It took intense debate, but Dustin Martin edged out Nat Fyfe to be crowned the best player in the AFL by our expert panel.
The top 50 has been completely revealed, so now it’s time to expose the cogs and gears and look at exactly how everyone voted, as well as how each club fared individually.
If you’ve forgotten the process, we got five of our AFL experts – Jay Croucher, Cam Rose, Adrian Polykandrites, Josh Elliott and myself – to name their top 60 players in the league today. Players were then given points based on where they ranked on each list – 60 points for being ranked no.1 down to one point for being ranked no.60 – with the final top 50 ranking being determined by the total number of points each player accrued across the five lists.
To start, let’s look at how each club rated.
All but three clubs – Essendon, Gold Coast and St Kilda – are represented in the top 50. Interestingly, those are the same three clubs who didn’t have anyone named to last year’s 40-man All-Australian squad – so before you have a crack at our experts over the exclusions, we’ve been backed up strongly!
But while the Bombers and Saints had representation on some individual expert lists, the Suns did not rate a mention at all! Are you surprised? Of course not.
No surprises that last year’s grand finalists account for a whopping 15 players on this list, although it’s the Giants surprisingly edging out the Tigers with eight representatives to seven. The West Coast Eagles come in at third with six, while the Brisbane Lions round out the top four with five selections. Five teams had two selections.
The top 50 by club
GWS Giants: 8
Richmond: 7
West Coast Eagles: 6
Brisbane Lions: 5
Collingwood: 4
Geelong Cats: 3
North Melbourne: 3
Western Bulldogs: 3
Fremantle: 2
Hawthorn: 2
Melbourne: 2
Port Adelaide: 2
Sydney Swans: 2
Carlton: 1
Adelaide Crows: 1
Essendon: 0
Gold Coast Suns: 0
St Kilda: 0
The Giants are well-represented in the top 50. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Putting a ‘team of the top 50’ together was much harder exercise than in the NRL, given players don’t have the same strict positions across codes. If we just put the top 22 players in, we’d have a lot of midfielders and key forwards and not much else.
Instead, I decided to limit midfielders to their usual positions, while giving them both half-forward flanks (the AA selectors do this all the time) and all but one interchange spot.
I also limited the forward and defensive set-ups to three key talls each, which was much more of a problem for the forwards than the backs.
In any case, this team would be virtually unbeatable.
The Roar’s AFL team of the top 50
B: Dylan Grimes, Harris Andrews, James Sicily
HB: Bachar Houli, Jeremy McGovern, Lachie Whitfield
C: Patrick Dangerfield, Patrick Cripps, Tim Kelly
HF: Marcus Bontempelli, Tom J Lynch, Stephen Coniglio
F: Jordan de Goey, Jeremy Cameron, Lance Franklin
FOL: Brodie Grundy, Nat Fyfe, Dustin Martin
I/C: Max Gawn, Scott Pendlebury, Josh Kelly, Elliot Yeo
Nat Fyfe. (Photo by Daniel Carson/AFL Media/Getty Images)
And, of course, the part of the article you’ve really been waiting for. Here is the final list, including the points values for every player, a full list of the players who were in the conversation but didn’t quite make the cut as well as how each expert did their individual top 60.
You can filter these tables to sort by any column you’d like.
