Wait, how many Blues? My mid-2022 All Australian team

We’ve all got an opinion about who deserves to be in contention for the All Australian team after 12 rounds of 2022.

Maybe you’ll agree with some of mine. Maybe there’s a player you’ll think I’ve grossly underrated, or shouldn’t even be close to selection. But there’s nothing better than a good old-fashioned debate.

Why are Fremantle so under-represented? Did I manage to sneak any North Melbourne or West Coast players in? And why the absolute glut of Blues in the final team?

So without further ado, here is my full All Australian 22 at the halfway point of the 2022 season, along with a few honourable mentions who just missed the cut.

Backs: Tom Stewart (Geelong), Steven May (Melbourne), Paddy McCartin (Sydney)

Half-backs: Adam Saad (Carlton), James Sicily (Hawthorn), Jack Sinclair (St Kilda)

I reckon there were three straightforward picks in my AA back six, and three others that will provoke nearly all the controversy.

Let’s start with the locks. I expect every serious All Australian team to have Tom Stewart nestled in the back pocket once again. The Cats star is unquestionably the best small defender in the game, and maybe just the best backman period.

He reads the play immaculately, sets up Geelong’s game style time and time again from defence, and can as required shift to a lockdown role on a dangerous opposition small forward. He is peerless.

Travis Colyer of the Dockers handballs past Geelong’s Tom Stewart. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Then at full back, Steven May was already widely regarded as the game’s premier key defender before going down with concussion against Fremantle; in the last fortnight, it’s become clear just how much Melbourne rely on him.

Just like Stewart, May has the perfect balance of attack and defence. He’ll zone off talls he doesn’t rate to take intercept marks aplenty, with his very presence filling space inside 50 enough to spook most forward entries. If it ever comes to it, he’s just about unbeatable in a one-on-one contest, too. Then, against the best key forwards in the game, he’s utterly miserly when it comes to conceding goals: come away with even two majors against May and you know you’ve had a good day.

At half-back, surely the most improved player in the game this year has been Jack Sinclair. Anyone who’s watched St Kilda play this year knows how crucial the 27-year old is to their set-up; his pace, footy smarts and elite kicking skills have set up many a forward thrust in the Saints’ first 11 games.

Rating elite for disposals (27.7) and metres gained (549), while also above average for intercept possessions, the only mark against Sinclair owning the half-back spot is that he’s spent occasional stints on the ball. But the bulk of his footy has been played in defence, so I’m choosing to pick him here instead of cheating by chucking him out on a wing.

Of the controversial trio, I expect most people would still have James Sicily somewhere in their team, despite some reasonable criticism over his abilities as a stopper – Tom Lynch, in particular, tore him apart.

Yet Sicily’s good has been just so damn good – he comfortably leads the league for rebound 50s and marks with 101 and 107 respectively, he reads the play superbly and has marshalled a Hawthorn back six that is more than the sum of its parts – that I’m willing to forgive him, and pick him as my third tall to zone off whoever’s least effective in the imaginary opposition. He edges out Freo’s Brennan Cox, Collingwood’s Darcy Moore and – yes – Geelong’s presumptive Rising Star winning Sam De Koning – for this gig.

There were plenty of candidates for the other half-back flank, but in the end, I just couldn’t go past Adam Saad. Much maligned in his first year at Carlton, the former Bomber and Sun has found a perfect niche under Michael Voss, with his trademark dash and carry from defence this year combined with a defensive stoicism I didn’t know he had.

Repeatedly this year Saad has done the team thing – coming over the top of a contest to force a spoil, laying desperate chasedown tackles, forcing draws in one-on-one contests that were never his forte – and none of it has compromised the brilliance with ball in hand he’s always had. Sorry, Sam Docherty – it’s another Blue for me.

But while Docherty misses, the other most heartwarming story of the year has found a spot for me. Rest assured – I spent more time deciding the last spot in the back six than for any other position. But in the end, I just couldn’t go past Paddy McCartin.

Only Gold Coast’s Charlie Ballard has plucked more intercept marks this year, with McCartin equal second alongside Adams. Adding to that, Paddy has lost just 12 per cent of his defensive one-on-one contests, often against some of the game’s most formidable talls: only May and GWS’ Sam Taylor have been in more of them with a lower loss rate. Contenders for his spot such as Harris Andrews and Sam Collins don’t even come close.

