The Roar's Top 50 AFL Players: 11-20

Now that the obvious picks are out of the way, let’s stir up some controversy with the tier of players that rank just below the pinnacle of the competition.

Nat Fyfe number one. Yeah.

Gary Ablett number two. I can live with that.

Pendlebury at three, Dangerfield at four and Franklin at five looks about right too – I mean, that was my top five, if not in that exact order. In fact, I don’t think anybody can mount strong arguments as to why any of the players the voting panel put in the top 10 shouldn’t be there.

The Roar‘s Top 50 AFL players series:
» Part 1 – 1-10

But from here, it gets a little more interesting. So, let’s go!

11. Josh P Kennedy (Sydney)
The footballing Adonis, Kennedy is one of the game’s elite inside players. The stats say he might just be the elite in-and-under midfielder in the AFL; since 2010, Kennedy has ranked number one in the competition in both clearances and contested possessions won.

His prowess in the scrap does hide a below average kicking efficiency – but that could be because he’s one of the most handball-dominant players in the League. He’s only just coming into prime age, too, which surprised me when I looked up his numbers to pull this list together.

In a lot of ways, he is the player who should allow Sydney to be a much stronger outside outfit, given he does the equivalent work of two inside midfield players.

12. Josh J Kennedy (West Coast)
From not in the rankings to number 12, it’s fair to say last year’s Coleman medallist caught the eye of our voting panel in 2015. Everyone bar Cam had him inside their top 20 players (I had him at 18 personally), with both Jay and Josh slotting him at the tail end of their top 10s.

And it isn’t hard to see why – but it is very hard to try and justify why no one saw what he did last year coming. Kennedy is a monster on both the lead and in marking one-on-ones, but unlike some of the more traditional, big-bodied key forwards (Kennedy is 196cm and 103kgs, hardly a small player) he is very adept when the ball hits the deck.

His impact for West Coast last year was huge; he went from 94 shots at goal in 20 games to 135 shots in 25 games, and doubled his inside 50 entries per game from just over one to nearly three. Our group list has him as the pre-eminent key forward in the game, which is fair, but I rate someone else a bit higher. He’s not in today’s group.

13. Joel Selwood (Geelong)
Selwood’s position in the top 50 was polarising: Cam, Tom and Jay had him at sixth, sixth and seventh, while myself and Josh had him at 22 and 35, respectively. I think everybody else is way off the mark.

At his best, Joel Selwood can be an unstoppable ball movement force, using power and a quick first step to contort his way through packs. He is an excellent runner around the ground, and was the number one score involvement player for the Cats in 2015 – suggesting he is their most influential player.

He has been playing a lone hand at Geelong, as we discussed last week, and I’m predicting that while he now has an excellent partner in crime – or, indeed, with Dangerfield in play Selwood becomes the second banana – I’m simply not convinced Selwood can continue to play as he has been playing in his nine-year career.

After 205 physical games, I’m predicting the Joel Selwood we see plying his trade over the next five seasons will be a very different proposition: still elite at centre bounces and around the ground clearances, but with less influence around the ground in general play.

To me, that will see him fall out of the crème de la crème of the competition’s midfield group. I still rate him as the AFL’s 14th-best midfielder, which would see him make the All Australian side.

14. Dan Hannebery (Sydney)
Last year’s AFL Coaches Association MVP lifted his rating from very good to great in 2015, and, like Kennedy, will be a critical part of Sydney’s 2016 season.

Hannebery’s strongest attribute is his agility, both in tight situations and on the outside. He combines this with a strong ability to win the ground ball, and provides Sydney with plenty of drive both setting up the play and as a link man. He set career marks for every major counting statistical category in 2015, and was one of only three players to dispose of the ball an average of 30 times a week.

The only string Hannebery has left to add to his bow is to become a consistent threat around goal – not that 0.7 goals per game is anything to sneeze at for a true centre ground midfielder. If he could lift that to one or more, where the likes of Robbie Gray, Luke Hodge, Dustin Martin, Patrick Dangerfield and the like sit, he would elevate himself into the top 10 conversation.

15. Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide)
I said my piece on Chad Wingard a couple of weeks ago when discussing the best young players in the league and he’s evidently come above my eventual number one (Marcus Bontempelli). That’s because Wingard is just about at his prime now, where the Bont still has a year or two to grow. He will be the best player in the game at his peak.

Wingard’s 2015 says a lot about his value: 2.5 goals and close to 10 contested possessions per game for a side with noted problems moving the ball inside 50. Also, this.

16. Matt Priddis (West Coast)
Like Selwood, Priddis’ place in the game was subject to a lot of variance among the panel. After he one-upped his 2014 Brownlow Medal season in 2015, I pushed him into the top 10 conversation at number eight. Tom agreed with me, putting him seventh, while Jay had him in 12th. By contrast, Cam stuck him in 26th, and Josh slapped us all in the face in putting him in 42nd. If Rose and Elliott had come to their senses, and put Priddis in the top 20 (which surely has to be his floor), Priddis would have been right on the cusp of the top ten.

Priddis is one of the best inside midfielders in the game, and in a lot of ways shows what a team should be able to do with a workhorse like Josh Kennedy running around and winning clearances for fun. Priddis is central to West Coast’s ability to play flexibly around the ground. He keeps going, and going, and going, and shovels the ball out with aplomb when Nic Naitanui drops it at his feet.