| Rank | Player | Club | Points | Josh | Cam | Adrian | Stirling | Jay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Dustin Martin | Richmond | 298 | 01 | 02 | 01 | 02 | 01 |
| 02 | Nat Fyfe | Fremantle | 297 | 02 | 01 | 02 | 01 | 02 |
| 03 | Marcus Bontempelli | Western Bulldogs | 285 | 05 | 04 | 04 | 04 | 03 |
| 04 | Patrick Dangerfield | Geelong | 284 | 04 | 05 | 03 | 05 | 04 |
| 05 | Patrick Cripps | Carlton | 280 | 08 | 03 | 06 | 03 | 05 |
| 06 | Brodie Grundy | Collingwood | 267 | 12 | 06 | 05 | 09 | 06 |
| 07 | Tim Kelly | West Coast | 253 | 16 | 07 | 15 | 07 | 07 |
| 08 | Stephen Coniglio | GWS Giants | 252 | 13 | 08 | 07 | 10 | 15 |
| 09 | Jeremy Cameron | GWS Giants | 247 | 03 | 13 | 13 | 08 | 21 |
| 10 | Josh Kelly | GWS Giants | 245 | 07 | 09 | 12 | 15 | 17 |
| 11 | Elliot Yeo | West Coast | 244 | 09 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 09 |
| 12 | Max Gawn | Melbourne | 244 | 11 | 20 | 08 | 14 | 08 |
| 13 | Tom J Lynch | Richmond | 242 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 10 |
| 14 | Jeremy McGovern | West Coast | 236 | 10 | 10 | 09 | 18 | 22 |
| 15 | Lachie Neale | Brisbane | 230 | 29 | 11 | 10 | 06 | 19 |
| 16 | Scott Pendlebury | Collingwood | 219 | 14 | 15 | 33 | 13 | 11 |
| 17 | Lachie Whitfield | GWS Giants | 211 | 19 | 14 | 18 | 27 | 16 |
| 18 | Lance Franklin | Sydney | 207 | 24 | 19 | 26 | 16 | 13 |
| 19 | Jordan de Goey | Collingwood | 197 | 17 | 23 | 17 | 23 | 28 |
| 20 | Jack Riewoldt | Richmond | 196 | 23 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 20 |
| 21 | Harris Andrews | Brisbane | 186 | 25 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 23 |
| 22 | Luke Shuey | West Coast | 185 | 18 | 31 | 29 | 24 | 18 |
| 23 | Jack Macrae | Western Bulldogs | 173 | 06 | 38 | 35 | 21 | 32 |
| 24 | Tom Hawkins | Geelong | 171 | 22 | 33 | 25 | 17 | 37 |
| 25 | Michael Walters | Fremantle | 165 | 26 | 28 | 31 | 29 | 26 |
| 26 | Jack Darling | West Coast | 165 | 28 | 25 | 21 | 30 | 36 |
| 27 | Dayne Zorko | Brisbane | 156 | 31 | 24 | 36 | 20 | 38 |
| 28 | Clayton Oliver | Melbourne | 149 | 42 | 40 | 11 | 38 | 25 |
| 29 | Ben Brown | North Melbourne | 148 | 21 | 35 | 27 | 28 | 46 |
| 30 | Toby Greene | GWS Giants | 141 | 45 | 21 | 19 | 19 | 60 |
| 31 | Charlie Cameron | Brisbane | 130 | 35 | 27 | 45 | 33 | 35 |
| 32 | Tom Mitchell | Hawthorn | 118 | 41 | 17 | – | 56 | 12 |
| 33 | James Sicily | Hawthorn | 116 | 33 | 32 | 20 | 60 | 44 |
| 34 | Adam Treloar | Collingwood | 114 | 39 | 36 | 38 | 37 | 41 |
| 35 | Dylan Grimes | Richmond | 108 | 36 | 51 | 52 | 34 | 24 |
| 36 | Travis Boak | Port Adelaide | 095 | 40 | – | 30 | 45 | 34 |
| 37 | Bachar Houli | Richmond | 090 | 32 | – | – | 32 | 29 |
| 38 | Dion Prestia | Richmond | 088 | 38 | 47 | 58 | 41 | 33 |
| 39 | Tim Taranto | GWS Giants | 086 | 60 | 30 | 48 | 22 | 59 |
