page_title: Tom Lynch (Australian footballer, born 1992)
section_title: Gold Coast (2011–2018)
hierarchical_section_title: Tom Lynch (Australian footballer, born 1992) / AFL career / Gold Coast (2011–2018)
caption_attribution_description: English: Tom Lynch during the AFL round twelve match between Melbourne and Collingwood on 10 June 2017 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria
context_page_description: Thomas Lynch is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League. He previously played 131 games and kicked a then club-record 254 goals at the Gold Coast Suns after being drafted by the club with the 11th overall pick in the 2010 national draft. He served as Gold Coast's co-captain in 2017 and 2018.
context_section_description: Lynch was drafted to Gold Coast with the club's seventh pick and the 11th selection overall in the 2010 AFL Draft.
  He made his AFL debut in an eight-point win over Brisbane Lions in round 7 of the 2011 season. Lynch took a match-high nine marks in the win, as well as recording 17 disposals and kicking two goals. The following week he was again impactful, kicking two goals and being named by AFL Media as among Gold Coast's best players on the day. Lynch continued to receive AFL selection across the next five weeks, including when he kicked three goals each in consecutive matches in rounds 13 and 14. He missed one match at AFL level in round 15, returning to play a further six consecutive matches at AFL level from round 16 onward, but managing just two goals in total over that period. Lynch finished his debut season having played 13 matches at AFL level and having kicked 15 goals.
  In 2012 Lynch played a myriad of roles, not only as a tall forward but also in the ruck and as a key defender. He interchanged between those roles over the first 10 matches of the season after starting the year in the club's best 22. After kicking two goals in that period, Lynch missed the next six weeks due to injury. He made his return to football with one match with the club's reserves side in the NEAFL before regaining AFL level selection for round 17's match against Brisbane Lions. Lynch kicked a goal in that match and continued to goal in each of the next four straight matches. He kicked his only tally of multiple goals that season with a then career-best four goals in a win over Carlton in round 22 for which he earned a perfect three Brownlow Medal votes, the first votes of his career. Lynch finished 2012 having played 17 matches at AFL level for a total of 12 goals.
  After missing the first four weeks of the season with a foot injury, Lynch opened his 2013 campaign with two goals in a win over the Giants that saw him named among the Suns' best players by AFL Media in that round 5 win. Together with a total of four goals, he managed more than 10 disposals in four of the next five matches. Lynch's best performance of the year came in round 11, where he kicked two goals in a win over North Melbourne at Metricon Stadium. The very next week Lynch suffered a significant posterior cruciate ligament knee injury when colliding with Essendon's Jake Melksham in the second quarter of the Sun's round 12 loss. He failed to return from that injury before season's end, with a further foot injury and foot surgery ensuring he finished 2013 having played just eight AFL matches and having kicked eight goals.
  Before the beginning of the 2014 season Lynch was appointed co-vice captain of the Suns, as part of a newly expanded five-man vice captaincy group. Despite his end of season foot surgery, Lynch was back to full training by February and returned to AFL football in a round 1 win over Richmond, kicking two goals and earning a mention by AFL Media as among the Suns best players. In round 6 he kicked a career-best five goals in a win over Greater Western Sydney. He added two more the following week and was again named as one of his side's best. In May Lynch was described by AFL Media as "one of the best young forwards in the competition" and in rounds 9 and 10 he showed why, kicking four goals in each of the two wins. He played one of his only two goalless matches of the season the next week, but returned to the goalkickers list in round 12. In round 13 Lynch kicked three goals, including a near-match winner later in the fourth quarter before West Coast managed a late game-saving goal in response. A further four goals came for Lynch in round 19 before tallies of four and three to end the season in rounds 22 and 23. Lynch finished the season without missing a match, kicking a then-best total of 46 goals across 22 matches and earning the club's leading goalkicker award. For his breakout season Lynch placed second in the club's best and fairest count, just seven points shy of David Swallow's winning tally of 240.
  After missing the opening round due to a suspensio
caption: Lynch with Gold Coast in round 12, 2017
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