‘Pitchfork stampede’: Battler love, star snubs and Daicos call baffle footy — All-Australian winners, losers

For every All-Australian player presented a blazer tonight, there is another in the initial squad that has missed out.

And as there is every year, the revealing of the squad that’s designed to reflect the league’s best 22 players, always has some controversial selections.

Below, foxfooty.com.au highlights the biggest winners with a blazer around their back this season, as well as those unlucky not to add an iconic piece of clothing to their wardrobe.

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WINNERS

WEST COAST (JEREMY MCGOVERN AND JAKE WATERMAN)

For all the ugly storylines that have centred around West Coast in the past few years, this is not one of them.

Despite winning just five games in season 2024, both Jeremy McGovern and Jake Waterman have evidently had excellent years in the royal blue and yellow – playing vital roles in each of the victories their side enjoyed this season.

McGovern, who is now remarkably a five-time All-Australian, was selected in his first side since 2019 after averaging over 20 disposals and six marks this season – with more than half of those marks intercepts.

The 32-year-old was selected despite missing four games throughout the season, and helped lead the Eagles’ inexperienced defence in tough times.

Waterman on the other hand earned his maiden All-Australian blazer on Thursday night on the back of his 53 goals from 20 games this year.

The 26-year-old finished fifth in the competition for goals scored; an impressive effort given West Coast’s at times demoralising results and infrequent forward 50 entries.

Waterman edged out the likes of Tyson Stengle and Charlie Curnow up forward, highlighting just how good his 2024 was.

SWANS’ AWESOME FOURSOME (ISAAC HEENEY, ERROL GULDEN, CHAD WARNER & NICK BLAKEY)

In a testament to the sheer amount of talent that Sydney possesses, all four nominees in the initial 44-man squad made the final cut – and rightly so.

All of Isaac Heeney, Errol Gulden and Chad Warner have shown their dominant best across this season, with the trio contributing through both the middle of the ground and on the scoreboard.

With 75 goals between them, there’s no denying there isn’t a midfield mix in front of goal like it; undoubtedly giving them an edge come finals in September as their side searches for its first premiership since 2012.

It is the second time that Heeney and Gulden have been selected in the side, across 2022 and 2023 respectively – while Warner earns his first ever blazer.

And in the back pocket of the side, Nick Blakey was also named – continuing to stamp himself as one of the league’s most punishing half-backs that can also lock down on opposition forwards when required.

His booming left leg was seen over 16 times a match on average, and has managed to find the goals five times so far this season in a great reward for the 24-year-old in his maiden selection in the final side.

DAYNE ZORKO

The journey of this loyal Lion has aged like a fine wine in 2024, with the former captain picking up his second-ever All-Australian jacket at the age of 35.

For the first time since 2017, Zorko finds himself standing up on stage among the other best players in the competition – except this time, he’s been selected off a half-back flank, not off half-forward.

The forward-turned-defender has been picked in the squad twice since his last appearance, acknowledged in both 2019 and 2021.

Almost picked out of the defensive half due to the ACL injury that downed normal half-backer Keidean Coleman, Zorko took like a duck to water with his distribution of the ball moving forward – certainly never shy to call for the ball to be put in his hands either.

Zorko averages a tick over 26 disposals and four rebound 50s a match this season, and will be a key cog for the Lions if they are to win the premiership in 2024.

Having recently signed on for next year too, the former captain isn’t done yet at the top level – and may leave coach Chris Fagan with some (good) problems to have when picking his side at the start of 2025.

MAX GAWN

The Melbourne captain has earned a club-record seventh All-Australian selection this season, overcoming his absence for a fortnight in the late part of the season to pip both North’s Tristan Xerri and Collingwood’s Darcy Cameron.

Unsurprisingly, the 32-year-old has performed strongly despite his side’s underwhelming finish in 14th place on this year’s ladder – finishing the year averaging 19 disposals, five clearances, five marks, 34 hitouts and a hitouts to advantage percentage higher than both rival rucks in the squad.

Gawn becomes one of just 10 players to have ever been named an All-Australian seven or more times across their career, and joins Wayne Carey, Nathan Buckley, Paul Roos and Craig Bradley as seven-time selections.

At the back end of the season as Gawn briefly spent time on the sidelines, there was a growing belief among some pundits that the Demons star could be overtaken at the eleventh hour by the Kangaroos’ Xerri, but his experience and consistency throughout the year has clearly held him in good stead to be selected for a staggering seventh time.

ADAM TRELOAR

After 253 games across three clubs, Adam Treloar has earned himself a very deserving All-Australian jacket for the first time ever to compliment a monster 2024 season.

Paired in the Bulldogs’ midfield alongside the likes of Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore, Treloar was outstanding through the middle of the ground for Luke Beveridge’s side – tallying the third-most disposals of any midfielder this season (behind Tom Green and Nick Daicos) and at the best percentage of the trio.

Premiership success and deserved individual accolades have to a certain extent have alluded Treloar in his 13 years at the top level so far, but that’s rightfully all changed on the back of his 2024 season, which alongside his 2019 year at Collingwood, is arguably his best yet.

Now once again in the frame for a maiden premiership, Thursday night’s recognition is hopefully a sign of the success coming his way in the next month a player who deserves every bit of praise that comes his way.

One of two Dogs to make the final side (alongside Bontempelli), Treloar was the third of four played named on the bench.

LOSERS

As maths tells us, 44 players don’t fit into a 22-man team – and like every year, there are plenty of unlucky omissions who didn’t make the final cut for an All-Australian blazer this season.

A key tall at either end were arguably very unlucky to not earn their third selection each, while the league’s Best Young Player was shockingly snubbed.

Foxfooty.com.au assesses and ranks the ‘unlucky 22’ that weren’t selected in the 2024 All-Australian team.

