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The season-ending injury to Sydney’s Nick Smith brought into sharp focus the likelihood of a number of players not being around next season.
In Round 14 – the last week of six games – teams such as Sydney, Hawthorn and Melbourne will be turning their minds to how they regain their final eight positions in season 2020 after a season in which they fell well short of the mark.
Their older players, including a number of the AFL elite, will be put under the microscope to see if they are now surplus to requirements in an environment that demands pace, quick decision-making and foot and hand skills of the highest order.
For some, the decision would already appear to be made as they have been discarded by the selectors already, such as Jordan Lewis and Jarryd Roughead.
(AAP Image/Joe Castro)
The decision in relation to some of the other AFL elite players is not so clear cut. Many are still displaying their exceptional skills and their weekly stats suggest that they may have another season left. But as Brendon Goddard discovered last year, form alone is not the sole criteria for extending a player’s contract.
For this reason, we should play homage to Roughead and Shaun Burgoyne at the most ruthless of clubs, as well as ex-Hawk Luke Hodge, who has performed his role well as mentor to the up-and-comers at Brisbane, as they complete their careers by playing out this season and finishing high up the AFL top 100 lists.
Shaun Burgoyne will this week pass Bernie Quinlan and become the AFL’s outright ninth greatest game-player of all time.
The No.2 current player, Luke Hodge, will join John Rantall and Nick Riewoldt inside the top 20.
Of the others, Gary Ablett and Kade Simpson still have roles to play, and Eddie Betts, David Mundy, Lance Franklin and Heath Shaw are all still close to their best.
This week, the top 100 elite gains a new member. Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury will play his 290th game on Sunday against the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium and join former Essendon champion Bill Hutchison and the West Coast Eagles’ greatest game-player Dean Cox in the hot seat, position No.100 on the AFL all-time top 100 game-players list.
Pendlebury is having a great season and should still be around for a number of years.
Other milestones in the top 100 this weekend should be David Mundy joining Essendon superstar Tim Watson on 307 games, Gary Ablett joining ex-Richmond and Collingwood player David Cloke and Fitzroy’s greatest champion Kevin Murray in 23rd position on the list, Eddie Betts and Heath Shaw continuing to excite the crowds as their teams move closer to the finals, and Lance Franklin moving to within one game of the coveted 300-game milestone.
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