| 40 | Shaun Higgins | North Melbourne | 085 | 37 | – | 37 | 35 | 50 |
| 41 | Isaac Heeney | Sydney | 085 | 43 | 39 | 28 | 49 | – |
| 42 | Tom Stewart | Geelong | 081 | 27 | – | – | – | 14 |
| 43 | Ben Cunnington | North Melbourne | 077 | 51 | 48 | 40 | 42 | 47 |
| 44 | Andrew Gaff | West Coast | 074 | 49 | 58 | 32 | 31 | – |
| 45 | Robbie Gray | Port Adelaide | 074 | – | 45 | 47 | 51 | 27 |
| 46 | Josh Dunkley | Western Bulldogs | 073 | 30 | 37 | 59 | 50 | 56 |
| 47 | Hugh McCluggage | Brisbane | 068 | – | 26 | 42 | 47 | – |
| 48 | Nick Vlastuin | Richmond | 067 | 48 | 56 | 44 | 39 | 51 |
| 49 | Phil Davis | GWS Giants | 065 | 56 | 55 | 23 | 52 | 54 |
| 50 | Rory Sloane | Adelaide | 059 | – | – | 34 | 59 | 31 |
| 50 | Zac Williams | GWS Giants | 059 | – | 49 | 41 | 43 | 52 |
| 52 | Shane Edwards | Richmond | 058 | – | 34 | – | 48 | 43 |
| 53 | Dane Rampe | Sydney | 056 | 46 | – | 53 | 40 | 49 |
| 54 | Nick Haynes | GWS Giants | 056 | 57 | 29 | – | 57 | 45 |
| 55 | Shannon Hurn | West Coast | 053 | 54 | – | 46 | – | 30 |
| 56 | Dylan Shiel | Essendon | 052 | 53 | 44 | 57 | 44 | 55 |
| 57 | Brad Hill | St Kilda | 047 | 20 | – | – | 55 | – |
| 58 | Trent Cotchin | Richmond | 041 | – | 41 | – | – | 40 |
| 59 | Zach Merrett | Essendon | 040 | – | 43 | 39 | – | – |
| 60 | Tom Papley | Sydney | 031 | 55 | – | – | 36 | – |
| 61 | Josh J Kennedy | West Coast | 029 | 50 | – | 43 | – | – |
| 62 | Luke Parker | Sydney | 028 | – | 46 | 56 | 53 | – |
| 63 | Jack Billings | St Kilda | 027 | 34 | – | – | – | – |
| 64 | Jake Lloyd | Sydney | 024 | 52 | – | – | 46 | – |
| 65 | Aaron Naughton | Western Bulldogs | 023 | – | 50 | 49 | – | – |
| 66 | Mark Blicavs | Geelong | 022 | – | – | – | – | 39 |
| 67 | Jade Gresham | St Kilda | 019 | – | 42 | – | – | – |
| 68 | Steele Sidebottom | Collingwood | 019 | – | – | – | – | 42 |
| 69 | Gary Ablett | Geelong | 017 | 44 | – | – | – | – |
| 70 | Tim Membrey | St Kilda | 016 | 47 | 59 | – | – | – |
| 71 | Callan Ward | GWS Giants | 015 | – | 54 | – | – | 53 |
| 72 | Jaeger O’Meara | Hawthorn | 014 | – | 60 | – | – | 48 |
| 73 | Mitch Duncan | Geelong | 014 | – | 53 | 55 | – | – |
| 74 | Christian Petracca | Melbourne | 011 | – | – | 50 | – | – |
| 75 | Josh P Kennedy | Sydney | 010 | 58 | – | – | 54 | – |
| 76 | Darcy Moore | Collingwood | 010 | – | – | 51 | – | – |
| 77 | James Worpel | Hawthorn | 009 | – | 52 | – | – | – |
| 78 | Jacob Weitering | Carlton | 007 | – | – | 54 | – | – |
| 79 | Brad Crouch | Adelaide | 005 | 59 | – | – | 58 | – |
| 80 | Matt Crouch | Adelaide | 004 | – | – | – | – | 57 |
| 81 | Nic Naitanui | West Coast | 004 | – | 57 | – | – | – |
| 82 | Rory Laird | Adelaide | 003 | – | – | – | – | 58 |
| 83 | Todd Goldstein | North Melbourne | 001 | – | – | 60 | – | – |
It was an extremely fun process putting this list together and we hope you enjoyed reading and debating it just as much as we did.
