The championships are over for another year and we witnessed another great series of matches, with some fantastic talent showing what they could do on the big stage. To analyse who the best performers were over the course of the carnival, I have applied my power rankings formula to every player after every game to come up with the top 50 players from the carnival. Players are rewarded for being clean with the ball, and gain points for specific attributes related to their position. For example, contested marks and goals are high point earners for a forward while clearances, tackles and inside 50s gain good point scores for midfielders.
Division one and division two were separated because division two played just three games: their scores were elevated because of a smaller sample size.
Here are the top 50 players from division one:
1. Caleb Daniel (South Australia) – 126.0
2. Christian Petracca (Vic Metro) – 124.0
3. Connor Blakely (Western Australia) – 111.3
4. Damien Cavka (Vic Metro) – 107.8
5. Angus Brayshaw (Vic Metro) – 105.8
6. Jake Johansen (South Australia) – 103.1
7. Ryan Burton (South Australia) – 100.0*
8. Dean Gore (South Australia) – 96.6
9. Peter Wright (Vic Metro) – 95.6
10. Jack Lonie (Vic Country) – 93.5
11. Touk Miller (Vic Metro) – 92.5
12. Rhys Mathieson (Vic Country) – 92.2*
13. Paul Ahern (Vic Metro) – 91.0
14. Ed Langdon (Vic Metro) – 90.0
15. Sam Switkowski (Vic Metro) – 89.8
16. Josh Hone (South Australia) – 89.6
17. Jared Hardisty (Western Australia) – 89.5
18. Brayden Maynard (Vic Metro) – 89.0
19. Alex Neal-Bullen (South Australia) – 88.5
20. Corey Gregson (South Australia) – 88.2
21. Joe Maishman (Vic Country) – 87.8
22. Jayden Laverde (Vic Metro) – 87.6
23. Lukas Webb (Vic Country) – 86.4
24. Alec Waterman (Western Australia) – 86.4
25. Billy Stretch (South Australia) – 85.3
26. Josh Dunkley (Vic Country) – 83.0*
27. Harrison Wigg (South Australia) – 84.0
28. Nick O’Kearney (Vic Metro) – 84.0*
29. Tyler Keitel (Western Australia) – 83.7
30. Nick Dixon (Vic Country) – 83.0
31. Jacob Dragovich (Western Australia) – 81.5
32. Dan Howe (Vic Country) – 81.0
33. Nathan Drummond (Vic Country) – 81.0
34. Darcy Tucker (Vic Country) – 80.6*
35. Declan Hamilton (South Australia) – 80.3
36. Marc Pittonet (Vic Metro) – 80.0
37. Kade Stewart (Western Australia) – 79.5*
38. Tom Wilkinson (Vic Metro) – 79.5
39. Liam Duggan (Vic Metro) – 79.4
40. Caleb Marchbank (Vic Country) – 79.0
41. Corey Ellis (Vic Metro) – 78.6
42. Jarrod Pickett (Western Australia) – 78.5
43. Daniel Capiron (Vic Country) – 78.3
44. Aaron Wilson (Vic Country) – 78.3
45. Darcy Parish (Vic Country) – 76.8
46. Daniel Butler (Vic Country) – 76.6
47. Patrick McCartin (Vic Country) – 76
48. Aidan Anderson (Western Australia) – 75.4
49. Tom Cole (Vic Country) – 75.0*
50. Billy Evans (Vic Country) – 74.3
The tiny South Australian, Caleb Daniel, shot to the top of the rankings after two super games against Vic Country and Vic Metro to finish off the series. Larke Medallist, Christian Petracca, finished second after a very consistent carnival while agile Western Australian midfielder, Connor Blakely, finished third.
The talls were quite inconsistent, and there were a number of matches played in poor conditions which were not suited to tall players which led to some lower numbers for them. Number one pick chance, Peter Wright, was the best performed tall finishing ninth, with the next best tall being Western Australian swingman Tyler Keitel.
A number of underage prospects featured in the list (marked with an asterisk), with South Australian Ryan Burton the best of the crop. Burton, a marking third tall forward, averaged 100 points per game before glandular fever ended his carnival prematurely. Victorian midfielders Rhys Mathieson, Josh Dunkley and Nick O’Kearney all featured in the top 30.
A number of highly rated prospects fell short of the top 50, including Clem Smith (56th), Jordan De Goey (62nd), Ed Vickers-Willis (73rd), Darcy Moore (75th), High Goddard (85th) and Tom Lamb (92nd).
The top ten players in division two were:
1. Matt Keays (Queensland) – 137.0*
2. Isaac Heeney (NSW/ACT) – 121.3
3. Abraham Ankers (Northern Territory) – 116.3
4. Tim Jones (Tasmania) – 115.6
5. Callum Mills (NSW/ACT) – 111.6*
6. Jack Steele (NSW/ACT) – 110.0
7. Errin Wasley-Black (Northern Territory) – 106.6
8. Kieran McGuinness (Tasmania) – 102.0
9. Lachie Weller (Queensland) – 99.0
10. Darcy Cameron-Reeves (Queensland) – 98.0
The division two prospects were headlined by underage Queensland forward Ben Keays, who earned All-Australian selection and averaged 137 points per game. Highly rated Sydney academy member Isaac Heeney was second while Northern Territory’s Abraham Ankers finished third.
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So much of the public is amazed that you haven’t noticed some real up an coming talent such as “Daniel Davie” “Bendigo Pioneers” he has torn other teams apart with the things he can do! Has been in the best more times then anyone else in the TAC CUP. He is a real talent being only one of the two with got in the top ten for testing at the start of the year!
Have a look into him
He plays a mix of back and forward