Stunned Geelong star Jeremy Cameron said he had never captained anything in his life after he was named skipper of the 2025 All-Australian team at the awards ceremony tonight.
The 2025 Coleman medallist joked he would defer to the five captains in the team if he actually had to lead them into a match.
“Honestly I’ve never captained anything [before],” the veteran cat and former GWS star said on stage immediately afterwards.
Fellow forward, Adelaide’s Izak Rankine was a notable omission from the team named on Thursday night following his four-match suspension for a homophobic slur last week.
He was one of the 44 nominations named in the squad but was squeezed out of the forward line, with the Brisbane Lions’ Zac Bailey and Melbourne’s Kysaiah Pickett named as the team’s small forwards.
Rankine kicked fewer goals than the pair but had more contested possessions, clearances and metres gained than Bailey, although he turned the ball over more and had more clangers.
Collingwood veteran Jamie Elliott was also unlucky to miss selection after kicking 52 goals.
Two of Rankine’s Crows teammates, Jordan Dawson and Riley Thilthorpe, made the team, with 15 of the 22 players named from sides playing finals.
The team of 22 named also saw Geelong’s Bailey Smith and Hawthorn’s Josh Battle become All-Australians for the first time in their first seasons at their new clubs.
Melbourne’s Max Gawn became the seventh player to earn the honour for the eighth time. He joined Gary Ablett snr, Gary Ablett jnr, Patrick Dangerfield, Lance Franklin, Robert Harvey and Mark Ricciuto as players named eight times. Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli earned selection for the seventh time.
Hawthorn veteran Jack Gunston’s unexpected season was also recognised when he was named in the forward pocket after kicking 62 goals. The 33-year-old was one of three players aged above 30 to make the team.
Smith, one of the Brownlow Medal favourites, made a remarkable return after missing 2024 recovering from an ACL injury, while Battle has been outstanding in defence after departing St Kilda as a free agent last season.
Smith was named on a wing while Brisbane Lions star Hugh McCluggage finally gained an All-Australian spot when he was named on the other wing. The pair were among 11 players named to the side for the first time.
Saints star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who became the game’s first $2 million dollar man when he signed a two-year deal last week, was one of those 11 after being named on the half-back flank.
Fremantle’s Jordan Clark, Brisbane’s Bailey and McCluggage, Suns pair Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, Melbourne’s Pickett, and the Bulldogs’ Ed Richards were also first timers.
Gawn again reinforced his status as the game’s best ruckman and was competing with Anderson, the Crows’ Dawson, the Lions’ Harris Andrews and the Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli to be named All-Australian captain.
Coleman medallist Cameron was named at centre half-forward, while emerging Adelaide star Thilthorpe, who also plays as a second ruck, was named at full-forward.
Thilthorpe was sixth on the goalkicking with 55 goals, 14 behind the Suns’ Ben King, but the selectors preferred him to King with his ruckwork also taken into account.
Nick Daicos and Caleb Serong made their third consecutive All-Australian teams after being named on the bench alongside Rowell and Bontempelli.
Anderson and Richards were named as starting midfielders while Dawson was named in the centre.
This year’s 44-man squad did not contain any current Brownlow medallists, but this year’s Brownlow winner is likely to have been named in the team.
The league’s All-Australian team contains 22 players, despite AFL teams consisting of 22 players plus a substitute, and 23 players awarded a premiership medal after the grand final.
It was a big night for Anderson and Smith as nine coaches’ votes in the final match of the season made Anderson, the Gold Coast captain, the equal winner with Smith of this year’s AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year.
Anderson was outstanding in leading the Suns into their first finals series, while Smith has been ultra-consistent in his first season with the Cats as he returned from an ACL injury.
Both players were tied on 103 votes, with Smith also polling nine votes in his final match of the home-and-away season, six votes ahead of the Suns’ Matt Rowell and 10 clear of Daicos. Melbourne’s Max Gawn and Adelaide’s Jordan Dawson finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Daicos became the fourth-youngest winner of the AFL Players’ Association’s most valuable player award. He is the youngest winner since St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt won the award named the Leigh Matthews Trophy in 2004. Dawson won best captain and the Lions’ Josh Dunkley the most courageous award. Fremantle’s Murphy Reid won the best first year player award.
Smith’s teammate Shaun Mannagh won the coaches’ association’s best young player of the year, despite being 28 years old. The prize is awarded to the best player in his first or second season in the AFL, which made Mannagh eligible, however the award may be renamed next year. The Cats drafted Mannagh in the 2023 national draft after he won a VFL premiership with Werribee.
2025 AFL ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM
B: Josh Battle (Haw), Sam Taylor (GWS), Jordan Clark (Frem)
CHB: Bailey Dale (WB), Harris Andrews (BL), Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (StK)
C: Bailey Smith (Geel), Jordan Dawson (Adel), Hugh McCluggage (BL)
HF: Isaac Heeney (Syd), Jeremy Cameron (Geel), Zac Bailey (BL)
F: Jack Gunston (Haw), Riley Thilthorpe (Adel), Kysaiah Pickett (Mel)
FOLL: Max Gawn (Mel), Noah Anderson (GC), Ed Richards (WB)
I/C: Nick Daicos (Coll), Marcus Bontempelli (WB), Caleb Serong (Frem), Matt Rowell (GC)
Captain: Jeremy Cameron
Vice captain: Jordan Dawson