Roar Guru
With six weeks to go in the season, here are the AFL’s top 99 Meta-Player Of The Year contenders, as recognised by a range of evaluators.
For each player,I’ve listed point totals, as well as the number of games where they were recognised by at least 80 per cent of my sources (‘Prominent’ performances) and by 90 per cent of sources (‘Dominant’ performances), which are used as the tie-breakers between matching point totals.
Is it possible that a ruckman could win the Brownlow? Max Gawn has taken the lead over dormant superstar Nat Fyfe (who is ineligible in any case) in the Meta-Player race.
Following Round 17, when Gawn had his most influential game, he has reached the pinnacle of not just my list but many others as well. He and Fyfe are the only players who have excelled in over half of their games (Fyfe having only played in 13 games so far).
Behind those two sit ball-Hawk Tom Mitchell, young Blue Patrick Cripps, and 2017 Brownlow winner Dustin Martin. Other notable players include the second outstanding ruckman this season, Brodie Grundy of Collingwood (sixth), superstar Lance Franklin in ninth, despite having missed three games early in the season, and 2016 Brownlow winner Patrick Dangerfield in 17th.
(By the way, both Martin and Dangerfield were also the Meta-Player of the Year in 2017 and 2016, respectively.)
Coleman Medal favourite Ben Brown is in 18th, newly minted 2012 Brownlow winner Trent Cotchin sits right behind him in 19th, and two-time MVP Gary Ablett now holds 32nd place.
The first Gold Coast players to show up on this list are Touk Miller and Tom Lynch, all the way down in 92nd and 93rd places. For comparison, every other team has at least three players above them on this list.
It begets the question – is it a lack of talent showing up, or does their lack of success lead to a lack of recognition? I would argue the former, since Carlton has been demonstrably less successful this year, yet those two Suns are looking up not only at Cripps in third, but also Kade Simpson and Charlie Curnow, with Ed Curnow right behind them as well.
Round 17 Leaderboard | Player | Club | Points total | D(90%) | P(80%) |
1 | Max Gawn | MEL | 349 | 1 | 9 |
2 | Nat Fyfe | FRE | 344 | 4 | 7 |
3 | Tom Mitchell | HAW | 323 | 0 | 7 |
4 | Patrick Cripps | CAR | 311 | 3 | 5 |
5 | Dustin Martin | RCH | 288 | 3 | 4 |
6 | Brodie Grundy | COL | 277 | 3 | 5 |
7 | Clayton Oliver | MEL | 273 | 2 | 5 |
8 | Shaun Higgins | NM | 271 | 3 | 5 |
9 | Lance Franklin | SYD | 258 | 2 | 5 |
10 | Andrew Gaff | WC | 252 | 1 | 5 |
11 | Jack Macrae | WB | 246 | 2 | 3 |
12 | Joel Selwood | GEL | 231 | 1 | 3 |
13 | Steele Sidebottom | COL | 231 | 0 | 3 |
14 | Dayne Beams | BL | 229 | 1 | 4 |
15 | Jesse Hogan | MEL | 218 | 1 | 5 |
16 | Rory Laird | ADE | 217 | 0 | 3 |
17 | Patrick Dangerfield | GEL | 214 | 2 | 5 |
18 | Ben Brown | NM | 209 | 1 | 4 |
19 | Trent Cotchin | RCH | 208 | 3 | 5 |
20 | James Sicily | HAW | 208 | 0 | 2 |
21 | Robbie Gray | PA | 207 | 1 | 3 |
22 | Jack Darling | WC | 206 | 1 | 3 |
