{"id":458378,"date":"2026-02-04T18:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458378\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:31:33","slug":"the-nine-biggest-snubs-from-afl-origin-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/458378\/","title":{"rendered":"The NINE biggest snubs from AFL Origin – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Victorian selectors, there couldn’t have been a tougher challenge than naming the midfield mix.<\/p>\n

The named cohort of Hugh McCluggage<\/a>, Nick Daicos<\/a>, Bailey Smith<\/a>, Ed Richards<\/a>, Patrick Dangerfield<\/a>, Noah Anderson<\/a>, Zach Merrett<\/a>, Zak Butters<\/a> and Caleb Serong<\/a> is unreal, and if any of them had been left off, there would certainly be some sort of outrage.<\/p>\n

However, Fremantle’s Andrew Brayshaw<\/a> will be feeling stiffed after finishing fifth in the Brownlow Medal count, averaging 27 disposals per game at 74 per cent efficiency for a top eight side last season.<\/p>\n

So will Finn Callaghan<\/a>, who exploded for a breakout year in 2025, averaging a similarly dominated 28.4 disposals per game at 73 per cent efficiency for an overachieving Giants side.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Finn Callaghan of the Giants kicks the ball during the AFL Opening Round match between Greater Western Sydney Giants and Collingwood Magpies at ENGIE Stadium, on March 09, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Josh Dunkley<\/a> could also feel disappointed, given his demonstrated importance to the Lions’ back-to-back premierships. Against WA’s similarly top-heavy engine room, Dunkley could have provided Victoria with the defensive edge to outbalance the Black Swans’ tanks in the middle in Patrick Cripps<\/a> and Chad Warner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Max Holmes<\/a> and Jack Sinclair<\/a> are sensational half-back options for the Big V, and far from the wrong choice to make, Josh Daicos<\/a> and Harry Sheezel<\/a> could certainly have been named in their place to little outcry.<\/p>\n

Daicos notably ranked 14th in the AFL<\/a> for metres gained last season, close to 60 more metres per game than Sinclair, and his disposal efficiency of 75 per cent clears Holmes’ 68 per cent rate. He also averaged 5.0 rebound 50s per game – more than both Holmes and Sinclair.<\/p>\n

Despite kicking 60 goals in 2025, Daicos’ teammate Jamie Elliott<\/a> was left off Victoria’s best 25, with the selectors prioritising dynamic attacking midfielders over small forward talents.<\/p>\n

Just one true small forward appears in the line-up for the famous navy guernsey – GWS captain Toby Greene<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Jamie Elliott of the Magpies kick a goal during the AFL Opening Round match between Greater Western Sydney Giants and Collingwood Magpies at ENGIE Stadium, on March 09, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While Toby Greene’s footy smarts and leadership obviously make him a great choice to represent the state, Elliott should be ruing the decision to leave him out, given his stellar career-best year in 2025 while coming off a foot injury that almost ended his AFL<\/a> playing days.<\/p>\n

Elliott kicked more goals, had a greater overall scoreboard impact and featured deeper into September than Greene, kicking four goals in both the Magpies’ qualifying final win and preliminary final loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Victorian selectors, there couldn’t have been a tougher challenge than naming the midfield mix. The named cohort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-458378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}