It’s been incredible to watch him make such a fist of his second chance at AFL life, and so natural does he look in defence that it becomes harder and harder to remember his struggles as a forward at St Kilda. He reads the play so fluently, his hands have been vices all year, and I’m delighted to have him in my team.

As an aside – until he wrecked his shoulder, Jacob Weitering was the biggest lock of them all. I’m not prepared to rule him out of cracking my team come season’s end even with a six-week absence.

Honourable mentions: Brennan Cox (Fremantle), Sam Collins (Gold Coast), Jayden Short (Richmond), Bailey Dale (Western Bulldogs)

Centres: Ed Langdon (Melbourne), Lachie Neale (Brisbane), Sam Walsh (Carlton)

Followers: Max Gawn (Melbourne – captain), Patrick Cripps (Carlton – vice-captain), Callum Mills (Sydney)

Interchange: Andrew Brayshaw (Fremantle), Clayton Oliver (Melbourne), Jack Crisp (Collingwood), Jarrod Witts (Gold Coast)

The big debate around picking the on-ballers in the All Australian team in recent years has been whether the two best wingmen should be picked, or whether more outstanding on-ballers can be named regardless of where they line up.

So I’ve done a half-cheat – I’ve picked one pure winger, and one who, while having started on a wing more often than you might think, basically just becomes an on-baller once the ball is bounced.

Also, let’s be real: with an exception maybe once every five years, the interchange bench has just become where you stick all the midfielders that couldn’t quite be squeezed onto the field or on the half-forward line. And it’s no different for my team here – I just couldn’t pick anyone from another position ahead of the four I’ve gone with.

Max Gawn is the obvious choice for number one ruck – after a lean few weeks by his lofty standards, his unbelievable display against Sydney on the weekend absolutely locked him in as the best big man in the game. As the captain of the current ladder-leaders and reigning premiers, he naturally gets the captaincy for mine, too.

I’ve also gone with some ruck back-up on the bench. I’d have liked to pick Tim English, but five games of 11 is too many out in my book, so I’ve instead gone with the next-best pure ruckman. Some of Jarrod Witts’ tap work this season has been outrageous, with his 37.2 per cent hit out to advantage rate only behind GWS’ Matt Flynn and Carlton duo Marc Pittonet and Tom De Koning among full-time rucks.

Add to that his outstanding follow-up work at stoppages and around the ground, laying bruising tackles and throwing his weight around to help a developing Gold Coast midfield, and the Suns co-captain just couldn’t be overlooked. If Gawn is willing to split ruck time with Luke Jackson at the Dees, then he can do it with Witts here.

Roving at his heels, five of my six pure on-ballers basically pick themselves – it’s just about what order you put them in. Lachie Neale has probably been the best midfielder in the game this year – he’s always been able to rack up possessions and extract the ball from stoppages with a lightning handpass, but he’s become more of a threat on the scoreboard, kicking nine goals in 12 games to be on track for a career-high haul.

As a past Brownlow Medallist, too, he has pedigree in the eyes of the judges, which holds more weight than you might think. He’s a no-brainer to be first picked in the guts.

Patrick Cripps, too, is a certainty despite a lean recent run – his first eight weeks on either side of a minor hamstring injury were ludicrously good. Finally free of two years’ worth of niggling injuries, and not having to carry Carlton’s midfield anymore, he sent a potent reminder why he was considered almost the best player in the game back in 2019.

By Round 8, he’d equalled his career high of 13 goals in a season, and has since gone past it. He’s always been a contested beast, but Cripps has been just as damaging on the outside this year, with his marking overhead, work rate into space and ground coverage all making him just about unstoppable. I’m willing to bet his down last three weeks is a mere blip.

I’ve gone for Callum Mills as my last starting mid, and could easily have opted for Clayton Oliver or Andrew Brayshaw. All have had outstanding seasons, but Mills shades it by a nose: his extra versatility and that his very best has been more destructive than either of the other two.

