two wins for Australian women’s teams occurred on the same day.

Thanks again to Andrew for his insights and incredible stats!