Bailey Smith has one of the best engines in the AFL. When I shared my initial ranked list (yes, there have since been plenty of tweaks!) In the spirit of reconciliation the AFL acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. 7? Except you aren't picking a team, you simply want the best player available. Kennedy the clearance king - Sydney Swans Teams that won the hit-out count have, in fact, lost the game more often than theyve won. Of course, we all know he ranks in the top three for just about every ruck category, but it's the other things he does which make him a top 50 player in the league. If youd like to help achieve this, please feel free to pitch an article via email to australiazone@protonmail.com we accept submissions from anyone. Whether he's playing as a midfielder or in the forward line, Dangerfield is still fully capable of producing the same output as literally anyone else on this list. Not the most valuable. They needed size, they needed power, and they needed players with the ability to take a hit and still have the core strength to release the footy to a teammate. Izak Rankine produced a moment of magic to shrug off Brayden Maynard's tackle, evade Nick Daicos and checkside kick his side's second major. If this list was constructed at the beginning of last year, Brayshaw's not on it. If Warner stays healthy, I'll be utterly stunned if he isn't a unanimous top three player by the end of 2024. Will Day (30 touches, six clearances, one goal), James Worpel (25, eight, one) and Jai Newcombe (24, 10, two) took up the fight with the Bulldogs' engine room and veteran forward Luke Breust (three goals) was a handful in attack before half-time. No surprise he had the fourth-most kicks of anyone last year, as well as the most rebound 50s. While his shooting for goal has at times been a little underwhelming -- he's kicked 43.61 since the beginning of 2020 -- his ball use going inside 50 is as good as it gets. Around this time, the AFL started to move out of the dark ages of basic statistical analysis and commenced the crawl toward advanced stats. AFL Stats - AFL.com.au AFL 2023: What are the roots of the Tigers' struggles in 2023? And those in the second camp, I want to share some numbers with you. However, he only played 15 games last year and as impressed as I've been, we don't have a huge body of work from him just yet. Using accumulated stats from across the four home and away seasons of the competition (excluding finals), 21 players have made the cut, including the recently retired Jess Foley, with a minimum 10-game . Not too shabby, by any means. 33-8-8. Tom Hawkins continues to perform at an elite level. Smith kicked just six goals in 2022 as he transitioned from the wing to a more traditional midfield role, but we mustn't forget he booted 17 the year before, proving he is very much capable of hitting the scoreboard on a far more regular basis. Then the second selection, and third, and so on. All-Time Passes Completed Leaders. Michael Willson/Getty Images. Olivers best is 405, back in the 2018 season, where the Dees looked as though they may give their long-suffering supporters some respite before they headed west and fell to the Eagles in the prelim. Club: Collingwood Position: Midfield. He will go down in history as one of the league's all-time great key forwards. The method used in Footballistics reveals how often the winner of a certain metric also won the game, but this doesnt take into account the margin by which the metric was won or the margin by which the game was won. The 400-Club may see others join over the next few years. Player TM Years # GM Ave. Robert Harvey: SK: 1988-2008: 9656: 383: 25.21: Simon Black: BL: 1998-2013: 7580: 322: 23.54: Scott . Without any shadow of a doubt, Merrett is one of the best dozen midfielders in the AFL. JACK CRISP. Do I need to remind everyone that we're just 18 months removed from him winning a Brownlow Medal with the equal-most votes (36) in the single 3-2-1 era? He had the second-most rebound 50s and eighth-most intercept possessions last season, as well as averaging a shade under 20 disposals per game. Connor Rozee was selected to the All Australian team in 2022. He has also made the list another time, notching 403 from 25 games back in 2012. Adelaide was brilliantly led by captain Jordan Dawson, who had 30 disposals with 14 contested possessions, while Rory Laird shook off a calf concern to have 29 touches, including 11 in the first term, and Reilly O'Brien won 44 hitouts and took several strong marks around the ground. The 31-year-old is a six-time All-Australian, two-time club best and fairest, premiership captain and later this year should play game No. Please enter the email you registered your account with. Enjoy the thrilling final moments between Adelaide and Collingwood in round seven. Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell set the standard for most disposals in 2018 when he famously ran around without a tagger to gather the ball 54 times against Collingwood. scooterselwood Club Legend. The average Victorian-based footy fan might not be overly familiar with Anderson. Zac Bailey is one of the league's best young mid-forwards. No other player in recent history has come close to this type of production so early into their career. But I bet you knew that already, right?! Dylan Burns/Getty Images. Stewart is also used as a distributor and attack launcher for the Cats, averaging a shade under 24 disposals, 18 kicks and six rebound 50s per game since the beginning of 2021. The 24-year-old splits his time almost 50-50 between the wing and pure midfield and is one of the great link players in the competition, doing most of his damage on the outside with 16 uncontested possessions per game over the last two seasons. Cookies will be used for the identification of users if the "Remember me on this computer" option is checked. I'm sure he has another gear to reach but that slow burn with De Goey looks like it's