The one knock is his disposal quality, particularly by foot. But when you’ve got a team full of deadeyes, it doesn’t really matter, does it?

Will he back up his 2015 season, where he came close to winning eight clearances and 15 contested possessions per game – lofty heights indeed – and help the Eagles back up their stellar rise?

17. David Mundy (Fremantle)
Finally Mundy is getting the recognition he deserves. Last season, I had Fremantle’s new captain in the same position I do this year – 12th in the league – but he was picked by just one other panelist and Mundy ended up in 47th place.

Let’s let the bygones be bygone, though, because Mundy’s position is now more in keeping with his stature in the game. He was, in a lot of ways, one of the AFL’s groundbreakers insofar as he plays as a full-time midfielder despite his size being more like that of a tall forward or defender. Mundy is an elite user of the ball, and possesses a sharp football IQ which complements the more brutish style of many of his teammates. He can play inside, outside, in-and-under, and behind the ball as required.

He’s like a thoroughbred race horse, and when he’s on he makes time stand still.

There has been a little bit of talk that Mundy might spend a bit of time on a back flank this season to help Fremantle’s young-ish defenders transition to life without general Luke McPharlin. Mundy is most effective as a centreman, and should spend 80 per cent of his game time through there. Needless to say, he’s central to their chances this season.

18. Dayne Beams (Brisbane)
Beams just cracked my top 30, after I admittedly left him out of my top 50 all together in 2015. He’s a classy all-around player, able to play both attack and defence at a high level. He moved to Brisbane last year as their best player, and will be able to grow with the team and its good-on-paper-less-so-in-practice midfield.

At his peak, Beams was a consistent member of the 20/1 club (20 disposals, and a goal a game), a mark of midfielders that can have a big impact on the game from an offensive perspective. He also averaged five tackles in his final season at Collingwood; three marks which not many players can claim to achieve.

I know he is one of Cam’s personal favourites. Two years in a row he has rated him in his own top ten.

19. Dustin Martin (Richmond)
Right, so let’s just throw this on the table: I had Dustin Martin at number six. That might be a little high – I’d bet most people would say he’s not in the top 20 of the competition, let alone the top 10. Here’s my defence:

Martin is a rare combination of power and precision with the ball in hand, and plays the game in an arrogant manner which means he is a unique user of the Sherrin. His favourite move – the fend off and swivel onto his rangey right boot – opens up all sorts of play for the rest of his team. He is a silver member of the 20/1 club, having recorded 20 disposals and a goal per game every year for the past five years. And on the advanced metrics – metres gained, score launches, score involvements – he ranks anywhere between above average to elite.

Not a noted inside player, Martin is an excellent change-up option for Richmond at centre bounces. His disposal efficiency is the big question mark, but I prefer to take the glass half-full approach and pin that on his will to force the play. Should Martin temper those desires, look out.

He is just about to enter prime age, and with his lethal boot, he’s set to enter the heights of the prime movers in the competition. So yes, sixth sounds high, but top 20 is absolutely appropriate.

20. Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)
We round off my bracket with the two-metre hit out machine Aaron Sandilands. I had him as my third ruckman (behind Todd ‘Iron Man’ Goldstein and GWS’ Shane Mumford), but I can see why others rate him this high. He has redefined what a ruckman can be in the AFL over his career, overcoming injury along the way, and remains one of Fremantle’s most important contributors despite entering his 14th season with 239 games under his belt at 33 years of age.

Where he is sometimes open to a bit of criticism is that his hit out dominance doesn’t necessarily translate into clearances for his team – he’s so good that opposition midfielders can watch his palm and forsake their own ruckman. That’s rubbish, and after breaking records for hit outs to advantage a number of times in recent years, that has to be put to bed now.

Sandilands has added the around-the-ground marking prowess of some more mobile ruckmen to his game in recent years; he can just stand there and, with his reach, is able to out-mark 90 per cent of the competition. Hilariously, he averaged just over two kicks a game last season – can’t be risking those valuable hamstrings on speculative shanks now, can we?

Like Mundy, Sandilands is central to the Dockers’ hopes and dreams in 2016.

There we have it. All in all I’m happy with this tier of players. There were a couple I had lower, and a couple of players that I had in this tier that didn’t quite squeeze in – namely Taylor Walker, Callan Ward, Rory Sloane and Travis Boak – but I have a feeling that we won’t be waiting too long to discuss that quartet.

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow when Cam Rose will lead us through the next ten players.

The Roar’s Top 50 AFL players so far…
1. Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle)
2. Gary Ablett (Gold Coast)
3. Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
4. Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)
5. Lance Franklin (Sydney)
6. Robbie Gray (Port)
7. Todd Goldstein (North Melbourne)
8. Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
9. Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn)
10. Alex Rance (Richmond)
11. Josh Kennedy (Sydney)
12. Josh Kennedy (West Coast)
13. Joel Selwood (Geelong)
14. Dan Hannebery (Sydney)
15. Chad Wingard (Port)
16. Matt Priddis (West Coast)
17. David Mundy (Fremantle)
18. Dayne Beams (Brisbane)
19. Dustin Martin (Richmond)
20. Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)