Bulldog Marcus Bontempelli is the most complete player. He freewheels, he defends, he wins the contested ball, he takes contested marks, he mops up clearances. He’s everything.
And he’s No.1 ahead of Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters at No.2.
Butters is the dynamo. He’s quick, brave and smart as a rat and although lacking the suaveness of Nick Daicos, he’s equally as damaging. Those two represent the new world order.
Toby Greene is the highest-ranked forward, ahead of Charlie Curnow. A so-so finals series last year doesn’t dictate Curnow’s No.6 placing, because the pre-season Top 50 is a look ahead to the end of this year, but there’s no doubt, if the Blues play finals, the focus will be extreme on Charlie in that first week.
Jeremy Cameron returns to his rightful place, while Giant Sam Taylor is the highest-ranked defender ahead of James Sicily and Tom Stewart.
Tom Green, Connor Rozee, Errol Gulden, Noah Anderson and Luke Davies-Uniacke complete the arrival of the young guns, and they are all inside the Top 20. Footy is in good hands.
The most gut-wrenching call was leaving out walk-up Hall of Famer Patrick Dangerfield. He’s been a top 50 player for 12 years, and a top 10 player for half of that time, and although his brilliance remains, there’s queries about his consistency.
ROBBO’S TOP PLAYERS
1. Marcus Bontempelli
2. Zak Butters
3. Nick Daicos
4, Toby Greene
5. Christian Petracca
