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The AFL team of the week Round 18: Buddy and The Bont lead the way

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Roar Guru
19th July, 2021
13

This is a hypothetical exercise with a starting 18 team of players with only one player selected from every AFL team

This is an entertaining experiment. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the player selected is the best player in the team, but the one that fits the structure.

It’s like a jigsaw puzzle; one change can cause a domino effect! Check out the team following Round 18:

There are two captains for the purpose of this exercise:

AFL Starting 18 (Round 18)
Adelaide Crows: Brodie Smith
Brisbane Lions: Hugh McCluggage
Carlton Blues: Sam Walsh (co-captain)
Collingwood Magpies: Chris Mayne
Essendon Bombers: Dyson Heppell
Fremantle Dockers: Sean Darcy
Geelong Cats: Sam Menegola
Gold Coast Suns: Sam Collins
Greater Western Sydney Giants: Harry Perryman
Hawthorn Hawks: Tom Mitchell
Melbourne Demons: Bailey Fritsch
North Melbourne Kangaroos: Tarryn Thomas
Port Adelaide Power: Trent McKenzie
Richmond Tigers: Jack Riewoldt
St Kilda Saints: Rowan Marshall
Sydney Swans: Lance Franklin
West Coast Eagles: Jamie Cripps
Western Bulldogs: Marcus Bontempelli (co-captain)

B: Trent McKenzie (Port Adelaide), Sam Collins (Gold Coast), Chris Mayne (Collingwood)
HB: Brodie Smith (Adelaide), Harry Perryman (GWS Giants), Dyson Heppell (Essendon)
C: Sam Menegola (Geelong), Sam Walsh (Carlton, co-captain), Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane)
HF: Tarryn Thomas (North Melbourne), Rowan Marshall (St Kilda), Jamie Cripps (West Coast)
FF: Bailey Fritsch (Melbourne), Lance Franklin (Sydney), Jack Riewoldt (Richmond)
Foll: Sean Darcy (Fremantle), Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs, co-captain)

Backs
Trent McKenzie played a big part in curtailing the influence of the Saints forward line. His performance was fantastic as he played his role for the Power and he had the stats to back it up, accumulating 22 disposals and having 541 metres gained.

Sam Collins put in a good performance to help keep Josh Bruce and Aaron Naughton to one goal each. He may have not been the Suns best player, but he was instrumental in them staying within striking distance on the scoreboard for much of the game.

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Chris Mayne played his role as a part of the Magpies back six well. He finished the game with 26 disposals.

Halfbacks
Brodie Smith was one of the Crows better players; he finished the game with an incredible 825 metres gained to go with his 25 disposals.

Harry Perryman finished the game with 23 disposals and a goal. The Giants defender never stopped trying.

Dyson Heppell had an outstanding game. He played extremely well when the game was on the line, specifically in the 2nd quarter when he took a brave mark and kicked a valuable goal.

Centres
Sam Menegola was the Cats’ best player. He had the most metres gained of any player from either team as he finished with an impressive 745 metres gained, one goal to go with his 30 disposals and seven clearances.

Sam Walsh led from the front as he finished the game with 39 disposals, five tackles and five clearances to go with a goal. It’s fair to say he carried the Blues team and helped them claim what appeared an unlikely victory in the 1st quarter when they trailed by almost four goals at one stage.

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Hugh McCluggage finished with 30 disposals, which was the most of any player on the ground. He worked hard to endeavour to get the Lions the four points and couldn’t have done much more.

Half-forwards
Tarryn Thomas from the Kangaroos had the third most metres gained of any player on the ground with 509 metres gained. He also had seven tackles to go with 23 disposals and one goal.

Rowan Marshall had an outstanding game for the Saints. He finished the game with 19 disposals, to go with two goals and 16 hitouts.

Jamie Cripps of the Eagles kicked five goals and had 25 disposals. He was the difference between the two teams in their Round 18 clash with the Crows.

Forwards
Bailey Fritsch looked like the Demons most dangerous forward kicking a game high three goals.

Lance Franklin from the Swans finished the game with four goals. He was instrumental in the Swans claiming a win against their arch rivals, the Giants.

Lance Franklin Swans

Lance Franklin (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

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Jack Riewoldt kicked six goals in his milestone game. It’s fair to say he was the difference between the two teams and why the Tigers got over the line.

Followers
Sean Darcy was a shining light for the Dockers. That’s despite the fact that he suffered an injury in second half of their Round 18 capitulation at the hands of the Cats. He finished the 37 hitouts to go with 18 disposals as well as eight clearances and four tackles.

Tom Mitchell had 39 disposals, a goal to go with the most metres gained of any player on the ground with 610 metres gained. He would have polled the three Brownlow votes in the Hawks Round 18 game against the Demons.

Marcus Bontempelli was outstanding for the Bulldogs. He finished the game with 36 disposals, five tackles and nine clearances. He also worked hard defensively with five tackles.

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