Kane Cornes has ranked his top five hardest runners in the AFL.
These are the players who run themselves ragged, constantly working hard for their teammates and running to break tags.
The former Port Adelaide midfielder put his top handful of hard runners together on AFL Trade Radio’s The Early Trade.
5. Ed Langdon (Melbourne)
“He and Angus Brayshaw, the role that they played for Melbourne is unheralded.
“No one’s going to look back in 20 years and go, ‘Gee, Brayshaw and Langdon on the wings were so important for us’, but I guarantee you internally, the role they played is significant.
“Especially in the Grand Final. Unrewarded running, they cover space, get back and help in defence and are also there to get involved.”
4. Travis Boak (Port Adelaide)
“You’ve got to go and watch him live. He’s been doing it for 10 years.
“He’s 33, he averaged 28 disposals and got a career-high 25 Brownlow votes. It’s all on the back of work rate.
“The thing I love most about ‘Boaky’ is he does it when he’s tagged.”
3. Sam Walsh (Carlton)
“Toughness comes in a variety of ways. You can put your head over the ball, you can run back with the flight, and you can put yourself in awkward positions.
“Toughness also comes from digging in when you are hurting. I reckon he does it as good as anyone.
“I saw him get tagged for the first time this year, and he wasn’t at his absolute best when tagged, but it didn’t seem to faze him too much.
“His improvement year on year is as big as any we’ve had, almost in the history of the game.
“I look forward to watching him run himself into the ground for the next 10 years.”
2. Lachie Whitfield (GWS)
“My respect for this player grew maybe more so than anyone in the game this year.
“He is so good to go and watch. His running comes with endurance, but it also comes with speed and power. When he puts his head down and he decides to go, there’s no one in the game who can go with him.
“He was out with a horrific (liver) injury, he came back in Round 7 and his first game back he did not miss a beat.
“They try and tag him, they can’t. I do love watching Whitfield play.”
1. Touk Miller (Gold Coast)
“He does it when he knows he’s going to get the footy and he does it when he’s not.
“The amount of times he has a chase here, a smother there, he gets a fingernail on an opponent. He knows he’s not getting a stat for that but he does it regardless.
“The way that he got involved offensively this year, he’s averaged 32 possessions this year.
“Well-rounded runner and gut runner both ways. The challenge for him now to go to the next level, is to go from eight goals this year and kick 15-20 like the best midfielders in the game are doing.”
Special mentions:
Bailey Smith (Western Bulldogs) - “Particularly in the back half of the year, his running was phenomenal.”
Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood) - “He’s been doing it for a long time, but didn’t get onto the list. I think he does it both ways.”
Max Gawn (Melbourne) - “I think he’s the hardest running ruckman.”
Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide) - “You don’t look at him as a hard runner, but that was an area of his game that improved this year.”
Plus: Clayton Oliver (Melbourne), Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane) and Isaac Smith (Geelong)