who now has a Brownlow Medal to his name.<\/a><\/p>\nMarcus Bontempelli the Rolls Royce, a consistently elite performer who this year equalled Scott West\u2019s record with a seventh best-and-fairest for the Western Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
And Max Gawn the legend, a nine-time All-Australian who remains the best ruckman and one of the best leaders in the game.<\/p>\n
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE FULL TOP 50 AND HAVE YOUR SAY.<\/p>\n
But it was the meteoric rise of new superstars Luke \u2018Unicorn\u2019 Jackson, Nick \u2018The Wizard\u2019 Watson and Will \u2018Norm\u2019 Ashcroft that made this year unforgettable.<\/p>\n
Jackson helped lead Fremantle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
These new kids on the block find themselves at the pointy end of the biggest and best list in the AFL – the Herald Sun\u2019s iconic Top 50.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s two grand finalists – Brisbane and Fremantle – have six and seven representatives in the list respectively.<\/p>\n
![\"\u2018He\u2019d](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/311463f5a1a8d0f0d238d8c04f8e04a1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The Dockers\u2019 group includes five players in the top 28 positions – Jackson, Caleb Serong, Shai Bolton, Josh Treacy and Andrew Brayshaw.<\/p>\n
Sydney has five players on the list but lost one of those – Nick Blakey – to North Melbourne during the trade period.<\/p>\n
At the other end of the table, Essendon\u2019s only representative was Zach Merrett, who has made the switch to Hawthorn.<\/p>\n
Fellow cellar-dweller Richmond was the only club without a player in the picture.<\/p>\n
Originally published as Jay Clark\u2019s Top 50 AFL players after the 2026 season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 season heralded the arrival of a new batch of football heroes. Nick Daicos is the AFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":935286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[409326,380894,382591,502049,502029,413849,502063,502040,502042,502037,502064,502032,502053,157394,502046,502066,502054,379533,502067,502060,379284,502057,502033,638,502045,28956,64,63,55,639,108310,127248,502052,76140,10993,3028,404981,502030,9116,10992,14550,502047,502039,608,114240,19125,10991,33343,502050,79402,19122,61822,47378,6855,29653,502048,43157,188553,502059,85,419414,379302,502051,418276,381352,502061,502065,502055,15215,403685,85485,502043,502036,74713,502028,420644,386615,502031,194434,502027,502038,438219,490979,502041,377440,502058,392722,502062,377104,383393,502044,502034,502035,464386,364611,502056,18959,7137,9833,25581],"class_list":["post-935285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-best","tag-s-biggest-names","tag-s-charge","tag-s-iconic-top","tag-s-only-representative","tag-s-record","tag-s-top-50","tag-s-top-50-afl-players","tag-s-top-50-list-the","tag-s-top-50-snubs","tag-s-two-grand-finalists","tag-50-names","tag-50-this-year","tag-157394","tag-a-63-goal-year","tag-a-brownlow-medal","tag-a-consistently-elite-performer","tag-a-list","tag-a-new-batch","tag-a-nine-time-all-australian","tag-a-player","tag-a-premiership-three-peat-these-new-kids","tag-a-seventh-best-and-fairest","tag-afl","tag-andrew-brayshaw-sydney","tag-ashcroft","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-big-name-players","tag-brightest","tag-brisbane-and-fremantle","tag-caleb-serong","tag-dockers","tag-essendon","tag-five-players","tag-football-heroes","tag-footy","tag-fremantle","tag-group","tag-hawthorn-fellow-cellar-dweller-richmond","tag-his-name-marcus-bontempelli","tag-jackson","tag-jay","tag-jay-clark","tag-josh-treacy","tag-luke","tag-new-superstars","tag-nick","tag-nick-blakey","tag-nick-daicos","tag-norm","tag-north-melbourne","tag-scott-gullan","tag-scott-west","tag-september","tag-shai-bolton","tag-six-and-seven-representatives","tag-sports","tag-the-2026-season","tag-the-afl","tag-the-afl-king","tag-the-arrival","tag-the-best","tag-the-best-leaders","tag-the-best-ruckman","tag-the-biggest-and-best-list","tag-the-block","tag-the-brisbane-lions","tag-the-cut","tag-the-final-saturday","tag-the-full-top-50-and-have-your-say-but","tag-the-game","tag-the-game-scroll-down","tag-the-grand-final","tag-the-herald-sun","tag-the-legend","tag-the-list","tag-the-list-respectively-some","tag-the-meteoric-rise","tag-the-microscope","tag-the-momentum","tag-the-only-club","tag-the-other-end","tag-the-picture-afl","tag-the-pointy-end","tag-the-rolls-royce","tag-the-switch","tag-the-table","tag-the-top-28-positions","tag-the-trade-period-at","tag-the-western-bulldogs-and-max-gawn","tag-the-wizard","tag-this-year","tag-this-year-unforgettable-jackson","tag-unicorn","tag-watch","tag-watson","tag-zach-merrett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935285","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=935285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}