After 11 rounds of outstandingly excellent professional Australian rules football, Cam Rose and Ryan Buckland have banged their digital heads together and drawn up competing Mid Season All Australian teams.

Here’s how they got there.

RYAN BUCKLAND: It’s that time of year Cam, where the 100 per cent meaningless, but 100 per cent fun, mid-season All Australian team is up for debate.

We’ve each pulled together teams independently, and there’s a bit of overlap, but as ever personal preference has thrown up some interesting differences. Let’s start with the controversy first: which selection or selections do you think are the most unearned in my 22?

Friday night footy!
» New longform: ‘Rugby is a game, not a trade’: Australia’s first rugby Test against England
» Essendon vs Hawthorn: Friday Night Forecast
» The June internationals Talking Points: Now that’s a centre pairing!
» Ben McCalman and Will Skelton unlucky to miss Wallaby selection

CAMERON ROSE: I’d hate to use a term like unearned because you can generally pull 22 from a squad of 50, and the other 28 would all be deserving

If I had to pick the biggest issue I have with your side, it would be going in with only one key defender – a bold move. I’ll suggest that you’re using the Western Bulldogs method, given they have the best defence in the competition, and that’s the method they’ve run for much of the year. If I came to you with my forward-line of Josh Kennedy, Tom Lynch and Lance Franklin, who would you get to match them up?

RYAN: That’s precisely it. I’m sensing a real change in the way that teams will look to defend into the future, and have picked a side that reflects that new paradigm.

This, of course, is enabled by the presence of Jedi Knight Alex Rance, who would probably take your tall forward Sith Lords and vanquish them with a single flick of his wrist…

More seriously, Rance gets Franklin, Rampe would get Lynch – which is probably the worst match up – and Shaw would go to Kennedy, who is as much a ground ball threat as an aerial threat. I’d then back my flankers in Pittard and Docherty to cover in the air, and everyone to pitch in with ground ball defence. There’d have to be plenty of switching and team-based defence, but I’d back that group of five to get the job done.

ROSE: Pittard’s bad clangers are still depressing, but he has tidied up this year.

And what about Carlton? Their rise has been remarkable, and now we’re both giving them two backmen in our sides, Docherty unanimous between us, plus Simpson for me and Gibbs for you. It speaks to how Bolton has set the Blues up defensively, winning the ball back and getting it into the hands of those elite ball users.

RYAN: Yeah I think it’s a measure of their defensive improvement. Last year, the Blues were leaking 107 points per game, and this year that’s fallen to 87. That’s a huge turnaround – Melbourne-under-Paul-Roos-like in fact – and the zone defence of Brendon Bolton has played a huge role in that.

The irony of me putting Gibbs off the half back flank is quite funny, actually. Here’s a guy that’s finally playing the role that we all know he should, in the centre, and to get into the All Australian team I’ve shunted him to a back flank. I simply had to get him into the starting side.

Another unanimous pick of ours was Heath Shaw. Is Heath Shaw one of the most remarkable stories in the AFL right now? When Collingwood traded him to GWS in 2013 he was a petulant man child that was well past his best; in 2016, he’s going to be a back-to-back All Australian.

ROSE: Shaw has always been a first class ball user and more vocal on the field than most people like, but which I never had an issue with. His footy IQ is off the charts, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he played probably 150 games with Nick Maxwell at Collingwood. I see a lot of Maxwell’s leadership, direction and ground positioning in Shaw out there at GWS, and he has relished the responsibility of marshalling the defensive troops.

Speaking of the Giants, your love for them is well known, and they are the most represented for you with four team members and for me with three. We both agree on Callan Ward, and I don’t have any issues with Dylan Shiel in your side, he was so close to making it for me.

I am surprised we both went with Toby Greene though, I really thought I was springing a surprise by having him in there!

RYAN: Yeah when I saw you team I was similarly surprised – I thought I was being a bit trendy. We can be trendy together.

Steve Johnson was my forward pocket initially, but when I did a bit more digging, I found that Greene was having more measurable impact on the game than Johnson in every area except goals kicked (Greene at 19, Johnson at 22). I don’t think either choice is crazy, so I went with Greene to be a little bit different.

My other somewhat different selection was Jack Gunston, who is having a career year and is on track to kick 60 goals. What I like about Gunston is his ability to play both tall and small – it means I felt more comfortable picking Tom Lynch as a half forward flanker or link up player. You went with the three genuine talls – would you be worried about a Bulldogs-style defence getting too much easy ball on the ground to rebound?

ROSE: I try to be really strong on balance, and I simply don’t consider Buddy to be a tall, so I’m not worried about being too top heavy. He’s the best half-forward flanker we’ve ever seen, that just happens to exist in a power forward’s body.

I’ve gone for Eddie Betts as the genuine, stay-at-home pocket, and I’ve got Greene on a flank to push up and get his 20-25 touches. Josh Kennedy is the best pressure key forward in the league, so I think I’m well covered for defensive acts inside fifty, but that back line of yours will still run us off our feet. We’ll have to beat you in the air!

