Yes, it's that time of year again... with the final squad of 40 having been picked, I'm now prepared to take a slightly better than 50-50 shot at who will make the All-Australian team for 2010.
Most of the players pick themselves, but let me go through a few of the potential eyebrow raisers. I have fitted Luke Hodge in on the half-back line, because I think the selectors will cop out in a bid to fit more midfielders in (as with Dane Swan on the forward line last year). Buddy Franklin gets the nod over Pavlich at centre half-forward by virtue of kicking more goals in less games (but I wouldn't be surprised if the reverse occurred). After having missed out on Corey Enright for two straight years I am not prepared to pick against him for a third, nor am I prepared to be wrong on Lenny Hayes again. And of the players that I have left out Adam Goodes, Nick Malceski and Brad Green are the ones I think are likeliest to win a spot.
B: Corey Enright, Brian Lake, Harry O'Brien
HB: Brendon Goddard, Harry Taylor, Luke Hodge
C: Leigh Montagna, Joel Selwood, Dane Swan
HF: Alan Didak, Lance Franklin, Paul Chapman
F: Mark LeCras, Jack Riewoldt, Barry Hall
R: Aaron Sandilands, Chris Judd (c), Gary Ablett
I: Lenny Hayes, Mark Jamar, Scott Pendlebury, Matthew Pavlich (vc)
As an added bonus, here is my All-Australian team for 2000-2009. I had initially done this a couple of weeks ago, with a slightly different team. But the AFL website is now running a competition where you have to try and pick the team that most aligns with former Essendon player's Scott Lucas selections. (Ironic, since Lucas is probably the best player never to make an All-Australian team.) In the spirit of this comp (and as a way of shifting blame for any more eyebrow raisers), I have stuck to the positions they allocated players to.
B: Dustin Fletcher, Matthew Scarlett, Gavin Wanganeen
HB: Andrew McLeod, Justin Leppitsch, Luke Hodge
C: Nathan Buckley, Michael Voss (c), James Hird
HF: Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown, Jason Akermanis
F: Brent Harvey, Matthew Lloyd, Brad Johnson
R: Dean Cox, Chris Judd, Gary Ablett
I: Matthew Pavlich, Adam Goodes, Scott West, Mark Ricciuto
Coach: Leigh Matthews
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