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Now I know there are still a few rounds left of football for 2017, but a few games will not change who should and should not be in the All-Australian squad.
Picking this team was a really hard decision seeing as the competition was so competitive and saw a lot of players come out of the woodwork.
The squad
FB: Sam Docherty, Alex Rance, Rory Laird
HB: Elliot Yeo, Robbie Tarrant, Zach Tuohy
C: Josh Kelly, Dustin Martin, Rory Sloane
HF: Toby Greene, Joe Daniher, Lance Franklin
FF: Eddie Betts, Ben Brown, Jeff Garlett
F: Sam Jacobs, Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood
I/C: Clayton Oliver, Michael Hurley, Josh Kennedy (West Coast), Dayne Zorko
So there is the team. I know there a few surprises and shockers, but everyone’s AA teams should be and will be different.
Sam Docherty
Carlton has won five games this season. The team rebuild, originally touted to take between four and seven years, may not be the long after all. The Blues boast a lot of great players, but in 2017 none have been as impressive as Sam Docherty. Averaging 28.4 disposals, 9.2 marks and 3.6 tackles, Docherty has emerged as the most consistent defender in the AFL. Putting Docherty in this team was by far the easiest decision.
Alex Rance
Rance being the AA full-back should surprise no one. Rance has emerged as the greatest key defender of the past 20 years. The 2017 season is also one of Rance’s best years, mainly due to the fact Richmond will be finishing top four for the first time in over ten years! He is one of the main contributing factors alongside Dustin Martin’s almost guaranteed Brownlow this year.
Rory Laird
Laird is one of the most impressive players of this whole AA squad. He is one of the most efficient little men in the league and an absolute beast, averaging over 30 disposals as a run off back flanker. In 2017 Laird has not amassed fewer than 20 disposals, not to mention one of the greatest opening season performances in history with a whopping 40 disposals and four tackles.
(Image: Michael Willson/AFL Media)
Elliot Yeo
It was only a matter of time before Yeo made an All-Australian team. If I only had five guarantees on who I thought would actually make AA, Yeo would be in the five. Yeo has proven to be, at the young age of 23, one of the most important players for the Eagles who will either be the rise or the fall of the Eagles 2017 finals campaign. Yeo has become one of the most reliable defenders in the league.
Robbie Tarrant
A lot of people will be surprised with this selection. What helped my decision with sticking Tarrant at half-back is that for a player like him to be so consistent in of the most inconsistent teams in the AFL, North Melbourne is remarkable. Tarrant is currently ranked fifth for average disposals among key defenders and also ranked third for metres gained among key defenders. That is a very prestigious group to be part of. What also helped my decision was the fact that he is the most reliable intercept mark in the league.
Zach Tuohy
Zach is another selection that may baffle a few readers. Tuohy slid so surprisingly easily into the Cats defensive squad after making the move from Carlton at the end of last year. He has become one of their main fixtures in the defensive half, with a reliable and efficient disposal rate.
Josh Kelly
Kelly is one of the most fought after players of the 2017 free agency period. Kelly has proved why he is so prestigious this year, easily being the Giants best player of 2017. Kelly provides great spread, quickness and absolute pinpoint accuracy kicking. If the Giants find their feet late leading into the 2017 finals, expect Kelly to be a main focal point.
Dustin Martin
Ever since Patrick Dangerfield got a one-week suspension the words on everyone’s lips have been “the Brownlow is Martin’s to lose”. Those words are spot on: expect Dusty to win with about 31 votes and be clear of the runner up by about five votes. I never like to admit that a player can be the main reason for a team’s overall success, but here I have to. It’s not that he has carried a well performing Tigers team, but when Dusty is firing, the Tigers can’t lose.
(Image: AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Rory Sloane
Sloane nearly didn’t make the cut – shocking, I know! In the middle of the year Sloane looked out of sorts in consecutive games mainly due to the fact he could not budge off taggers, but that does not just come down to him – his teammates were not backing him up or helping him whatsoever. That being said, I honestly can say that the main reason he did make the cut is that it isn’t solely his fault that he’s going to be missing games.