1. HARRIS ANDREWS

Woah. Andrews’ snubbing as a key defender in this year’s side is, put simply, a very big surprise – and subsequently the biggest loss of the night for an individual player. This season now marks the second consecutive year where the 27-year-old has made the preliminary squad but not been picked come AFL Awards night. Disposing of the ball at a tick under 90 per cent this season, Andrews has been rock solid matching up against both the league’s best key forwards and managing his duties as an intercept defender. Where would he fit in the final 22 though? WA pair Jeremy McGovern and Luke Ryan would probably be the two players that could have been taken out in place of Andrews, but it’s never that easy. And with ball-winners taking up the remaining spots on the bench, Andrews’ job to be selected elsewhere in the side were pretty thin.

2. HARRY SHEEZEL

Not far behind Andrews for one of the unluckiest players to miss selection was Harry Sheezel, who was earlier voted the Best Young Player in the competition by his peers. Sheezel’s adaptability was on full display across the 2024 season, playing a mixture of half-back, midfield and even half-forward under Alastair Clarkson. And perhaps the 19-year-old was too versatile for his own good. It’s hard to move one of Dayne Zorko or Dan Houston off the half-back flanks to accommodate for Sheezel, while we know full well how many midfielders are competing for such limited spots. The selection of two superstar Swans midfielders off half-forward rules out a spot there, which subsequently leaves Sheezel stranded. Averaging 29.8 touches a game, the Kangaroo will undoubtedly be selected in years to come, but it’s nonetheless a tough pill to swallow for a young gun certainly deserving of a maiden blazer.

3. CHARLIE CURNOW

In the modern era, you’re pretty unlucky to not make the final All-Australian side having kicked 57 goals from 21 games – especially if your name’s Charlie Curnow. Unfortunately however, his injury across the last fortnight of the home-and-away season may well have cost him a spot in the starting 22 – in what would have been his third straight nomination after back-to-back Coleman Medals. There’s a pretty strong argument for Curnow to have retained his place in the team over Jake Waterman, and even Jeremy Cameron at centre-half forward – although the latter is arguably more effective and versatile up the ground. There’s a lot of optimism that he could return for their elimination final up in Brisbane, but unluckily, he won’t be going up to Brisbane as a 2024 All-Australian.

4. ZACH MERRETT

Essendon’s captain led from the front all season, and was one of the few players that donned the red sash in 2024 who can be proud of their efforts all year long. Already a three-time selection in the side (2017, 2021 and 2023), Merrett averaged the most of any Bombers player this year (28.2). We can only put his exclusion down to the sheer number of midfielders annually selected in the 44-man squad, with no questions whatsoever over his form or output. Merrett is every chance of joining club legend Terry Daniher and Simon Madden as four-time All-Australians next year, but for now, will have to deal with just missing out on selection for the second year straight.

5. TRISTAN XERRI

The battle between Xerri and Gawn had ramped up during the second half of the 2024 season, but the Roos tough nut just missed out on selection in a side that consistently failed to register wins. And averaging a mammoth (by ruck standards) 23 disposals and 39 hitouts in the last four weeks of the home-and-away season, there was a genuine belief that Gawn would miss out on a seventh nomination; but it wasn’t to be. Xerri’s unluckiness to not be in the final squad doesn’t necessarily come down to outplaying Gawn, but perhaps playing to the standard of a player worthy of selection. Only 25 years of age and still somewhat finding his feet at the top level, his future as both a player and future All-Australian is very, very bright.

=6. MASSIMO D’AMBROSIO & JAMES SICILY

The Bomber-turned-Hawk Massimo D’Ambrosio has had one of the most remarkable turnarounds in form after changing clubs in recent memory – and it very nearly earned him a shock All-Australian blazer. In fact, there will be many of the belief that had the selectors gone down the route of picking genuine wingmen (an age-old argument within footballing circles in itself), D’Ambrosio would be in the side. However, as history tells us, traditional wingers are so rarely picked – with last year’s selection of Errol Gulden and Josh Daicos the one outlier to that rule given their incredible vein of form last year. And while it must be noted that the 21-year-old’s season was not to the same standard as Gulden or Daicos last year, it’s generally accepted (and also pushed by Champion Data) that he was this season’s second-best winger, and deserves to be in the side.

And closely followed by D’Ambrosio is skipper James Sicily, who also mustered together a pretty strong year. There were multiple key defenders (namely Andrews and Sam Collins) who also missed out on a spot in the side, but Sicily’s ability to lead a Hawthorn side – while not recognised in the criteria of picking an All-Australia team – shouldn’t go unnoticed. Selected in last year’s side, Sicily wasn’t able to go back-to-back in the blazer, but a potential premiership would mean so much more.

8. TYSON STENGLE

Comfortably one of the best small forwards this season, Stengle was unfortunately unable to crack into the forward line – stuck behind Hawks gun Dylan Moore. Having kicked 42 goals so far this season and heading into finals, the 25-year-old can definitely consider himself unlucky to not be in the final 22.

9. JASON HORNE-FRANCIS

‘The Hornet’ was one of just three players to average 20 disposals and a goal this season, which almost automatically warrants serious consideration for selection in the final side. He is undoubtedly one to watch for the future with a blazer on, after just three years in the league – two at Port Adelaide and one at North Melbourne.

10. JACK SINCLAIR

11. NOAH ANDERSON

12. BAILEY DALE

13. MAX HOLMES

14. SAM COLLINS

15. HARRY MCKAY

16. JORDAN CLARK

17. BRENT DANIELS

18. HAYDEN YOUNG

19. ANDREW BRAYSHAW

20. JOE DANIHER

21. DARCY CAMERON

22. CAM RAYNER