Rankine in contention for first All-Australian spot, star big man snubbed

All-Australian squad named

Greg Dundas

Max Gawn is in contention for a record-equalling eighth All-Australian blazer, Marcus Bontempelli is gunning for a seventh, and the rise of the Gold Coast Suns was recognised when five of the club’s players were named in the All-Australian squad on Tuesday.

The squad of 44 will be reduced to a team of 22, to be named in position, by the selectors, at the AFL awards on Thursday.

By order of club, the squad is:

Although Gold Coast and the Western Bulldogs both had five players named in the squad, one of those clubs will miss out on this year’s finals series, with the last place in the eight to be determined by the Suns’ home game against Essendon on Wednesday.

Minor premiers Adelaide and reigning premiers the Brisbane Lions were the only other teams with that many players in the squad, while fellow finalists Fremantle and GWS both had four.

Carlton, Essendon, North Melbourne and West Coast were the four teams who did not have a player named in the squad.

The Daicos brothers, Josh and Nick, were selected alongside their veteran Collingwood teammate Jamie Elliott, who is yet to be selected in an All-Australian team.

Elliott headlines a group of seasoned campaigners to make the squad, including Dayne Zorko, who played his 300th game for the Brisbane Lions at the weekend, Hawthorn sharpshooter Jack Gunston, Richmond’s reliable backman Nick Vlastuin, Bulldogs hard-nut Tom Liberatore and Coleman Medal winner Jeremy Cameron of Geelong.

Like those players, Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy and Gawn are both aged in their 30s. Before crossing to the Swans, Grundy played a season at Melbourne in 2023 under Gawn’s captaincy. Now, he could be the man to deny Gawn AA selection for the eighth time.

Gawn won’t have to contend against Tristan Xerri, however – the North star an eye-catching omission from the squad.

Six players in history have been chosen in the team eight times, all of them greats of the game: Gary Ablett snr, Gary Ablett jnr, Patrick Dangerfield, Lance Franklin, Robert Harvey, and Mark Ricciuto.

The young guns in line for the first AA selection include Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who became the AFL’s first $2 million-a-year player, when he last week signed a lucrative deal to stay at St Kilda. Towering Bulldog Sam Darcy, his former teammate Bailey Smith (now at Geelong) and Gold Coast’s dynamic midfield duo of Noah Anderson and Matt Rowell are among 28 players in the squad who’ve never been selected in the symbolic team before.

In fact, Gold Coast’s rise up the ladder this year can be partially explained by the fact that their five players in the AA squad are all chasing their first selection in the AFL’s team of the year. It’s a similar story for the Crows, with Irishman Mark Keane, forward Riley Thilthorpe, playmaker Izak Rankine and defender Josh Worrell all chasing their first blazer, while skipper Jordan Dawson was selected in 2023.

Should he be selected in the final team, Rankine will not be on hand to claim his blazer on Thursday after he flew out of the country at the weekend to escape the attention that followed the four-match suspension he received in round 23 for making a homophobic slur to a Collingwood player.

The 2025 All-Australian selectors are: Andrew Dillon (chair), Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, Kane Cornes, Abbey Holmes, Glen Jakovich, Laura Kane and Matthew Pavlich.

Teams named for home-and-away finale

Here are the teams for Gold Coast’s clash with Essendon on Wednesday night – one that, despite the Bombers’ lowly ladder position, has massive finals ramifications. The first bounce will be at 7.20pm at People First Stadium on the Gold Coast. The Suns need to win to reach the finals for the first time in their history, and if they do the margin will dictate their final percentage, and therefore if they face Fremantle or GWS.

GOLD COAST
B: W.Powell, B.Uwland, S.Collins
HB: J.Noble, M.Andrew, D.Rioli
C: L.Weller, M.Rowell, B.Fiorini
HF: T.Miller, B.Ainsworth, B.Humphrey
F: B.Long, E.Read, B.King
FOLL: J.Witts, A.Davies, N.Anderson
I/C: S.Flanders, J.Rogers, C.Budarick, J.Jeffrey, J.Farrar
EMG: N.Moyle, L.Gulbin, O.Adams
IN: D.Rioli, B.Humphrey, J.Rogers
OUT: A.Sexton (omitted), O.Adams (omitted), L.Gulbin (omitted)

ESSENDON
B: A.McGrath, J.Laverde, J.Nguyen
HB: M.Redman, L.Blakiston, A.Roberts
C: X.Duursma, Z.Merrett, L.Lual
HF: M.Guelfi, P.Wright, S.Durham
F: K.Langford, L.McMahon, I.Kako
FOLL: T.Goldstein, A.Perkins, D.Shiel
I/C: J.Prior, J.Menzie, A.Clarke, R.Unwin, S.El-Hawli
EMG: V.Visentini, Z.Johnson, A.Day-Wicks
IN: J.Laverde, S.Durham
OUT: Z.Johnson (omitted), J.Gresham (personal reason)

Howe comeback would be a risk, says Larkins

Danny Russell

Leading football medic Dr Peter Larkins believes Collingwood would be taking an enormous risk to rush back injured defender Jeremy Howe during the finals series.

The Magpies have tentatively set a preliminary final weekend return for the 35-year-old Howe, who tore his adductor muscle early in the final-round clash against Melbourne, the same injury he suffered in round 18.