Mills single-handedly won the Swans their ANZAC Day clash with Hawthorn in Tasmania, kicking an early goal to start their fightback, crashing in at the coalface all day to win the footy for the Swans, and sprinting into open space to provide a link-up option. Just as impressively, with Sydney in dire need against Richmond, Mills moved to half-back and was again crucial, with his calm presence, reading of the play and desperate spoiling from third up instantly making the Swans safer in defence.

Neither Oliver nor Brayshaw have that in their wheelhouse, but both simply couldn’t be ignored for spots in this team. Oliver could easily claim the Brownlow Medal in a few months’ time; no one has won more clearances this year, or had greater impact from them.

Whether firing out a handpass to Christian Petracca or cutting out the middle man and waltzing out himself, Oliver has the knack of everything he touches turning to gold. He averages over 34 touches a game, and virtually all of them mean something.

Brayshaw has been sensational, too, and his gut running and lovely skills make a perfect match for the stoppage power of Oliver, Cripps and Neale. I doubt any player in the AFL works harder once his team has possession than Brayshaw: his near 30 disposals a game largely come from him winning his own ball, but he’ll frequently pop up just when a teammate seams out of ideas for a simple chip over the top in space.

The only surprise with Brayshaw is that he isn’t already Fremantle’s captain: but his time will come.

Finally, I’m sure Collingwood fans will be delighted by my inclusion of Jack Crisp, while many of the rest of you are probably wondering what I’m on about. My reason is this: there is no more consistent player in the game than the Pies gun who never misses a match.

After years at half-back, Craig McRae has instantly thrust Crisp straight into the midfield, and he’s quickly become the Pies’ most damaging player. He’s tough as nails in close, but like Brayshaw, it’s his spread that makes him truly deadly, with his trusty left foot pumping the Pies into attack 71 times this year – behind only Oliver and Petracca.

Epitomising his work rate, of the top 20 clearance players in the game, only Hawthorn pair Jai Newcombe and Tom Mitchell have had more rebound 50s. The ultimate selfless player, it’s about time Crisp was recognised as a legitimate star of the game.

Finally, on the wings, I’ve locked in Ed Langdon – not just because he’s the year’s best pure winger, but because he’s well and truly earned a spot in the team on his own merit.

It was telling that the Dees’ ball movement suffered with Langdon not patrolling his wing in their loss to Fremantle, and it’s probably not talked about enough just how extraordinary his time on ground percentage is. His tireless run sometimes is rewarded with possessions and goals – but just as often, its purpose is to allow room for the Dees’ powerful engine room of Petracca and Oliver to burst from stoppages and drive the ball deep into attack.

It’s a selfless role, and just as impressive for me was Langdon’s response to being tagged by Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness. Deprived of virtually any of the ball by the close-checking Hawk, Langdon could have sulked; instead, he found a way to have an impact with a series of brutal, free kick-winning tackles. Even when not his day, Langdon could still have a sizeable say in proceedings.

On the other wing is my cheat – most people probably don’t think of Sam Walsh as anything other than a first-choice midfielder.

Here’s the thing, though: since Round 6, Walsh has attended less than half the Blues’ centre bounces. The arrival of George Hewett and Adam Cerra has allowed the young star to develop more of an outside game, where his outstanding endurance running, penetrating kicking and natural ball-winning ability can thrive.

Look at his clearance stats: he’s down to three a game this year from nearly five in 2021. Walsh is now a legitimately outside player first, and that, combined with a year that has been severely underrated due to the emergence of Hewett and Cripps’ return to superstardom, gets him the nod as my second winger, narrowly ahead of Blake Acres.

Honourable mentions: Blake Acres (Fremantle), Rory Laird (Adelaide), Touk Miller (Gold Coast), Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs).

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

Half-forwards: Christian Petracca (Melbourne), Jeremy Cameron (Geelong), Zac Bailey (Brisbane)

Forwards: Charlie Cameron (Brisbane), Tom Hawkins (Geelong), Charlie Curnow (Carlton)

There’s not too many elite small forwards in the game these days, so I’m pretty happy with my set-up: three key forwards, two of them extremely mobile, one out and out goalsneak, and two goalkicking midfielders who spend varying amounts of time in attack.

