Doing an All Australian team is hard work but we all look at the selected team every year and can rattle off at least 2-3 spots that we all disagree on. This year Kick2Kick has decided to do their own and see if we can do any better.
We asked all our writers and our readers and we think we have a good team because of that. All players that where named were counted and we looked at how many times they where selected by you. Then we looked at their consistency and stats and decided. Like any team, there is always players who are unlucky to miss out.
Some questions that get raised is, do players need to play a certain amount of games a year? Do you have to play a number of stand out years before getting selected? And do you select a player based on position or not?
The Kick2Kick All Australian Team
B: Rhyce Shaw(Sydney), Matthew Scarlet (Geelong), Chris Tarrant (Fremantle),
HB: Corey Enright (Geelong), Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs), Brendon Goddard (St Kilda)
C: Adam Goodes (Sydney), Joel Selwood (Geelong), Leigh Montagna (St Kilda)
HF: Alan Didak (Collingwood), Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), Leon Davis (Collingwood)
F: Mark LeCras (West Coast Eagles), Brendon Fevola (Carlton), Brad Johnson (Western Bulldogs)
Foll: Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle), Chris Judd (Carlton), Gary Ablett Jnr (Geelong)
I/C: Darren Jolly (Sydney), Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), Dane Swan (Collingwood), Jason Porplyzia (Adelaide)
Why we selected the above team
Defenders
R Shaw (#2 in kicks & #1 bounces), Enright (top 20 in total disposals) and Goddard provide great run, carry and attack from defence and provide flexibility as Goddard can play midfield or forward and Enright would play midfield in any other team. Tarrant has turned his career around with his ability to play and shut down tall and small forwards like Johnson, Fevola & LeCras, who are all All Australian.
Scarlet and Lake (#2 marks 195) are the premier tall defenders who can defend, take the contested mark and run off to also provide great run and set up from defence.
Midfielders
The midfield is always the hardest but any midfielder would love a 210+ cm ruckman tapping the ball down to them and although missed a few games in the middle of the season, Sandilands has turned his career around by tapping the ball differently.
You have Joel Selwood (most ‘frees for’ 08 & 09) and Judd (#1 contested possessions) as in and under ball magnets who set up for the players like Ablett (#1 handball receives & #2 contested possessions), Goodes (38 goals) and Montagna who can kick a goal and set up play for their forwards.
Forwards
Its a fairly modern small forward line with only two tall forwards in Riewoldt (#1 marks 205) & Fevola (Coleman Medalist 86 goals). However LeCras (#5 goals scored) & Johnson (#5 marks & 33 goals) both play tall. And the skills and goal sneak ability of Davis & Didak almost ensure alone they are worthy of a spot on the flank. All four have also spent time in the midfield.
Interchange
Swan while may have questions over where he gets the ball, however he got the ball more than any other player and is currently Brownlow favourite. Jolly has the most hit outs to advantage and has grown from strength to strength. Porplyzia may surprise many but he is 6th for goals scored this year but missing out on a starting forward spot to LeCras (superior goals average and more consistent).
Mitchell gets the other spot based on his consistent performance back and midfield and along the way getting the second most disposals of the year behind Swan.
The unlucky players that where selected in our readers teams but missed out for a number of reasons are:
Defenders:
- Harry O’Brien (Collingwood) - Can play on big and tall but missed out to Tarrant.
- Sam Gilbert (St Kilda) - Missed out a few games late due to injury.
- Dale Morris (Western Bulldogs) - Great defender but just does not get enough off the ball.
- Simon Prestigiacomo (Collingwood) – Superior numbers by Scarlet, Tarrant and Lake had them in front.
- Ben Rutten (Adelaide) – Again similar story as Presti.
- Joel Patfull (Brisbane) – Had a break out year but injuries late have not helped.
- Nathan Bock (Adelaide) – Missed too many games late in the season.
Midfielders:
- Adam Selwood (West Coast) – Fancy to win F&B for WCE.
- Hamish McIntosh (Kangaroos) - Unlucky ruckman but Sandilands ruck work has improved out of sight & Jolly got ahead on consistency.
- Bryce Gibbs (Carlton) – Best year to date but still too inconsistent.
- Mathew Pavlich (Fremantle) – Played more midfield this year.
- Higgins (Western Bulldogs) - Quiter as year went on but good year before injuries curtailed his impact.
- Dominic Cassissi (Port Adelaide) - Competitions 2nd best tackler and averages more than 22 disposals a match.
- Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda) - Best consistent year to date including most goals scored in a season by him (15).
- Jobe Watson (Essendon) – In and under player but with Mitchell, Ablett & Judd in front of him.
- Bernie Vince (Adelaide) – Racked up 597 disposals, tied at 6th for the most disposals.
Forwards:
- Jonathan Brown (Brisbane) – Between him and Riewoldt
- Paul Chapman (Geelong)- One of the unlucky forwards and was between him and Chapman but Chapman missed too many games with his dodgy hammy.
- Chris Knights (Adelaide) – Averaging over 18 disposals a match and has kicked 38 goals in 16 matches.
Out of the starting 22, the teams that are not represented are Brisbane, Essendon, Port Adelaide, North Melbourne, Richmond & Melbourne. Only Richmond and Melbourne did not have a player in the 40.
