When you read the headline on this article, you probably thought it was hyperbolic. You might have come to bemoan recency bias and ridicule it.

But seriously, have a look at the goal 19-year-old Australian midfielder Riley McGree scored for the Newcastle Jets against Melbourne City – Manchester City’s A-League affiliate – in a semifinal on Friday:

Oh. My. Word.

Olivier Giroud won the Puskas Award – FIFA’s award for goal of the year – in 2017 for a scorpion kick, but Giroud’s was from half the distance; it was less powerful; and most of the power was generated by the cross.

This McGree goal is something else. It’s stunning. He hits the ball on the move, but cleanly, and almost with the pace of a normal volley. And he thinks he meant it …

It’s surely the top contender for the 2018 Puskas Award so far. It probably would have won over Giroud’s last year. Heck, it probably would have won the past nine years, wouldn’t it have? Here’s a look at the past nine winners:

There are some absurd volleys on that list. But absurd volleys are more common than an 18-yard scorpion kick.

You could argue Neymar’s was better. And there are probably some that wrongly lost out in Puskas Award voting that measure up to McGree’s strike. But this has to rank right up there with the top goals since Lionel Messi’s otherworldly 2007 run:

If you have something better than McGree’s, please do let us know.

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell, and on Facebook.

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