23 | Stephen Coniglio | GWS | 203 | 2 | 2 |
24 | Scott Pendlebury | COL | 198 | 1 | 4 |
25 | Dyson Heppell | ESS | 197 | 0 | 2 |
26 | Josh P Kennedy | SYD | 194 | 2 | 3 |
27 | Ben Cunnington | NM | 191 | 2 | 3 |
28 | Callan Ward | GWS | 188 | 3 | 3 |
29 | Shannon Hurn | WC | 187 | 0 | 2 |
30 | Elliot Yeo | WC | 185 | 1 | 3 |
31 | Jack Steven | STK | 183 | 2 | 3 |
32 | Gary Ablett | GEL | 180 | 2 | 3 |
33 | Jordan deGoey | COL | 180 | 1 | 2 |
34 | Dayne Zorko | BL | 178 | 2 | 3 |
35 | Alex Rance | RCH | 177 | 1 | 1 |
36 | Luke Breust | HW | 175 | 2 | 2 |
37 | Lachie Whitfield | GWS | 175 | 1 | 2 |
38 | Lachie Neale | FRE | 171 | 1 | 2 |
39 | Adam Treloar | COL | 168 | 1 | 2 |
40 | Ollie Wines | PA | 165 | 0 | 1 |
41 | Jake Lloyd | SYD | 163 | 1 | 2 |
42 | Jeremy McGovern | WC | 161 | 2 | 3 |
43 | Zach Merrett | ESS | 160 | 1 | 3 |
44 | Tom Phillips | COL | 160 | 1 | 2 |
45 | Shane Edwards | RCH | 158 | 1 | 4 |
46 | Tom McDonald | MEL | 157 | 2 | 4 |
47 | Harris Andrews | BL | 152 | 1 | 2 |
48 | Josh Caddy | RCH | 152 | 2 | 2 |
49 | Kane Lambert | RCH | 151 | 1 | 3 |
50 | Luke Parker | SYD | 151 | 2 | 2 |
51 | Stefan Martin | BL | 151 | 0 | 2 |
52 | Marc Bontempelli | WB | 150 | 0 | 2 |
53 | Isaac Heeney | SYD | 149 | 1 | 1 |
54 | Tom Stewart | GEL | 146 | 0 | 2 |
54 | Kade Simpson | CAR | 146 | 0 | 2 |
56 | Jack Redden | WC | 140 | 1 | 2 |
57 | Jaeger O’Meara | HAW | 137 | 0 | 2 |
58 | Angus Brayshaw | MEL | 136 | 0 | 2 |
59 | Mitch Duncan | GEL | 134 | 1 | 2 |
59 | Devon Smith | ESS | 134 | 1 | 2 |
61 | Charlie Curnow | CAR | 130 | 2 | 2 |
62 | Callum Sinclair | SYD | 130 | 0 | 1 |
63 | Justin Westhoff | PA | 129 | 0 | 2 |
64 | Bryce Gibbs | ADE | 128 | 0 | 2 |
64 | Tim Kelly | GEL | 128 | 0 | 2 |
66 | Jeremy Cameron | GWS | 126 | 1 | 2 |
67 | Jack Gunston | HAW | 125 | 0 | 1 |
68 | Josh Kelly | GWS | 123 | 2 | 2 |
69 | Isaac Smith | HAW | 120 | 1 | 1 |
70 | Jack Riewoldt | RCH | 119 | 1 | 1 |
71 | Paul Seedsman | ADE | 118 | 0 | 2 |
72 | Sam Menegola | GEL | 117 | 0 | 2 |
73 | Lachie Hunter | WB | 117 | 0 | 1 |
74 | Jarrad Waite | NM | 112 | 2 | 2 |
75 | Seb Ross | STK | 111 | 1 | 2 |
76 | Jeremy Howe | COL | 110 | 0 | 1 |
77 | Jade Gresham | STK | 109 | 1 | 3 |
78 | Tom Hawkins | GEL | 108 | 0 | 1 |
78 | Toby McLean | WB | 108 | 0 | 1 |
80 | Dylan Shiel | GWS | 107 | 0 | 0 |
81 | Chad Wingard | PA | 106 | 0 | 0 |
82 | Michael Walters | FE | 104 | 0 | 1 |
83 | Michael Hurley | ESS | 103 | 0 | 1 |
84 | Nic Naitanui | WC | 102 | 0 | 0 |
85 | Ben Ronke | SYD | 99 | 1 | 2 |
86 | Jack Ziebell | NM | 99 | 1 | 1 |
86 | Liam Shiels | HAW | 99 | 1 | 1 |
88 | Nick Vlastuin | RCH | 94 | 0 | 1 |
89 | Scott Thompson | MEL | 91 | 1 | 1 |
89 | Cale Hooker | ESS | 91 | 1 | 1 |
91 | Jared Polec | PA | 91 | 0 | 1 |
92 | Touk Miller | GC | 91 | 0 | 0 |
93 | Tom Lynch | GC | 90 | 1 | 1 |
94 | David Mundy | FRE | 89 | 1 | 1 |
94 | Ed Curnow | CAR | 89 | 1 | 1 |
96 | Ben Jacobs | NM | 88 | 0 | 1 |
97 | Taylor Walker | ADE | 84 | 0 | 0 |
97 | Jimmy Webster | STK | 84 | 0 | 0 |
99 | Tom Jonas | PA | 83 | 1 | 1 |