Larkins said it would be a high-risk play to select a veteran who had torn his groin muscle twice within seven weeks.

“We know he can contribute when he is at his best, but the deconditioning ... the risk-benefit ratio you are looking at is, ‘what happens if he breaks down in the first eight minutes, or the first five minutes, and you are down a player?’.” Larkins told SEN.

“And the age group works against him. We hate to discriminate against older players, but it is true with soft tissue, whether it’s a hammy, whether it’s the groin or the calf.

“So I reckon it is an enormous risk. I mean, they would know, but this second injury to Jeremy Howe to his right adductor, the groin muscles, was a higher grade and normally, you would be missing four or six [weeks].

“You are just not going to have the time frame to come back. The risk is very high. You just don’t want to be down one of your better players in the first quarter.”

Howe has overcome adversity in the past, having played out the 2023 grand final with three broken ribs.

Larkins said small forward Josh Rachele was an outside chance to return from a knee injury during the finals series, but doubted the Crows would risk him against Collingwood at Adelaide Oval in next week’s qualifying final.

The winner of the Crows-Magpies clash will earn a week’s rest by advancing to the preliminary final, while the loser will face a sudden-death semi-final.

Bring rep footy to AFLW, key figures say

Hannah Kennelly

Past and current Indigenous AFLW players have called for more representative football opportunities ahead of the league’s Indigenous round this week.

On Tuesday morning, inaugural player-turned-coach Kirby Bentley was announced as the league’s 2025 Indigenous round honouree for her contribution to the game and said she would “absolutely” be keen to see an AFLW Indigenous All-Stars game, similar to the AFL men’s.

“I think they should always be the same,” Bentley said. “Why not be equal within that space? I think it should also be 18-a-side. I think that we should be expanding that as well, nothing’s impossible.”

St Kilda forward and Kamilari woman Natalie Plane agreed and said there was great young First Nations talent across the AFLW.

“I think it would be great,” she said. “Obviously, we get to see the men do it and all the hype and the celebration that goes around it.”

This year, the AFL’s best Indigenous players took on Fremantle in a special pre-season match in Perth in February – the first Indigenous All-Stars game since 2015.

Over the past few years players, fans and prominent figures alike have encouraged the return of representative football to the women’s game – something the NRL uses to capitalise on interest in its own women’s competition, drawing millions of TV viewers.

Several AFLW captains told this masthead they would be eager for the AFL to establish regular State of Origin football as a way to build passion and interest. Last month. AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon confirmed there would be representative football “in some form” in AFLW next season.

AFLW’s Indigenous round begins in Darwin with the second annual Dreamtime match between Essendon and Richmond at TIO Stadium on Friday night.

Six AFLW clubs will swap their name for traditional in-language names and all 18 clubs and AFL umpires will wear specially designed jumpers recognising First Nations culture.

Bentley said the contribution from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was “crucial in our game for growth”.

“I think it’s important just to get the Dreamtime game happening, period, and in the Top End is amazing,” she said.

“Obviously, I’m Noongar and there’s a lot of Noongar players as well. So for us to see what we can be, our young kids to aspire to be AFLW players – it’s really important that they have that pathway.”

‘I’ve given all I can’: Rioli

Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli has quit the AFL as the Power delisted five other players.

The 30-year-old Rioli was contracted until the end of next year but opted to retire.

“I have given all I can to the game at the highest level,” Rioli said in a club statement.

“I made up my mind a couple of weeks ago that this would be my last season.

“I want to see even more opportunities given to our young, talented small forwards at Port Adelaide in Joe Berry and Tom Cochrane.

“They’re the future of our club. It’s time for me to step aside.”

The Power on Monday delisted utility Jeremy Finlayson, injury-prone defender Ryan Burton and fringe players Dylan Williams, Hugh Jackson and Lachie Charleson.

They were axed at exit meetings overseen by new head coach Josh Carr, who has taken over from Ken Hinkley.

Rioli considered retiring in the midst of controversies in late April and early May.

The goalsneak expressed a hatred for Hawthorn in the wake of the rival club’s racism allegations in a social media post in late April.

And in early May, he was banned for one game for a social media threat to Bailey Dale after the Western Bulldog made what Port described as a culturally insensitive remark during a game.

Rioli played 109 AFL games – 57 at Port and 52 at West Coast, where he was part of the Eagles’ 2018 premiership.

In July, he told a club podcast he carried a weight of past indiscretions, including his 18-month suspension from 2019 for trying to swap his marijuana-tainted urine sample with a clean sample in a drug test when at West Coast.

The talented attacker announced his retirement as the 28-year-old Burton and 29-year-old Finlayson were among players delisted.

Half-back Burton arrived for the 2019 season after three seasons at Hawthorn, while Finlayson crossed from GWS at the end of 2021.

Burton’s career stalled amid frequent injuries, with the half-back playing only eight AFL games this season.

The 162-gamer suffered a knee injury in round 16 and didn’t feature again.

Finlayson, who also played just eight AFL games this year for a career total of 128, fell from selection favour in an inconsistent season.

Their departures open up further list spots at Port, who have also farewelled retiring club legend Travis Boak.

Ex-Adelaide and Gold Coast utility Rory Atkins, who joined the Power this season, has also retired.

AAP

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