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All Australian team

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The All-Australian Team is an all star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including interchange players and a coach, of the best performed during the season.

Contents

As no other country could assemble a senior Australian rules team of the same quality, the All-Australian team never plays a game. From 1998 to 2004, the Australian international rules team was mainly composed of All-Australians, though from 2005 to 2013 the team for the annual International Rules Series was selected according to the quite different requirements of International rules football. This change was reverted ahead of the 2014 series, with only players who have been selected at least once in any All-Australian team being eligible for selection.

The earliest concept considered to be a precursor to the All-Australian team was an annual team selected by Sporting Life magazine between 1947 and 1955. A panel of sportswriters at the magazine selected a full team of eighteen from all ANFC-affiliated competitions. For a time, AFL historians considered these teams to be official All-Australian teams, but no longer recognises them as such.

The first official All-Australian team was selected in 1953, immediately after the Australian Football Carnival, which was held in Adelaide on that occasion. Based solely upon performances at the carnival, the All-Australian team was selected by representatives of the various state teams. This tradition continued at all subsequent interstate carnivals until 1988.

In 1991, following the VFL's conversion to a national competition and its renaming as the Australian Football League (AFL), an annual All-Australian team based on performances during the AFL premiership season was introduced.

Since 1999, the All-Australian coach is the coach of the premiership-winning side that year.

Prior to 2007, only the final selections in the All-Australian team were announced. Since 2007, the All-Australian selection committee has nominated the 40 leading players of the year in their playing positions at the conclusion of the home and away season, before announcing the final 22 at a later date during the All-Australian Presentation Dinner. The current All-Australian selection panel is Gillon McLachlan (chairman), Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Mark Evans, Danny Frawley, Glen Jakovich, Cameron Ling and Warren Tredrea.

In addition to the senior All-Australian team, each year an All-Australian is announced based on the AFL National Under 18 Championships and the AFL National Under 16 Championships.

The following lists are for senior teams only.

2014


Notes:

  • Despite winning the Brownlow Medal, Matt Priddis was not selected in the team, but was selected in the initial squad of 40 like Sam Mitchell was two years before.

    • Notes:

  • Despite being awarded the Brownlow Medal retrospectively alongside Trent Cotchin over four years later in November 2016, Sam Mitchell was not selected in the team, but was selected in the initial squad of 40.

    • 2007


    Notes:

  • For the first occasion, a preliminary squad of 40 was announced.

    • 2000


    Notes:

  • Despite winning the Brownlow Medal, Shane Woewodin was not selected in the team.

    • 1998


    Notes:

  • 1998 was the final season in which the coach of the All-Australian team was not necessarily the premiership coach.

    • 1991


    Notes:

  • Despite winning that season's Grand Final, Hawthorn did not supply one player in the team of the year.

    • Australian Football Carnival era: 1953–1988

    State of origin era

    1979

    Pre-State of Origin era

    Sporting Life Team of the Year: 1947–1955

    These teams were once considered to be equivalent to All-Australian selection, but are no longer recognised as such.

    Most times selected overall

    Qualification: Selection in seven or more teams from 1953 to 2016

  • Robert Harvey 8
  • Mark Ricciuto 8
  • Gary Ablett, Jr. 8
  • Craig Bradley 7
  • Nathan Buckley 7
  • Wayne Carey 7
  • Paul Roos 7

    • Most times selected in Carnivals era

    Qualification: Selection in three or more teams from 1953 to 1980, & 1988.

  • Jack Clarke (Western Australia) 4
  • John Abley (South Australia) 3
  • Ron Barassi (Victoria) 3
  • Jack Clarke (Victoria) 3
  • Graham Farmer 3
  • Ted Whitten 3

    • References

    All-Australian team Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA