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The introduction in 2007 of an initial 40-man All-Australian squad took a lot of heat off the selectors. Each season they had copped widespread flak for the dozen or more worthy players they overlooked for the 22-man side.
Now you would think they could cast their net wide enough to include almost every player who could reasonably be expected to challenge strongly for the main side.
Yet, even still, there will always be some surprising omissions from the 40-man squad, as we saw when the 2014 version was announced yesterday.
So, Roarers, who do you think was unfairly overlooked for the squad? Alternatively, who was lucky to be included?
Were I to select an All-Australian 22, I would have Essendon big man Paddy Ryder as my backup ruckman to Adelaide’s Sam Jacobs.
My Roar colleague Cam Rose also had Ryder in his All-Australian line-up.
Yet prolific on-baller Dyson Heppell and key defender Cale Hooker were the only Bombers picked in yesterday’s squad.
Nathan Jones, from Melbourne, would not have been in my All-Australian 22. Given I would have West Coast’s Matt Priddis in my line-up there isn’t room for a similar gruntwork on-baller. But Jones has been extraordinarily courageous and consistent during yet another frightfully inept season by the Demons. Returning 28 touches, 6 clearances, 5 tackles and 4 inside 50s per game in a woeful line-up is surely sufficient to make the 40-man squad.
Jones is a sentimental choice, having toiled manfully season after season in spite of his club’s insipid efforts.
I may also be slightly biased towards Pearce Hanley, given he is a fellow Irishman and grew up just a few kilometres from where my family live in County Mayo.
While I don’t consider him an automatic inclusion in my All-Australian 22, he would definitely be a lineball player. Hanley is an elite rebounding defender and has embellished his footballing resumé this season by moving into the midfield and proving to be not just a prolific ball winner but also a damaging ball user.
He, too, was fiercely unlucky not to make yesterday’s squad, as he was in 2013 when he had a breakout AFL season.
Adelaide dynamo Patrick Dangerfield is another who was widely expected to be named in the squad, but missed out. Dangerfield’s midfield offsider Rory Sloane could also consider himself unfortunate not to have been included.
Steve Johnson was overlooked for the preliminary squad for the second year running. I have no idea why. His raw numbers – 26 touches per match, 5 tackles, 5 inside 50s, 4 clearances, 16 goals and 12 goal assists – suggest he should have been strongly considered.
But what convinces me he was hard done by is the way in which he sets up play with his disposals – he has brilliant vision, makes good decisions and hits targets. Alas, he’ll have to try again next season.
Anyway, it’s over to you Roarers, who were the biggest omissions from the squad?
All-Australian squad selection by team:
Adelaide: Eddie Betts, Sam Jacobs, Brodie Smith, Daniel Talia
Brisbane: Tom Rockliff
Carlton: Bryce Gibbs
Collingwood: Dayne Beams, Scott Pendlebury
Essendon: Dyson Heppell, Cale Hooker
Fremantle: Hayden Ballantyne, Nat Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands
Geelong: Tom Hawkins, Tom Lonergan, Joel Selwood, Harry Taylor
Gold Coast: Gary Ablett
GWS Giants: Callan Ward
Hawthorn: Luke Breust, Shaun Burgoyne, Jack Gunston, Jordan Lewis, Jarryd Roughead
Nth Melbourne: Brent Harvey
Port Adelaide: Travis Boak, Robbie Gray, Jay Schulz
Richmond: Brandon Ellis, Dustin Martin, Alex Rance
St Kilda: Nick Riewoldt
Sydney: Lance Franklin, Josh Kennedy, Nick Malceski, Luke Parker, Nick Smith
West Coast: Eric Mackenzie, Matt Priddis
Western Bulldogs: Tom Liberatore