Until the ball is finally bounced on Thursday, why not have a re-read of the top 50 countdown itself?
The best players in the AFL, 50-41
The best players in the AFL, 40-31
The best players in the AFL, 30-21
The best players in the AFL, 20-11
The best players in the AFL, 10-1
me too
Roar Rookie
you're just stirring for fun obviously. name one player who played 22 elite games.
sven
Roar Rookie
re dustys 2 norm smiths - reckon granny against adelaide mightve ended up soft as adelaide gradually wilted under richmond relentless pressure but it was hotly contested well into the 2nd quarter...dusty got 22 contested possessions that day (out of 28? odd, plus 2 goals), pretty decent return i wouldve thought
Tassie.
Roar Rookie
100% agree me too, gobsmacked Marshall didnt get a mention.I wonder if at the end of the season (if it happens) all the "so called experts" will reconsider.I doubt it.When he dominated Gawn & Grundy it makes you wonder why? Maybe they just dont like the Saints.
Slane
Guest
Ahh, so 11 elite games puts you infront of players with seasons worth of elite games.
me too
Roar Rookie
You misunderstood the post. the nine very good were his first 9 the next 11 were elite. 26th in a real experts top 50. no excuses for his absence in a list of 83 players.
Slane
Guest
So a player who has played 9 good games deserves to be considered a top 50 player?
dontknowmuchaboutfootball
Guest
Three players (I think) who rank higher than any individual ranked them: Harris Andrews (21 —25, 22, 24, 25, 23), Michael Walters (25 — 26, 28, 31, 29, 26), and Adam Treloar (34 — 39, 36, 38, 37, 41). Can't help but think there's something significant about that.
6x6 perkele
Roar Rookie
I'd agree regarding team allegiance that's why my top fifty players is better
6x6 perkele
Roar Rookie
Not when fighting the elderly for toilet roll, pure animal then.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Deep down you are a good dude. Look after the kids.
6x6 perkele
Roar Rookie
That's very confusing, Robbie Gray is top 20 if not a top 10 player.
6x6 perkele
Roar Rookie
You told me to be nice yatz and though against my wiser judgement I said yep I'll give it go.... I'm unsure of how I like it.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Adrian, Jay and I are in Melbourne. Stirling in Sydney. Josh recently moved to Melbourne, but has gone between Albury and Sydney in recent years. I'm pretty confident in saying team allegiances play very little part, and in fact in my experience doing these Top 50's over a numbers of years with various people, they are usually harsher on their own team's players.
PeteB
Roar Rookie
Is this a predictive top 50 for season 2020 ? If so I’d be reluctant to include Buddy. Struggled to stay on the park in 2019 and can only expect further deterioration in availability and performance this year.
Brendon the 1st
Roar Rookie
The two that stand out there are Hill and Merrett, but I also look at that list and think that every one of those player you list for the Dons has the potential to be an A-grade, they're like my team, just aren't getting the best of themselves, I'd say a few of them have gone backwards when landing at Essendon. Now you mention it Sexton is a gun, should be in there, I agree.
Raimond
Roar Guru
it's a piece of performance art IMO
Johnno
Roar Rookie
Not sure what all that means Sbb. But I think that Martin is a really good player but not number 1. 2 reasons. 1: both his Medals in the GFs were in pretty soft GF,S. So his attacking game was suited to these. 2: just because he has won a premiership doesn’t mean he is better than Fyfe, Danger or any others. He just played in a winning team. G Ablett Snr is a really good example of this.
me too
Roar Rookie
He played 20 games, very good for 9 then into elite territory - those stats are for the season, all twenty games. And at the end of it he was well and truly in the AFL's best 50.
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
Saad was very hard done by as were the crouch brothers and sexton
Charlie Keegan
Roar Guru
I’m sorry but this list is positively horrendous. Where’s sexton? One of the best small forwards in the competition and deserving of a spot in the top 50. Or Michael Hurley? I understand that he might be down the ranks a little because of his injuries, but he has been extremely good as a key position backs. I’m curious to see each of your team allegiances.