SEN.com.au's consensus top 50 AFL players heading into the 2025 season

By SEN

The SEN.com.au team has taken on the task of ranking the top 50 players in the AFL, heading into the 2025 season.

This is only taking into account where players are now, not future projection of what they could become.

Six members of the team individually put together their top 50 lists which were then combined into one consensus list.

For example, Errol Gulden was ranked 14th, 12th, 11th, 14th, 19th and 14th by the team in their respective lists. Add those numbers together and you get 84.

This is how we have put the consensus rankings together. Like golf, lowest is best.

Marcus Bontempelli was unanimously ranked as the best player in the competition, finishing with a score of 6. The only player in single figures.

Nick Daicos (16) and Patrick Cripps (17) were neck-and-neck for second and third.

Despite his injury issues in 2024, Christian Petracca still came in fourth, with rankings of 7, 4, 5, 7, 4 and 6 for a score of 33.

He narrowly edged out Lachie Neale (35), Jeremy Cameron (36) and Charlie Curnow (45) in what was a clear top nine before a bit of a drop.

Tied for 10th – Zak Butters and Max Gawn on 66 points. The ultimate tiebreaker for us was who had the highest individual ranking. Butters was ranked 8th twice, while Gawn received one 9.

Any player who was not ranked inside the top 50 on a list received a score of 51. North Melbourne’s Luke Davies-Uniacke was the highest ranked player to receive a 51, ranked 28th overall despite being excluded on one list.

Jordan Dawson similarly received a 51 and was ultimately ranked 36th overall.

GWS key position pair Sam Taylor and Jesse Hogan had some gulfs between rankings. Both received top 10 votes, while being ranked in the mid-20s by others – summing up why a consensus list is needed!

The Giants had more players in the top 20 than any other team with four, though none of those four ranked inside the top 10 – Toby Greene (12th), Hogan (14th), Taylor (15th) and Tom Green (19th).

Dan Houston (31st) was the highest rated player who moved clubs over summer. Tom Barrass (48th) was the only other player to move clubs and rank inside the top 50, likely speaking to Shai Bolton’s poor 2024 season and Bailey Smith’s injuries. Both did receive top 50 votes, however.

Other players who received votes but did not make the top 50 include Josh Treacy, Will Ashcroft, Harley Reid, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Charlie Cameron, Josh Dunkley, Will Day, Josh Weddle, Tom De Koning, Ben King, Harry McKay and Jake Waterman.