The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

Sponsored

Five powerful players I'm looking forward to watching this AFL season

(Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Editor
20th March, 2019
4

With the 2019 AFL season drawing closer and closer, there’s no better time to cast one’s eye over which players they’re excited to watch this season.

Australian rules football allows for all kinds of players to take the field. You’ve got lightning-quick runners who dazzle with speed, aerial wonders who pluck marks from dizzying heights, and mercurial wonders who make the impossible happen right before your eyes.

But, today, I want to look at the AFL’s powerhouses – the strongmen who muscle their way forward with raw, ferocious power.

1. Dustin Martin

There are few more obvious signs of power than Dusty’s trademark fend-off.

Dustin Martin

(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

While his teammate, Jack Riewoldt, was named skipper of the AFLX’s ‘Rampage’ side, when it comes to Richmond, no player personifies power more than ‘Dusty’.

The 2017 Brownlow medallist does more than just sit down would-be tacklers, however, with the Tigers livewire ranking first in the competition for score involvements last season.

Advertisement

His willingness to take the game on is a trait we all wish more midfielders would adopt, with his stat line from last season reading 25 disposals, five clearances, six inside 50s and a goal a game.

Couple that all with the fact he was sixth in the AFL for running bounces, and you’ve got a supremely confident running machine who’s not afraid to use his strength to bust through whatever’s taking place ahead of him.

If teams aren’t able to clog the midfield as much going forward under the 6-6-6 rule, who knows what one-on-one marvels Martin will treat us to this year.

2. Max Gawn

Melbourne’s talismanic ruckman is easily one of the competition’s most entertaining players. Is he the best big man in the league? Collingwood’s Brodie Grundy makes that a tough question to answer.

But where Grundy has his nose ahead in terms of athleticism and skill around the field, there’s no doubt Gawn’s ability to crash packs both in the air and on the ground makes him an immensely powerful player to watch.

Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn fight it out in the ruck

(Photo by Michael Dodge/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Advertisement

2018 was easily a career year for the 27-year-old, with ‘Gawny’ racking up lazy averages of 45 hit-outs, 16 disposals and five marks a game, while also finishing third in the AFL for contested marks.

If ruckmen are allowed to take the ball directly out of the ruck contest in 2019 without fear of forfeiting prior opportunity, it should be a lot of fun to watch big Max pluck the ball out of the sky and simply shrug off the likes of Caleb Daniel and other shorter mids as he breaks free of the contest.

3. Lance Franklin

The game’s on the line. You’ve got a set shot from 55 out, close to the left-hand-side boundary. Who are you giving the ball to?

Buddy Franklin, of course.

The Hawthorn-turned-Sydney champion goalkicker roosts the footy from on and beyond the arc like nobody’s business. Whether it’s on the run or from a standing start, his outrageous left boot can clear the goal line from just about the next postcode.

Who can forget his 70-metre bomb against Port Adelaide in 2014?

Advertisement
Lance Franklin

(Photo by Brett Hemmings/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Despite some rumblings that injuries are starting to catch up with him or that he’s simply past his best, much like his club, you’d be foolish writing him off this early in the year.

Other players are deservedly shorter odds at snagging the Coleman than Franklin, but there’s virtually nobody else in the competition who makes applying unreasonable power to the surface of the football look so incredible.

4. Devon Smith

While power is often seen as something of an unstoppable force, sometimes it presents itself as an immovable object.

Essendon midfielder Devon Smith very much personifies the latter.

The tackling machine stopped more opponents dead in their tracks than any other player last season, racking up a whopping 186 tackles in 22 matches – 18 more than second-placed Elliot Yeo, who had a whole finals series to catch up.

Advertisement

His average of 8.4 tackles a game was 3.5 more than he’s ever averaged. If his career continues on this trajectory, I can’t wait to see what astronomical figures he reaches over the next few years.

Devon Smith

(Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)

With more and more midfielders looking to take advantage of anti-congestion laws and get off the chain in 2019, Smith’s unsurpassed tackling power will go a long way to crushing those dreams of some of his opponents.

5. Shannon Hurn

West Coast’s premiership captain surprisingly flies under the radar outside of Western Australia, despite the fact he’s been in the Eagles best 22 for the better part of a decade.

Why does he make this list? Well, similar to Buddy, it’s that booming right leg of his that I’m excited to see in action in 2019 – especially because of the rule changes.

No player kicked to themselves at behind kick-ins more than Hurn a season ago, and he did it so much so he could run out of the goal square and absolutely hoist the ball halfway to Timbucktoo.

Advertisement
Shannon Hurn of the Eagles

(Photo by Will Russell/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Now, with the requirements to kick to yourself and stay in the goal square both abolished – coupled with the marker now having to stand further back – Hurn is free to take whatever run-up he feels like and launch absolute torpedoes from full back.

If he’s not sending the football to the centre square regularly, it’ll be a massive disappointment.

close