{"id":484010,"date":"2026-02-16T16:46:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484010\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:46:26","slug":"kane-cornes-top-50-afl-players-brisbane-lions-dominating-as-top-10-takes-shape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/484010\/","title":{"rendered":"Kane Cornes\u2019 top-50 AFL players: Brisbane Lions dominating as top 10 takes shape"},"content":{"rendered":"

The staggering depth of the Brisbane Lions<\/a> outfit \u2014 that this year is competing for a remarkable fourth consecutive grand final appearance and third consecutive premiership \u2014 has been reinforced by Channel 7 AFL expert Kane Cornes.<\/p>\n

As Cornes continues his top-50 AFL players countdown, the Lions\u2019 freshly minted co-captains Harris Andrews and Hugh McCluggage<\/a> have appeared at No.9 and No.8 in the top 10.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Kane Cornes to reveal top-five players, Tuesday 6pm, on 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

The inclusion of the respected duo \u2014 who were both All-Australians last year \u2014 means Brisbane have eight players inside Cornes\u2019 top 50, easily the most (so far).<\/p>\n

Veteran Dayne Zorko, dual Norm Smith medallist Will Ashcroft, Zac Bailey, Jaspa Fletcher, new captain Josh Dunkley and Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale are the other Brisbane premiership players inside the top 50 (scroll to see the list).<\/p>\n

Both Andrews and McCluggage have roared into the top 10 after Cornes ranked them both in the 30s (Andrews at 33, McCluggage at 31) in last year\u2019s top 50.<\/p>\n

\"Brisbane\u2019sBrisbane\u2019s three All-Australians, McCluggage, Andrews and Zac Bailey have all impressed AFL expert Kane Cornes. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

Cornes says Andrews is the AFL\u2019s \u201cpremier key defender\u201d heading into the 2026 season, while he calls the 27-year-old McCluggage a \u201cbeautifully balanced\u201d midfielder.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the top 10 is St Kilda\u2019s rising superstar Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera who was unranked last year but has rocketed up the board after a stunning 2025.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the superstar status of Geelong\u2019s Jeremy Cameron and Sydney\u2019s Isaac Heeney has been franked with consecutive appearances inside Cornes\u2019 top 10.<\/p>\n

Cameron drops in at No.7 (he was 4 last year) while Heeney comes in at 6 after he was ranked at No.3 last year.<\/p>\n

Kane\u2019s top-50 AFL players ahead of 2026 season<\/p>\n

50. Aaron Naughton<\/p>\n

49. Sam Walsh<\/p>\n

48. Tom Liberatore<\/p>\n

47. Dayne Zorko<\/p>\n

46. Mitch Georgiades<\/p>\n

45. Will Ashcroft<\/p>\n

44. Josh Tracey<\/p>\n

43. Zac Bailey<\/p>\n

42. Bailey Smith<\/p>\n

41. Jordan Clark<\/p>\n

40. Bailey Dale<\/p>\n

39. Jason Horne-Francis<\/p>\n

38. Jaspa Fletcher<\/p>\n

37. Toby Greene<\/p>\n

36. Charlie Curnow<\/p>\n

35. Connor Rozee<\/p>\n

34. Josh Dunkley<\/p>\n

33. Tom Green<\/p>\n

32. Andrew Brayshaw<\/p>\n

31. Dylan Moore<\/p>\n

30. Lachie Neale<\/p>\n

29. Nick Blakey<\/p>\n

28. Zach Merrett<\/p>\n

27. Jack Gunston<\/p>\n

26. Hayden Young<\/p>\n

25. Jai Newcombe<\/p>\n

24. Nick Larkey<\/p>\n

23. Chad Warner<\/p>\n

22. Finn Callaghan<\/p>\n

21. Izak Rankine<\/p>\n

20. Max Holmes<\/p>\n

19. Jordan Dawson<\/p>\n

18. Sam Taylor<\/p>\n

17. Caleb Serong<\/p>\n

16. Riley Thilthorpe<\/p>\n

15. Errol Gulden<\/p>\n

14. Max Gawn<\/p>\n

13. Ed Richards<\/p>\n

12. Kysaiah Pickett<\/p>\n

11. Matt Rowell<\/p>\n

What Kane says about his top-10 guns<\/p>\n

10. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera<\/p>\n

Wanganeen-Milera rounds out the top 10 after a historic 2025 campaign where he claimed his maiden best and fairest and All-Australian honours at just 22 years of age. The move from half-back to the midfield was genius and his Round 20 match-winning heroics was legendary.<\/p>\n

9. Harris Andrews<\/p>\n

The three-time All-Australian takes the No.9 spot as the game\u2019s premier key defender. Could have easily won the Norm Smith and his finals series was as good as it gets.<\/p>\n

8. Hugh McCluggage<\/p>\n

The new Brisbane captain was a statistical powerhouse last year, ranking in the league\u2019s top five for score involvements, inside-50s, and total clearances and finally earning his first All-Australian blazer. He\u2019s a beautifully balanced and versatile midfielder.<\/p>\n

7. Jeremy Cameron<\/p>\n

The All-Australian captain is fresh off a monster 80-plus goal season and is still the AFL\u2019s best and most damaging key forward.<\/p>\n

6. Isaac Heeney<\/p>\n

Heeney is the league\u2019s most dangerous dual-threat, winning a second best and fairest and a third All-Australian blazer in 2025. Heeney is one of the league\u2019s most clutch performers.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Kane Cornes to reveal top-five players, Tuesday 6pm, on 7NEWS.<\/p>\n

Click here to see Kane\u2019s 2025 top-50 players<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New faces muscle in as Lachie Neale takes top-10 tumble<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Bailey Smith cops reality check in Kane Cornes\u2019 top-50 players<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The staggering depth of the Brisbane Lions outfit \u2014 that this year is competing for a remarkable fourth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,1625,3863,588,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-484010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-lifestyle","14":"tag-sponsored-content","15":"tag-sport","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484010","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=484010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}