I don’t subscribe to the theory that picking the best players for every position, like the wings, applies to the half-forward line: the majority of teams do have a midfielder resting forward regularly, and it makes sense to have star mids renowned for kicking goals – the likes of Dustin Martin, Patrick Dangerfield and Marcus Bontempelli – filling out those spots if there aren’t enough high-quality small forwards around.

There’s no denying Christian Petracca’s last fortnight hasn’t been great, but it would be recency bias to not have him somewhere in this team. His start to the year was elite, and in my eyes at least, he remains the pre-eminent player in the game. Sometimes we judge the elite players by their own high standards and forget that even when they’re just going, it’s still elite.

Even this year, he leads the AFL in score involvements with 101 and goal assists with 17, while inaccurate kicking has left him with a tally of 9.19 – still more than handy for a full-time mid. I’d be shocked to see him drop out of this team come season’s end – he’s going to get back to his best at some point, and when he does, his ceiling is unmatched.

For the exact same reasons, I flirted with putting Marcus Bontempelli on the other flank, but chickened out. Instead, it became a fight between Zac Bailey and Shai Bolton for the hybrid mid-forward role, with Bailey just getting the nod.

I’ve been a huge fan of Bailey for a long time – he doesn’t need a lot of the ball to be seriously damaging. Explosive from stoppages and deadly around goals, he’s an instinctual player that rarely goes at below 110 per cent – which is probably why he gives away so many free kicks. If he can improve his consistency – against Fremantle on the weekend, his 15 touches and four goals in the second half were absolutely world-class, but he was invisible in the first half – he could legitimately win a Brownlow.

Surely there can be no argument about Charlie Cameron in a forward pocket? There just aren’t enough outstanding small forwards going around this year – Tyson Stengle has been really good, but I’m not having him anywhere near All Australian discussions yet – and Cameron just keeps on keeping on.

He sort of sneaks up on you with how many goals he kicks – he’s kicked three goals or more in six of the last seven weeks – and things just always happen when he goes in the general vicinity of the ball. I don’t think he’s at the level of his ridiculous 2019 or even 2021, but he’s just so far ahead of everyone else in the same role.

Then, there’s the talls. Tom Hawkins picks himself again – he kicks goals, sets up others, takes contested marks, kicks more goals, everything a key forward should. It’s amazing how selfless he is – he could just about have another Coleman Medal wrapped up if he didn’t dish off so many chances to teammates, sometimes to the team’s detriment.

When he turned 30 midway through 2018, he’d had a perfectly decent, above-average career: since then, he’s become a dead set all-timer. This will be his fourth consecutive post-30 All Australian gong if he gets the nod – surely that’s never been done before.

Jeremy Cameron’s six-goal haul on the Bulldogs ensures his spot, too – for me, it’s less about the goals he kicks and more about the work he does around the ground, which is just so different from any other key forward going around.

(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

He works up the ground, even attending the odd centre bounce, then powers back towards goal, and nobody can go with him. He and Hawkins are the perfect foils for one another – Hawkins the monster focal point inside 50, Cameron the rangy second banana who runs them off their feet. There’s a lot of prime Fraser Gehrig-Nick Riewoldt circa 2004 about their combo.

But for injury, Tom Lynch would have got the third tall spot – and apologies must also go to Max King, who has been tremendous for the Saints. But it’s pretty clear it has to be Charlie Curnow.

The Blues number 30 just has every attribute you’d want from a key forward: he’s exceptional overhead, judges the ball in flight perfectly, is super quick off the mark, and if he’d been around in the early 2000s George W. Bush would have invaded Australia on the grounds that his right boot was a weapon of mass destruction.

More than even Cameron, he can rip a game to shreds in a heartbeat: he already has four bags of five goals or more this season, and one more of four. Even Harry McKay going down hasn’t fazed Curnow – in fact, he seems to have relished the extra space inside 50.

His four games at the end of 2021 were his first since midway through 2019, after a simply wretched run with injuries. Now he’s back and paying off on all the potential he showed in his younger days… and then some.

Honourable mentions: Max King (St Kilda), Shai Bolton (Richmond), Isaac Heeney (Sydney), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)