With All-Australian chat all the rage right now, we decided to undertake an experiment.
We wanted to pull together the Ultimate All-Australian team.
In order to do this, we needed some rules regarding eligibility, so here they are:
- Only players who made an All-Australian team in the AFL era (1991 onwards) are eligible.
- Players will be selected in the position they have been selected in the most, unless there is a tiebreaker.
- Most total AA selections and most times chosen in that area of the ground is the first tiebreaker.
- Being named captain is the next tiebreaker.
- Selectors (us) get to make a final call to include multiple AA selectees who we feel deserve to be in.
- Selectors (us) have a tiny bit of creative licence to ensure the team is somewhat balanced.
Number in brackets is amount of total All-Australian selections.
Defenders
Essendon and Port Adelaide great Gavin Wanganeen (5) takes one back pocket spot having been named there on five occasions.
At full-back is Geelong champion Matthew Scarlett (6) who was named in that position four times while landing a back pocket slot twice.
Geelong’s Tom Stewart (5) now also has a handful of back pocket selections after being named there again on Wednesday night.
One half-back slot goes to Carlton’s Andrew McKay (4) who was named there in each of his four selections.
This is where we needed to get a little bit creative as the most a person has been named at centre half-back is twice. With that being the case, we deferred to the next best full-back who is Richmond’s Alex Rance (5). He was centre half-back once but full-black four times. He gets the nod ever so slightly over Carlton legend Stephen Silvagni (5) because he was once named captain.
No player has been named on the half-back flank more than twice, so the other half-back position lies with Corey Enright (6) who was half-back flank only once but was back pocket on four occasions. He was also named on the bench once.
Centre/Wings
On one wing is West Coast’s Peter Matera (5) who was named there three times plus twice on the half-back flank. He is a genuine specialist winger.
Western Bulldogs favourite Scott West (5) takes the centre after three selections there plus one on the wing and one as rover.
Collingwood legend Nathan Buckley (7) lands on the other wing as one of several players who were named there twice. His seven overall selections include two at half-back, one in the centre, one at ruck-over and one as rover.
(And let’s face it, the AA selectors don’t always choose two specialist wingers).
Forwards
Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield (8), despite spending most of his playing days as a midfielder, has been named as a half-forward on five occasions plus twice as ruck-rover and once as rover.
Comfortably at centre half-forward is North Melbourne great Wayne Carey (7) who was named there in each of his seven selections.
On the other flank is Lance Franklin (8) who has made it by pure weight of numbers. He is one of only five players with eight All-Australian blazers so must be included. He was named at centre half-forward on five occasions and at full-forward three times.
In one forward pocket is Western Bulldogs champion Brad Johnson (6) who was named there three times as well as once on a wing, once at half-forward and once on the bench.
The full-forward slot will be taken by Geelong’s Tom Hawkins (5) who was named there four times, centre half-forward once and was also once named the captain.
The other forward pocket is for Eddie Betts (3) as a specialist small forward after three selections in that position.
Followers
West Coast’s Dean Cox (6) is the starting ruckman for four selections in that position plus one in the forward pocket and one on the bench.
The ruck-rover is St Kilda great Robert Harvey (8) who landed five nods in that particular position as well as one as rover, one at half-forward and one on the bench.
Taking the rover position unanimously is Gary Ablett Jnr (8) with all of his eight selections in that role.
Interchange
Mark Ricciuto (8) and Scott Pendlebury (6) are the mids who were named on the interchange bench the most with four each.
They will be joined by Max Gawn (6) who was also named ruck four times, but missed out on a starting spot because Cox was named on the field on one more occasion.
Fremantle’s Matthew Pavlich (6) is a victim of his own versatility in that he was named in five different positions for his six selections.
We had to leave some gun midfielders out for team balance.
The Ultimate All-Australian team
(Since 1991)
B: Gavin Wanganeen (ESS, PA) / Matthew Scarlett (GEE) / Tom Stewart (GEE)
HB: Andrew McKay (CAR) / Alex Rance (RIC) / Corey Enright (GEE)
C: Peter Matera (WCE) / Scott West (WB) / Nathan Buckley (BRI, COL)
HF: Patrick Dangerfield (ADE, GEE) / Wayne Carey (NM, ADE) / Lance Franklin (HAW, SYD)
F: Brad Johnson (WB) / Tom Hawkins (GEE) / Eddie Betts (CAR, ADE)
FOL: Dean Cox (WCE) / Robert Harvey (STK) / Gary Ablett Jnr (GEE, GCS)
I/C: Mark Ricciuto (ADE) / Scott Pendlebury (COL) / Max Gawn (MEL) / Matthew Pavlich (FRE)
Honourable mentions: Six-time selectees Joel Selwood, Ben Cousins, Chris Judd and James Hird are the unlucky quartet to miss out.
We couldn’t pick them all.