Picking the All-Australian side after the Brownlow

In light of this week’s Brownlow Medal, the All-Australian selectors clearly missed a trick.

While the attention in the build-up was focused on whether Gary Ablett Jr would stay in it while his shoulder didn’t, whether Joel Selwood would finally pounce, or whether Lance Franklin could crash the party, Matt Priddis sort of did a Stephen Bradbury on us and slid to the top.

In some ways it’s no surprise that Priddis glided in under everyone’s nose.

He doesn’t kick many goals, he was ranked 308th in the league for marks, and for what it’s worth he averaged a mere two rebound 50s per game.

Instead, Priddis specialises in everyone’s favourite stat category – handballs.

Priddis is possibly the best handballer in the game and is brilliant at getting under the pack and dishing out a clean disposal to an outside runner to do the glamour work.

In many ways he’s your ultimate team player. He regularly averages highly in one-percenters and had the third-most tackles per game in the competition. In Round 18 against Richmond he made an unbelievable 18 tackles.

This is the kind of tough work that we don’t always see from the grandstand, but the umpires have spotted it from close range and rewarded him with the votes.

In terms of my All-Australian side, Priddis and the Swans’ Josh Kennedy are pretty similar players and I would love to have either of those two in the middle of the ground.

From looking purely at the Brownlow count, Nat Fyfe, Ablett, Travis Boak, Kennedy and Selwood seem to justify their selection as All-Australian midfielders, while a question mark can possibly be placed over Jordan Lewis, Scott Pendlebury and Dyson Heppell.

The final votes could also suggest Luke Parker is not quite at the representative standard yet, and support the view that Nick Riewoldt is one of the hardest working forwards in the game and would be cleaning up Coleman awards if not in a terrible team.

It’s always difficult for the Brownlow to accurately reflect the output of a forward or a defender, but the selected team has some question marks.

Adelaide had the 11th best defence in the competition in terms of points conceded, but they somehow have two defenders in the side. Fremantle on the other hand had the second best backline in the AFL, but didn’t get a single defender into the All-Australian squad of 40.

Fremantle’s Michael Johnson, who made the final 22 last year, played the same amount of games as Alex Rance (18), but averaged an extra three disposals per game, one more rebound 50 per game, and has a proven track-record of shutting down key opposition forwards.

The difference was probably that Johnson was one of the best defenders in the first half of the season, whereas Rance finished the year incredibly strong, was a key part of Richmond’s late surge, and would have been fresh in the selectors minds.

The forward-line is very hard to pick because so many small forwards have been able to dominate this season.

Robbie Gray is an easy pick on the half forward line, while Luke Breust scored more goals than any other small forward. Deciding whether to go for Hayden Ballantyne or Eddie Betts is one of the hardest selections in the whole team.

Ballantyne slightly edges out Betts in goals per game, marks, and inside 50s, but Betts led the AFL in goal assists. In the end I gave Ballantyne the nod because his aggressive nature made him a match winner for Fremantle on quite a number of occasions.

Now choosing which midfielder drops out, since Priddis has to be included, is almost impossible. Pendlebury had a slightly below average season by his lofty standards, but hung on by his teeth by the fact that he still has one of the best disposal efficiency rates in the game.

Heppell’s stats are almost identical to Pendlebury’s, but he polled the least out of the selected midfielders this year. He should be a future Brownlow medallist though.

Here is my final team of 22:

B: Cale Hooker Eric Mackenzie Nick Smith

HB: Nick Malceski Michael Johnson Brodie Smith

C: Nathan Fyfe Matt Priddis Travis Boak

HF: Robbie Gray Nick Riewoldt Luke Bruest

F: Hayden Ballantyne Lance Franklin Jarryd Roughead

Foll: Sam Jacobs Joel Selwood Gary Ablett Jr

Interchange: Josh Kennedy Jordan Lewis Tom Rockliff Scott Pendlebury

Unlucky: Dyson Heppell, Aaron Sandilands, Eddie Betts, Luke Parker and Jay Schulz.