Toby Greene
Recently voted the most hated player in the AFL, Greene still proves that no matter the hate, he can dominate. Able to assist a goal from any position or score a game-winning goal, Greene is so versatile at being a game changer.
Joe Daniher
At the start of 2017 no-one would have predicted that Daniher would be a favourite to be selected at All-Australian half-forward. Daniher has emerged as the most exciting forward of 2017, including taking high-flying marks or even clutch late goals – not to mention that Daniher is likely to take home the Coleman medal, something else no-one would have predicted.
Lance Franklin
I know a lot of people will have Buddy as the half-forward or even full-forward, but I was torn by the fact that he wasn’t quite good enough to pip Daniher or Brown but was not bad enough to miss out or even start on the bench. Franklin is still every chance of winning the Coleman, he just cannot go missing like he has done in a few individual games this year.
Eddie Betts
Eddie is the most exciting player in the league, hands down! Betts is not one of those players who only has exciting goals or marks – Betts can do all that but is also the most reliable small forward in the league. During the year Betts looked to be favourite to win the Coleman – he is a bit shy of that, but he will still finish in the top five.
(Image: AAP Image/David Mariuz)
Ben Brown
By far Brown has been the best player for North Melbourne in the 2017 season. If not for a possible season-ending concussion, I would have picked Brown to win the Coleman. Saying he may miss the rest of the season is a bit of a stretch, but I can see the Roos possibly resting him for the rest of the year and not risking him further. Brown has had easily a career-best year, slotting 51 goals and booting six goals in two individual games.
Jeff Garlett
I have to admit that Garlett was a very late inclusion. I just feel as though he needs some recognition – he is unfairly left out of all best-current-small-forward talks, and it’s just not true. After a pretty dismal year last year, Garlett has gone goalless on only four occasions, and he booted five goals against Gold Coast in a very good win.
Sam Jacobs
The 2017 season isn’t a great year for standout ruckmen. Toby Nankervis was looking like a clear standout in the first half of the year but has since dropped off. Jacobs gets the nod for consistently having a very good year. Sauce Jacobs has recently joined elite company, winning his third Showdown Medal.
Patrick Dangerfield
A lot of people, including me, were expecting Danger to win the Brownlow medal back to back. Unfortunately for Danger, an illegal tackle has now rubbed him out of a very possible second Brownlow win. Other than downfall, Dangerfield has once again become the best midfielder in the league.
Joel Selwood
Captain Courageous, as Selwood is known around the league, sets an example on the field that is next to none. A lot of worries were surrounding Danger and Selwood last year, mainly for the fact people weren’t sure that they could play with other. Not only did they prove they can, but they have become the most formidable midfield duo in the entire league.
(Image: AAP Image/Julian Smith)
Clayton Oliver
Clayton Oliver is a young gun and future Brownlow medallist. Though he copped a lot of criticism for a ‘dive’ in the middle of the year, Oliver has not let it get in his way. He has put together a very successful second professional season and is only going to get better every season – which should be worrying for all other 17 clubs!
Michael Hurley
It’s a bit stiff not starting Hurley at half-back, I know, but I am going to be honest: if I did this team ten times, Hurley and Tarrant would swap every time. There is no doubt Hurley is a big chunk of the reason Essendon have been so successful this year. With Hooker banished to the forward line 90 per cent of the time, Hurley has become the general of defence, and boy has he earned that job!
Josh Kennedy
Were he not injured for even a moment of the 2017 season, he would no doubt be starting at full-forward, but unfortunately for Kennedy that is not the case. Still, Kennedy averages a whole goal more than any other forward in the league and is in the top five for the Coleman – even though he missed so many games.
Dayne Zorko
I would have loved to put this little machine on the field, but the Lions’ record just hurts that decision so much – and not only their record but their effort and competitiveness, too. Zorko, though, will win the Lions best and fairest in an absolute landslide. Averaging 25 disposals and a whopping 7.2 tackles a game, Zorko has become the best tackler in the league.
Thank you for reading, everyone – please leave your appropriate responses in the comment section and get the ball rolling!
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