Your Opinion on our All Australian Team
It was not the easiest thing to do as I swapped players in positions like Gilbert/ Shaw, Riewoldt/ Brown and Chapman/ Johnson several times along with trying to be open with players from less exposed clubs like Adelaide, Port & Brisbane.
So what do you think? Did I miss someone? Would you have someone else in the squad or starting 22 that I did not include? If so, let us know why you think that and if you can back it up with stats etc, it will be even better.
Lastly thanks to everyone for giving us their team and players and I hope its a fairly even and true All Australian team.
EDIT: The AFL has just released the starting 40. Of the players that we did not include, they are:
- Craig Bolton
- Dustin Fletcher
- Simon Goodwin
- Ryan Hargrave
- Andrew Mackie
- Nick Maxwell
- Jimmy Bartel
- Mathew Boyd
- Mitchell Clark
- Lenny Hayes
- Hamish McIntosh
- Marc Murphy
- Scott Pendlebury
- Brad Sewell
- Lance Franklin
- Stephen Milne
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September 1st, 2009 at 11:44 am
Good team and good reasons for your choices. Interesting to see how close you get. My only comment,Pavlich and Brown?
.-= Mark E´s last blog ..Billy Weir Home at Last =-.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
@Mark E – Thanks for your comments and agreeing the side looks good.
Brown is one the hard luck stories of the squad imo however to me Riewoldt had a better year. I suppose you could have had Brown on the bench or forward pocket but Riewoldts stats ensured he got the nod ahead of him. and in regards to Pavlich, he played 80-90% of the year in the midfield and there are more midfielders who had a better year than him. Surely you could agree with that.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
ok, i’m making a case for Boyd over Mitchell. Possessions and Marks similar,
other key stats fall Boyd’s way though, 1st possession, clearances, goals(15-7) and tackles(81-66) plus he was the prime midfielder in a top4 team that at times had Cooney, Griffen, Cross and Higgins missing…
still choose Gilbert over Tarrant, similar build of players who play on similar opposition yet Gilberts numbers are far better then Tarrant’s. Gilbert averaged 10dpg more, more marks, tackles and rebound from defensive 50. plus he was part of a defence that was the best of all time.
love my skipper but don’t think johnno has done enough, not as damaging this year as normal, porplyzia gets the start for me.
also i think lake has to get fullback, he gets lost a bit up the ground and has been dominant from the full backline.
i would also swap Swan and Selwood, i think swannie has done enough to earn a spot in the middle.
other then that i think you have done pretty well, still not convinced on Sandilands but i think McIntosh dropped off late and Clark left his run too late so perhaps he and Jolly were the two most consistent.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
The only differences i wud make are:
1. Put Brian Lake in the right back pocket, kick Chris Tarrent off, then put Nathan Bock at centre half back.
2. Get rid of Leon Davis and put Mark Lecras in the right half forward and put Jason Porplyzia in the left forward pocket. And put Bernie Vince in the remaining interchange bech position.
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:48 am
dont agree with johnson, jolly, and tarrant and selwood starting middle, mitch clark should be starting ruckman and same with dane swan starting centre….would like to see higgins and vince in the squad both had a great year. pavlich and big browny unlucky aye
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
Hi Guys! Thanks for taking the time to look for different options of the above All Australian team.
I think all of those players (maybe except Higgins – who struggled with injury in the 2nd half of the season) could have been in the squad. The only player who Deano, AFL Guru and ‘tits’ mentioned who we did not have in our initial squad was Clark.
Clark indeed improved out of sight but 1) he did not play the whole year in the ruck & 2) Sandilands and Jolly’s stats are way more impressive than Clark’s.
- Sandilands & Jolly had more than 200 extra hit outs to advantage,
- More goals (Sandilands 13, Jolly over 15 & Clark 7) &
- More clearances (Sandilands alone has 40 more).
In regards to Tarrant v Gilbert. Tarrant always played on the dangerous forward and beat them, where Gilbert always played free. Anyone can get the ball playing free across the backline.
I was up and down with Johnson v Porplyzia and in a fair world, the Porps probably would have gotten in over him. So I would give you that one Deano…
.-= Jermayn´s last blog ..Kick2Kick’s All Australian Team for 2009 =-.
September 14th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Matt Burgan’s AA featured on afl.com.au is a joke:
B: Corey Enright (Geelong), Brian Lake (Western Bulldogs), Matthew Scarlett (Geelong)
HB: Brendon Goddard (St Kilda), Sam Gilbert (St Kilda), Simon Goodwin (Adelaide)
C: Leigh Montagna (St Kilda), Joel Selwood (Geelong), Nick Dal Santo (St Kilda)
HF: Adam Goodes (Sydney Swans), Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), Dane Swan (Collingwood)
F: Paul Chapman (Geelong), Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions), Brendan Fevola (Carlton)
FOLL: Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle), Chris Judd (Carlton), Gary Ablett (Geelong)
I/C: Marc Murphy (Carlton), Mitch Clark (Brisbane Lions), Lenny Hayes (St Kilda), Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs)
Captain: Jonathan Brown (Brisbane Lions)
Vice-Captain: Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)
He has selected people on reputation instead on the year they had. Chapman who missed several games got in and Clarke who only 3/4 of the year in the ruck instead of Jolly who dominated the ruck this year. And Swan on the forward line?? and the Gilbert at CHB? Has he ever played there before?