Out with the young and in with the old: A mid-year All-Australian team with a difference

So, seven players aged 30-plus make this mid-year 22, as the AFL competition follows the trend of tennis – see Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams – and American team sports in which 35 is the new 30, and quarterbacks play until they can’t walk. Selecting three of the forwards for this mid-year team – picked inclusive of round 12 performances (not this weekend’s games) – was easier than usual. Cameron, Hogan, and Elliott (who has never been All-Australian) pick themselves and while some would push up Ben King, given his goal tally, Gold Coast’s key forward hasn’t shaped outcomes in the same way as Jezza and Jesse.

King’s teammate Ben Long, though, is another story. Loading Long, who has jagged 23 goals in his 10 games to round 12, has been a standout in a role that is not dissimilar to Elliott’s – as a forward who can lead and mark, but is no mug on the deck and assists others in scoring. Dangerfield’s impact as an explosive aerial and ground ball mid-forward can’t be undersold, and if his hamstrings hold up, he should be headed for his record ninth All-Australian blazer. Riley Thilthorpe, a Tom Lynch-style key forward, is named at centre half-forward, allowing me to pick Cameron as a flanker, which reflects his freaky ground-level abilities.

As the AFL’s headband act, Bailey Smith has been omnipresent, his every gesture captured by cameras and dissected by pundits and the public. But, much as there is focus on his postings and postures, everyone must have cottoned on, so to speak, to the fact that Bailey’s been nearly the AFL’s peak midfielder – as the Brownlow odds suggest (he’s one of the favourites). He has prospered mightily from Geelong’s decision to deploy him in the middle, rather than the wing or as a high half-forward. So, @bazlenka – as he’s known by his Instagram idolaters – is in the centre, in every sense, in this mid-year side.

Hugh McCluggage isn’t a wingman in 2025, as he enjoys his best season yet, but I’ve conveniently picked him – and Sidebottom – on the wings that they’ve vacated this year; no specialist wingman (eg. Ollie Dempsey) has done enough to warrant selection to this point. Gun midfielders, on the whole, have been less than dominant this year. Marcus Bontempelli missed the early games and could yet make the All-Australian side by season’s end. Nick Daicos has been paramount to Collingwood winning some games, but has also been relatively subdued in three or four outings, having been more heavily tagged this year. Still, the younger Daicos is so brilliant that he’s still up on the midfield leaderboard. I’ve picked him on the bench, behind Adelaide’s super skipper Jordan Dawson – still underrated in Victoria – and his Gold Coast counterpart Noah Anderson. The numbers – in the form of the AFL’s official ratings (Champion Data) – would rank Anderson as the competition’s third-best performed player to round 12, behind only Bulldog Ed Richards and North’s version of “the Mountain” from Game of Thrones, Tristan Xerri.

St Kilda star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera has a massive career decision looming. Credit: AFL Photos Richards gets a game in this side, with Nick Daicos, on the bench. It’s conceivable that the rise of Ed Richards was a factor in Smith heading to Geelong, given the Dogs found it difficult to fit “the Bont”, Tom Liberatore, Richards and Bailey (plus Adam Treloar when fit) into the same centre square. Loading Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera is making noises about re-signing with the Saints, and for their sake, let’s hope that transpires. He’s a superb play-maker from half-back, with further growth ahead, and was accordingly picked at half-back in my team. Bailey Dale, a rare half-back capable of garnering 40 disposals, is the other flanker in defence, edging out Fremantle’s Jordan Clark, Collingwood’s Josh Daicos, Lion veteran Dayne Zorko and others for that berth.

The consistent Lachie Ash of GWS fills the remaining running defender spot (notionally back pocket). Teammate Sam Taylor, whom Matthew Lloyd compared to Glen Jakovich for influence, was picked at centre half-back. The key backs, as with the midfielders this year, haven’t been as outstanding as in years past. Jacob Weitering of Carlton has put up respectable numbers – and lord help the Blues if he went down – but hasn’t had a terrific season. The smooth-moving Hugh McCluggage. Credit: AFL Photos Possibly the stiffest to miss the defensive spots are St Kilda’s interceptor Cal Wilkie and Richmond’s perennial gun Nick Vlastuin. I judged that Gold Coast’s Collins had been marginally more effective, in a collectively superior defence. North people will wonder why Xerri hasn’t made this team, since he is rated statistically better than Gawn (on Champion Data ratings) this year, and might view this as a plot against Shinboners.

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