about to pay some serious dividends for the Magpies as the club looks for another deep September run. Passwords are encrypted before being stored in our system (we cannot see what your password is). Even with a lean finals campaign, 2022 was clearly his best season yet. Since contested possessions were recorded, just three men have been able to record 400 contested touches in a season, and Clayton Oliver is on track to do it for a second time in 2021. Josh Kennedy had a game-high 22 contested possessions with the onballer ending his day . The loss comes ahead of a difficult month that includes away games to Geelong and the Western Bulldogs and the visits of St Kilda and Brisbane, but there were plenty of positives for the Crows which shouldnt be lost in the final result. Through last year's injury interrupted season, Martin averaged 18 disposals and 1.3 goals per game, playing predominantly in the forward line. When he pushes forward, he hits the scoreboard and sets up scoring chances better than literally any other midfielder (he ranked No. Imagine every player is lined up in the schoolyard and you can take your pick of the crop. Would you believe me if I told you that no player has booted more goals than him since the beginning of 2012? Darrian Traynor/Getty Images. If Oliver can somehow find a way to hit the scoreboard with a little more frequency -- he kicked just five goals in 2022 -- there's a real argument he could and should be at the summit of this list. In fact, it seems that the type of mark is less important than its location. I really hope the answer to all three is 'yes' and we see Fyfe back on a footy field doing what he does best. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images. Bolton hasn't just taken the torch from Dustin Martin as Richmond's dynamic mid-forward threat, he's ensuring the flame will continue to burn brightly for years to come. Clayton Oliver might be the most consistent player in the AFL. Approximately two thirds of matches are won by the team that records more rebound 50s per opposition inside 50 than its opponent. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images. He averages six tackles per game for his career and last season ranked fourth in the league for pressure acts. The Crows dominated the bulk of the first quarter, with Collingwood coming off a five-day break after its Anzac Day win. It feels like yesterday Heeney was being billed as one of the future stars of the AFL. The top 25 postseason performances in NFL history - ESPN AFL Home Fixtures Scores. Give this man some respect, please. The Rozee vs. Sam Walsh debate raged on during the pair's debut season, but by the end of year three the consensus seemed to be that Carlton's top pick was the clear-cut superior selection. The differential for this statistic explains 31 percent of the variation in margins. Paul Kane/Getty Images. Not the most exciting. But let me tell you, if 2022 'Dusty' is what we get from here on out, that's still easily good enough to be a top 20 player in the AFL. When you consider Dunkley was more often than not played out of his preferred position by Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, his output seems even more impressive. Few would argue Max Gawn isn't the No. Collingwood trailed all game except for the final 30 seconds after Sidebottom's behind. Last season, he was the No. Jack Crisp is an elite line-breaker and midfield runner. The 20-year-old Magpies young gun also spent time off the ground in the second term with a calf issue troubling him, but played on and played his part as Collingwood surged home. Brody Mihocek kept Collingwood in the contest with three goals. As the Blues continue to improve and provide him with greater opportunity, a monster 2023 season could well be on the cards. CP=Contested possessions UP=Uncontested possessions CM=Contested marks MI=Marks inside 50 1%=One percenters BO=Bounces GA=Goal assist %P=Percentage of game played SU=Sub (On/Off) =subbed on =subbed off: Team Totals For KI MK HB DI GL BH HO TK RB IF CL CG FF BR CP UP CM MI 1% BO GA; Adelaide: 4389: 1642: 3335: 7724: 249: 178: 908: 1487 . The intercept possession differential explains 25 percent of the variation in margins, uncontested possessions explain 28 percent, and contested possessions explain 39 percent. However, it is possible to give the tackle count some relevance. Carlton spearhead Charlie Curnow has put on a marking masterclass on his way to kicking a career-high nine goals in the Blues' 108-point trouncing of West Coast in Perth. Look, I get it, but he only misses out on a higher rank after somewhat of a down 2022, a year where several others really bolstered their own standing in the game. Dangerfield also had 388 contested that season. The Lions (5-2) notched a fourth-straight win, untroubled in a 17.13 (115) to 10.7 (67) Gabba cruise that plunged the Dockers to 2-5. In fact, only once in the last two seasons has he dipped below the 25 disposal mark. CROWS v MAGPIES Full match coverage and stats. The Kangaroos remain the only winless team in the AFL, slumping to 0-6 for the first time in 49 years. 1 ruck in the AFL. He continues to be the heartbeat of the Swans and the main catalyst behind the club's enviable high standards, never afraid to put his head over the ball or do the dirty work. The potential was always evident and Curnow well and truly delivered on it in a breakout 2022. Dylan Burns/Getty Images. The sheer volume of his disposals might not stack up with some of the game's other elite players, but I'm not docking him ranking value for that, because his impact is every bit on par. AFL news 2023: Round 7 Report Card, highlights, grades, analysis, every He ranks elite amongst key forwards in just about every imaginable category; goals, score involvements, disposals, marks, contested possessions and inside 50s. 1 intercept man in the league, averaging 9.5 per game (the next best had 8.5), and took more marks than any other defender.