The 2026 season heralded the arrival of a new batch of football heroes.
Nick Daicos is the AFL king, who now has a Brownlow Medal to his name.
Marcus Bontempelli the Rolls Royce, a consistently elite performer who this year equalled Scott West’s record with a seventh best-and-fairest for the Western Bulldogs.
And Max Gawn the legend, a nine-time All-Australian who remains the best ruckman and one of the best leaders in the game.
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But it was the meteoric rise of new superstars Luke ‘Unicorn’ Jackson, Nick ‘The Wizard’ Watson and Will ‘Norm’ Ashcroft that made this year unforgettable.
Jackson helped lead Fremantle’s charge to the Grand Final, Watson stamped himself as the best small forward in the game with a 63-goal year and Ashcroft swung the momentum on the final Saturday in September to see the Brisbane Lions to a premiership three-peat.
These new kids on the block find themselves at the pointy end of the biggest and best list in the AFL – the Herald Sun’s iconic Top 50.
This year’s two grand finalists – Brisbane and Fremantle – have six and seven representatives in the list respectively.
The Dockers’ group includes five players in the top 28 positions – Jackson, Caleb Serong, Shai Bolton, Josh Treacy and Andrew Brayshaw.
Sydney has five players on the list but lost one of those – Nick Blakey – to North Melbourne during the trade period.
At the other end of the table, Essendon’s only representative was Zach Merrett, who has made the switch to Hawthorn.
Fellow cellar-dweller Richmond was the only club without a player in the picture.
Originally published as Jay Clark’s Top 50 AFL players after the 2026 season