It was July 1, 1978. The day Kelvin Templeton broke a Footscray record, bagging 15 goals against St Kilda at the Western Oval.

40 years later Templeton’s record still stands. He kicked seven final term goals in that match, to finish with an incredible 15 majors, the most of any player in Bulldogs history.

Only six players have kicked more goals in a match.

“If you look at the game, what immediately stands out is all the work by all the other players on the field. They really were just charging into the forward line and that made it pretty easy,” Templeton told westernbulldogs.com.au in 2015.

Templeton combined with Ian Dunstan (7.3) to record what was then the highest score in V/AFL history - 33.15.213 and an 107 point victory over the Saints.

From Templeton’s 25 kicks, 24 of those were shots on goal, to finish with 15.9 for the match.

“It was certainly was a total team effort to be able to break that record. It was a fantastic effort – the backline, centreline, everyone dominated, particularly in the last quarter,” he said.

Footscray would only secure seven wins in 1978, in an otherwise disappointing season - finishing 11^th from 12 teams.

“Pretty much a struggling team, to collectively work together and break that record at the time, it gave us a great lift.”

Templeton was awarded the first of his two Coleman Medals (1978, 1979) and would go on to win a Brownlow Medal (1980), he finished his career with Melbourne Football Club, retiring in April, 1986.