Daniel Wells is on my other half-forward flank, and was one of my first picked. He has been a key reason behind North’s ascension to the top of the ladder, and their best player by a long way for mine. How close was he to making your side?

RYAN: Wells was, unfortunately, a victim of the need to squeeze so many midfield-forward types into the team after the start we’ve had. I couldn’t even get him into my squad of 40, which had guys like Robbie Gray, Scott Pendlebury, Lachie Hunter and Matt Priddis in it. It’s a difficult year to tease out individual from system.

In that respect, I find it fascinating that I don’t have a single North Melbourne player in my team – and only two in my squad – despite their 10-1 start. You’ve only got Wells. Is that a sign of the evenness of their team? Or that North aren’t actually any good?

CAM: I see where you’re coming from. I don’t have any Hawthorn players, albeit respecting the inclusion of Gunston, and the Hawks certainly haven’t been any good. For the Roos, I think it’s a case of a strong team effort, but I wonder if that lack of really top end, match-winning talent is going to prevent them going further than the preliminary final again.

Following on the discussion about North, I suspect Todd Goldstein was close to making your side, as he was for mine. For the question “who is the number one ruckman this year” I think there are three correct answers! Goldy, Gawn and Nic Nat are so hard to split. I just went with Gawn due to the intangible of physical presence. How did you arrive at Nic Nat?

RYAN: Yup, Goldstein, Gawn and Naitanui were all in my squad, and you’re right, there are legitimate arguments for all of them. Interestingly, if you exclude Goldstein’s goal-a-game score impact, they’re all averaging 6.4 score involvements per game, which for a ruck is huge.

I went with the dreadlocked one because I reckon he’s the best ‘ruckman’ of the bunch – his tap work is obscenely good. That’s about all I’ve got; Goldstein would be a better fit if I had a smaller forward line, and Gawn would be a better fit if I wanted pure size.

Someone is going to throw hit out totals at me, I can feel it, but for impact, I went with Naitanui.

I’ve seen a lot of other pundits have gone with two ruckmen – I’m not sure you can do that sustainably unless you’ve got a guy like Naitanui who can be utterly dominant for patches. I mean, a big part of Port Adelaide’s improvement in recent weeks has been playing Jack Trengove, a tall defender, in the ruck. Do you think the lone ruckman trend of sides like Adelaide, Melbourne and North Melbourne is the way of the future?

CAM: I’ve long been a fan of the lone ruck – pre-sub rule, post-sub rule, during sub-rule. I’d love to have Tippett in there as relief ruck and key forward, but I’d have to lose one of Lynch or Kennedy, and it would be Kennedy. Maybe I should have gone with that.

Onto the midfield, and a few of them pick themselves – Dangerfield, Hannebery, Neale. We’ve both gone with Treloar although not everyone would have. Do you have any big issues with my Hunter, Pendlebury, Steven or Zorko where you’ve gone with Martin, Bontempelli, Shiel and Riewoldt?

RYAN: Yeah Tippett made my squad, and I really like what the Swans have done with him this year. I don’t think we can underestimate how important moving him into the ruck has been for their style of play.

I had all four of your guys in my squad, so no issues per se. But that’s no fun.

Dylan Shiel might have elevated himself into the top 10 or 20 players in the League in the first half of this year, a level I thought he was capable of, but not this quickly. His ability on the ground is almost League-leading, and the way he can create separation on opponents in two or three steps is the very definition of a competitive advantage – no one else can do it. So I reckon he has to be in the team.

Given the rest of your squad, I’d probably substitute out Steven, even though I’m a big fan of his work. He’s an accumulator, and capable of bursts of really powerful play, but I reckon Shiel has him covered in all facets.

Who are you booting out of my foursome to get one of your guys in?

ROSE: Hmm, probably Dusty, even though no-one loves him more than me, because a man with his weapons needs to be kicking more goals. If he keeps up his form of the last six weeks, and can add more majors, then he’ll be right in the reckoning at the end of the year. I still don’t think Hardwick is using him to his greatest effect.

RYAN: Oh no, I think I love him more than you. He’s mine, and you can’t have him. I rated him the sixth-best player in the League, remember?

To wrap it up, who is the player that’s in neither of our 22s that you think has the best chance of making the actual side at the end of the year? I’ve got a couple, but I’ll defer to you first.

ROSE: Good question. Goldstein we’ve spoken about, same with Tippett. Joel Selwood is always a chance, and people have always loved putting Daniel Talia in these teams, even though in my mind he is only now having the type of year that puts him in these discussions, backing himself to win more of the ball and providing more drive. Your thoughts?

RYAN: Yeah that ruck spot is most certainly up for grabs. Goldstein would be the favourite from outside of our two sides, but Sam Jacobs or Shane Mumford could make a run as the Crows and Giants charge up the ladder. Robbie Tarrant’s name is getting bandied about a bit, and he could pinch a spot in my side from one of the medium sized guys as an intercepting player.

But to throw two out of left field: Michael Walters, who’s putting together a very tidy year in what’s been a messy one for the Dockers, and Zach Merrett, who has been asked to fill a huge void for the Dons, and is doing it better than anyone would have expected.

I’m sure we’ll get plenty more names thrown at us in the comments!