Gold Coast Suns full-forward Tom Lynch leads the count after five rounds with 22 goals and only eight behinds. His average of 4.4 has him on target to become the first man since Lance Franklin in 2008 (102) to notch a ton – and renew interest in the medal.

It shapes as a tight year, with Franklin (18), Jarrad Waite (18), Eddie Betts (16) and West Coast Eagle Josh Kennedy (14) firmly in the mix. But Hawthorn legend Peter Hudson believes Lynch, provided he remains injury free and maintains his accuracy, can top the count.

"He is not averaging 4.4 after one game – he is averaging that after five games. So, what happens if he has a day out and kicks nine or 10 one day?" he said.

"The biggest thing about kicking a lot of goals is, unquestionably, that you have to remain injury free. The accuracy thing – he has had 32 shots – we wouldn't be talking about it in the same light if he had kicked 10.26. You don't fluke 4.4 goals per game – that's the way I look at it."

Lynch has enjoyed a consistent season, contributing either four or five goals per game. His four against North Melbourne on Saturday elevated him into the lead on the AFL Coaches Association player-of-the-year award.

But coach Rodney Eade has warned Lynch there is likely to be greater defensive focus on him as the Suns face a challenging run into the mid-season bye, beginning against Geelong on Saturday.

Eade this week clarified some contentious decisions with the AFL umpiring department as to why Lynch had not been awarded free kicks against the Kangaroos.

"Any player that starts to get some form, teams are going to do their homework more on the situation," Eade said on Thursday.

"Tom, to his credit ... is probably not a stay-at-home, anchor, big full forward that some of them are. They stay in the same spot. He has got the ability to move, mark on the angles, mark coming up towards the footy, he can play up the ground as well."

While the Coleman Medal remains a prestigious award, there is an argument it has not attracted the same level of interest it once did as a result of coaches having a greater emphasis on a spread of goal-kickers.

This has meant the likes of Jack Riewoldt (65) in 2012, Jarryd Roughead (68) in 2013 and Franklin (67) in 2014 have finished with relatively modest hauls.

Hudson claimed the Coleman Medal four times – 1968 (125), 1970 (146), 1971 (140) and 1977 (105) – in a career where he still holds the best goals-per-game average (5.64) in VFL-AFL history.

The race for the Coleman was arguably at its most intense in the late 1980s and through the 1990s, when champions Jason Dunstall, Tony Lockett and Gary Ablett snr were unstoppable forces. In '93, Ablett, Dunstall and Tony Modra all booted more than 100.

Since Lockett claimed his final Coleman, with 107 goals in 1998, only Franklin has passed three figures during the home-and-away season.

There are various reasons for this – greater defensive tactics, the size of grounds, talent – but Hudson has never subscribed to a theory that the century goal-kicker had gone the way of the dinosaur.

"A lot of people think that the days of the 100-goal full-forward are gone. I go, well, hang on ... in 2008 Buddy Franklin not only kicked 100-plus goals but he also kicked about 80 behinds," he said.

"This proves that as recently as 2008 that him and Brendan Fevola who, on 99, ... showed that in the one season two of them could kick 100 goals. That, to me, makes that argument [there won't be another century goal-kicker] rubbery.

"I know in my era there was Alex Jesaulenko, Peter McKenna, Doug Wade, myself, in that group – we were all kicking 100 goals. Then there was Taylor, Capper ... the magnificent crop of Dunstall, Lockett and Ablett.

"But prior to 1968, nobody kicked 100 goals for 18 years. To compare the eras, the grounds have changed, the style of play has changed ... but to just throw a blanket over it all and say nobody will ever kick 100 goals or 150 goals ever again, I don't believe that is the case."

John Coleman Medallists since 2006:

2006: Brendan Fevola (Carlton) 84

2007: Jonathan Brown (Brisbane) 77

2008: Lance Franklin (Hawthorn) 102

2009: Brendan Fevola (Carlton) 86

2010: Jack Riewoldt  (Richmond) 78

2011: Lance Franklin (Hawthorn) 71

2012: Jack Riewoldt (Richmond) 65

2013: Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn) 68

2014: Lance Franklin (Sydney) 67

2015: Josh Kennedy (West Coast) 75