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The AFL's top 99 players in 2018

Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn fight it out in the ruck. (Photo by Michael Dodge/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
18th July, 2018
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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.)

Patrick Dangerfield Geelong Cats AFL Brownlow Medal 2016

Patrick Dangerfield (AAP Image/Julian Smith)

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.

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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
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