Analysis Who are the 10 best players in the competition?

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Libba isn’t a top 20 mid lol cmon now. You can default take the best mid from every team for your top 18. Only Adelaide off the top of my head might not have a better mid? So you’ve got 17 there, and then we’re gonna say Libba is in the top few of second best mids on a team?

I think there’s tiers to this, and top 20 implies absolute top tier. I’m fine to put him in the A grade tier, but I’m not having him in the top 20 A+ grade tier
 
Fadge said:
I have bolded the players who are clearly ahead of Libba - based on output and consistency.

I count 8. Boak, Walsh and Parish borderline (though I'd like to see Parish back up his 2021 season next year before he locks himself into the top 10).
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I love Libba but there are definately more players clearly ahead. You don't think Dangerfield is a better player than Libba? Boak?

I'll pick 1 example (who I know best) of a player not really in anyone's top 10: Tom Mitchell

Over the last 5 years:

Tom Mitchell has won an MVP. Liberatore has not received a single vote.
Mitchell has won a Brownlow (and finished 3rd in another). Libba has a total of 2 votes over the 5 years.
Mitchell is a dual AA (and in the squad this year). Liberatore has not made a squad over this time.
Mitchell has 2 B&F's (about to win a 3rd). Libba has not won any in that time.
Mitchell has finished higher in the Coaches award every season (excluding 2019 when Mitchell didn't play a game due to a broken leg).

Libba's had a great year but Mitchell is clearly the better player overall at this point and he is not alone.
 
Guardian Hawk said:
I love Libba but there are definately more players clearly ahead. You don't think Dangerfield is a better player than Libba? Boak?

I'll pick 1 example (who I know best) of a player not really in anyone's top 10: Tom Mitchell

Over the last 5 years:

Tom Mitchell has won an MVP. Liberatore has not received a single vote.
Mitchell has won a Brownlow (and finished 3rd in another). Libba has a total of 2 votes over the 5 years.
Mitchell is a dual AA (and in the squad this year). Liberatore has not made a squad over this time.
Mitchell has 2 B&F's (about to win a 3rd). Libba has not won any in that time.
Mitchell has finished higher in the Coaches award every season (excluding 2019 when Mitchell didn't play a game due to a broken leg).

Libba's had a great year but Mitchell is clearly the better player overall at this point and he is not alone.
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If I was picking a team to take into this year's Grand Final, I would pick Libba ahead of BOTH Dangerfield and Tom Mitchell.

The role Libba plays is so crucial to a team. Don't be surprised if he's right in the mix for the Bulldogs B&F this year, despite all the kudos going to The Bont and Macrae.

I don't get seduced by individual awards in what is a team game. Despite all the accolades Mitchell has won, I don't see him named in this thread as a unanimous Top 10 Player in the competition, and suggest he has only been rated that highly for fleeting moments (during his Brownlow year?). However, to take a look at his CV, you would think he would be generally regarded as close to the best player in the comp over the past 4 to 5 seasons.

Danger is another who's game is not geared towards team success. He'll have the occasional big game, but too often (and particularly when it matters most) we see him perform like he did on Friday night (and last year's Grand Final). His first 3 possessions - a shot at goal from 60 metres that landed 3 metres short and was punched through for a behind; a 55 metre kick after a midfield clearance, straight to Aliir Aliir, and an intercepted handball that led to a Port score. There is a reason his teammates haven't nominated him as one of his team's most valuable three players in each of the past 4 seasons - because he's not.
 
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Fadge said:
If I was picking a team to take into this year's Grand Final, I would pick Libba ahead of BOTH Dangerfield and Tom Mitchell.

The role Libba plays is so crucial to a team. Don't be surprised if he's right in the mix for the Bulldogs B&F this year, despite all the kudos going to The Bont and Macrae.

I don't get seduced by individual awards in what is a team game. Despite all the accolades Mitchell has won, I don't see him named in this thread as a unanimous Top 10 Player in the competition, and suggest he has only been rated that highly for fleeting moments (during his Brownlow year?). However, to take a look at his CV, you would think he would be generally regarded as close to the best player in the comp over the past 4 to 5 seasons.

Danger is another who's game is not geared towards team success. He'll have the occasional big game, but too often (and particularly when it matters most) we see him perform like he did on Friday night (and last year's Grand Final). His first 3 possessions - a shot at goal from 60 metres that landed 3 metres short and was punched through for a behind; a 55 metre kick after a midfield clearance, straight to Aliir Aliir, and an intercepted handball that led to a Port score. There is a reason his teammates haven't nominated him as one of his team's most valuable three players in each of the past 4 seasons - because he's not.
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Dangerfield is the the aflpa president. Can't be nominated
 
Fadge said:
I believe that is a furphy.

Where is that documented?
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Yeah, I don't think it's an official rule that he can't be nominated. That said, he was nominated in the years before he became AFLPA President (winning in 2016, runner up in 2017) and I don't think has been nominated once since, including 2019 where he was runner up in the Brownlow.

My best guess is that either his teammates have come to really dislike him (coincidentally, immediately since he became President) or, more likely, he has asked not to be nominated while serving as President.

It's also possible that his teammates have genuinely thought there have been 3 more deserving nominations in each year since he became President, but I think that's unlikely - again, 2019, they nominated Blicavs ahead of him..........
 
TheWoodenSlug said:
It's also possible that his teammates have genuinely thought there have been 3 more deserving nominations in each year since he became President, but I think that's unlikely - again, 2019, they nominated Blicavs ahead of him..........
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Mark Blicavs, the dual Carji Greeves Medal winner, and possibly Geelong's most versatile (and therefore valuable) player at the time?
 
Fadge said:
Mark Blicavs, the dual Carji Greeves Medal winner, and possibly Geelong's most versatile (and therefore valuable) player at the time?
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The very same. I think his "versatility" is quite overrated, but each to their own of course.

Edit: Also, my opinion is obviously worth a pinch of s**t - it's the players' opinions that count and it's surely possible they genuinely thought Blicavs (and whoever the other two were) were more valuable throughout 2019 than Dangerfield. I'd disagree, but again - pinch of s**t.
 
Fadge said:
How many Best and Fairests has Josh Jenkins won for Geelong?
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Fadge said:
Mark Blicavs, the dual Carji Greeves Medal winner, and possibly Geelong's most versatile (and therefore valuable) player at the time?
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I was responding to your post saying that Blicavs was more valuable in 2019 because he was more versatile.

Blicavs was neither AA or B&F that year, Danger was both. Danger also came second in the Brownlow.
 

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Trav 20 said:
There's a reason Petracca has been in the 18 in the last two AA's and Steele has been on the bench in the last two AA's.

Petracca is more damaging, more brilliant, kicks far more goals and has the same amount of disposals over that period.

You may be trying to be unbiased, but there's no way Steele covers Petracca in the best 10 players of the league.
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I apologise Trav, Petracca is definitely in the top 10 above Steele
 
Trav 20 said:
Steele is a bloody good player. His last two years have surprised me.
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Steele has surprised me as well.

But watching Trac last night I was like FMD he’s unbelievable.
 
If I'm picking 10 players to build a new list, or represent The World against Mars:

Max King
Max Gawn
Clayton Oliver
Sam Walsh
Aaron Naughton
Nat Fyfe
Jack Macrae
Marcus Bontempelli
Shai Bolton
Charlie Cameron

Rowan Marshall and Christian Petracca just outside that 10
 
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