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The AFL season is almost upon us, and excitement is building across the football population.
We’re loving the educated debate being had across my preview series, and thought it would be a good idea to get a few luminaries (we use that word very lightly) at The Roar to put together a collective top 50 players in the AFL.
The players were dissected, disagreements had, and arguments thrashed out by myself and fellow experts Michael Cowley, Ryan Buckland, Sarah Olle, along with astute regular commenter TomC, to come up with our final list.
Check out Rosey’s AFL preview series here.
We’ll be doing ten players a day across the week, and while these sort of things are normally done from the bottom up, we don’t mind being subversive, so we’re leading off with our top ten and counting down from there. Let’s get into it.
1. Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
The clear and obvious number one choice (although not unanimous among our group, ahem, Ryan), Ablett has been the best player in the competition for almost a decade, and the case can be made that he’s actually improved each year he’s been at the Suns.
Considering how good he was at Geelong, that statement isn’t made lightly. Ablett combines exquisite everyday skill with the extraordinary on a regular basis. The best.
2. Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)
Nate Fyfe took his game to an all-new level in 2014, and he was coming off a pretty high base as a best and fairest winner in a grand final side.
Apart from his obvious ball-winning abilities, skill and impressive work in traffic, the ease of his contested marking separates him from the other midfielders on this list. Fyfe edged out number three on our list in a tie-breaker, but the records and talents of the two players he’s splitting tell you what rarefied air he sits in.
3. Lance Franklin (Sydney)
Lance Franklin had started to be phased out in his final year at Hawthorn in 2013, and his and Sydney’s middling start to 2014 had the critics sharpening the knives. Were his powers on the wane?
The answer came emphatically, and it was ‘hell no!’. Buddy averaged over four goals a game from Round 9 onwards last season, and combined his underrated consistency with his spectacular best, including several virtuoso, match-winning turns. There’s arguably no more feared player in the comp when on song, and we’re going to see more of the same in 2015.
4. Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
It is said that a balanced wine is one where ‘all its elements are in perfect harmony and none stands out’. We can say the same about a balanced footballer, and Scott Pendlebury is indeed that.
Watch his poise and calmness in traffic, the fluidity of his movement, his skills and vision. Like the very best players, he also finds something extra when his team is in trouble or needs to deliver a knockout blow.
He’s long been my personal favourite player.
5. Joel Selwood (Geelong)
A champion of many years standing, whose career has coincided with Geelong’s elevated position within the AFL since 2007, Joel Selwood stood head and shoulders above his teammates last season and often had to drag them over the line.
Harder than reinforced titanium, with the ability to provide inspirational deeds, and win the hard ball when the game is on the line, he’s added another string to his bow in recent years to become a noted goal-kicker.
As for those detractors that want to lessen Selwood’s standing due to accusations of ducking, well, the world is full of simple people. It’s a pleasure to watch him play football.
6. Josh Kennedy (Sydney)
No single judge had Josh Kennedy this high in their individual list, yet the fact that he appears so high here is a testament to the consistency of his quality, and in fact reflects a game where his impact catches up with you in a less obvious way than others in the top ten.
Kennedy is a contested possession and clearance machine, and we can all picture him getting a handball away from a stoppage, seemingly with three or four blokes hanging off him. But he’s never denied.
7. Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
Dual premiership captain. Dual Norm Smith medallist. Dual best and fairest winner. Triple All-Australian. Triple premiership player.
These honours would be the envy of any player in the league after 13 years at the top level, as they define a man afforded more respect from his peers than any other, who rises in the big moments of the big games.
Luke Hodge has never really been held in the highest acclaim in lists such as these, but last year’s grand final performance, and his season as a whole, tells us that his place here is much deserved.
8. Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
Travis Boak is the fifth captain to land in the top ten, and is another that leads by example. He did so off the field, spurning the aggressive Geelong advances in 2012, and has since done so on the park, continuing to improve his game each season, playing a key role in the Port Adelaide revival.
He’s a Joel Selwood-lite in many ways, and while I didn’t rate him quite this high personally, I’m not going to knock it.
9. Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn)
Jarryd Roughead is another that has reached his peak years almost unobtrusively, in a way that makes it easy to forget he’s kicked more than 70 goals in a season on three separate occasions, a claim that only Lance Franklin can make among current players.
He can find himself in the game in any number of ways, and is never out of it for long. Apart from his marking capabilities, contested inside fifty or as a lead-up player between the arcs, he can also win hit outs and clearances, and give a chop out down back.
Arguably the most complete tall player in the competition.
10. Dyson Heppell (Essendon)
Dyson Heppell made a quantum leap in performance in 2014, from good to very good, but he was a touch overrated for mine, and I’m not yet convinced that his impact is as great as his numbers.
I personally had him rated at 28, while Ryan and Sarah had him sixth and eighth respectively, but that’s why this is a collective countdown. I was overruled!
All that said, he’s a fine player, and was enormous in carrying the Dons while Jobe Watson was out of the side or struggling with injury, but his skipper is still the superior player in my eyes.
So there we have it, the first ten of The Roar‘s top fifty. Who is too high? Who is too low? Who have we missed?
Have your say in the comments below, and come back tomorrow for Michael Cowley’s write-up of players 11-20. And if I know Mike, he’ll be giving the rest of us a whack where we’ve disagreed!
1. Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
2. Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)
3. Lance Franklin (Sydney)
4. Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
5. Joel Selwood (Geelong)
6. Josh Kennedy (Sydney)
7. Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
8. Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
9. Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn)
10. Dyson Heppell (Essendon)