AFL Team of the Mid-Year...2015

As of round 12, we're about halfway through the "home-and-away" schedule, and both afl.com.au AND the Age have put out their mid-season Top 22's - so let's all compare notes, shall we? Following Football is also going to share where our records have each player listed in the year-long Player Of The Year voting, so we can have our own say, so nyeah! :)

Consensus first team choices:

Alex Rance (Richmond) – back (32 points, 79th place)                                       

Michael Hurley (Essendon) – back (70, 11th)                                 

Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) – half-back (72,10th)

Dan Hannebury (Sydney) – centre (111,2nd)                                      

Matt Priddis (West Coast) – centre (88, 4th)                                 

David Armitage (St. Kilda) – centre (88, 4th)                             

Todd Goldstein (North) - ruckman (88, 4th)

Nat Fyfe (Fremantle) – ruck-rover (195, 1st)

Dylan Shiel (GWS) - rover (92, 3rd)

Scott Pendlebury (Coll) – half-forward (80,7th) 

Lance Franklin (Sydney) – half-forward (79, 8th)

Luke Parker (Sydney) – half-forward (66,14th)

Mentioned on both sets of ballots:

Tom McDonald (Melbourne) – back (58,24th)                                    

Matt Boyd (Western) – back (41, 53rd)

Jamie Elliot (Coll) – half-forward  (37, 65th)                   

Andrew Gaff (West Coast) – centre (62, 20th)

Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) – ruck (35, 68th)

First Team on one ballot or the other:

Heath Shaw (GWS) – back (13, dnp)                                               

Harry Taylor (Geelong) – half-back (42, 50th)                            

Corey Enright (Geelong) – half-back (54, 30th)

Jarrad McVeigh (Sydney) – half-back (59, 22nd)

Bachar Houli (Richmond) – half-back (37, 65th)                           

Lachie Neale (Fremantle) - rover (53, 32nd)

Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide) – h-forward (69, 12th)

Top Twenty vote getters on the FF ballot NOT listed above:

Patrick Dangerfield (Adelaide) - 73 points, 9th place

Dustin Martin (Richfield) - 67, 13th

Luke Hodge (Hawthorn) - 66, 14th

Bernie Vince (Melbourne) - 65, 16th

Eddie Betts (Adelaide) - 64, 17th

Jack Stevens (St. Kilda) - 64, 17th

Trent Cotchin (Richmond) - 63, 19th

It's worth remembering as you look at this list that offense always gets more accolades than defense does, and the backs and half-backs simply aren't going to get the numbers of votes overall that the ball-handlers in the middle and the scorers up front get. But to watch Alex Rance as a tagger, or Bachar Houli and Corey Enright knock away marks, or Harry Taylor clear out a contest and start the ball the other way is at least as important, maybe more so, than anything done up front. There's no denying, though, the beauty of what's going on in the middle - all of the top six vote getters at the moment sit in the Unanimous section above, and all work the center of the field: Nat Fyfe (of course), Dan Hannebury, Matt Priddis, David Armitage, Todd Goldstein, and Dylan Shiel, with numbers seven and eight unanimous half-forward selections year-in, year-out (Scott Pendlebury and Buddy Franklin).