The Australian Football League has polled the 18 AFL club captains for their views on the impending 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season, and they see the GWS Giants, the Adelaide Crows and reigning premiers Richmond at the top end of the ladder as the teams to beat.
In all, those three clubs drew the votes of 17 of the 18 club captains as the teams most likely to be a part of Grand Final day this year.
Unanimously, the view of the game's on-field leaders is that five clubs should all make an appearance in September – the Tigers, Giants and Crows, along with the Geelong Cats and the Sydney Swans, while Patrick Dangerfield and Lance Franklin will be the individuals to watch for the year ahead.
A total of nine different players received a tip as a choice for this year’s Brownlow Medal favourite, with Dangerfield the clear stand out, while the Coleman Medal as leading goalkicker was again expected to be the domain of Franklin, with West Coast’s Josh Kennedy as his main rival.
Carlton’s Paddy Dow and North Melbourne’s Luke Davies-Uniacke were the leading choices to claim the Ron Evans Medal as the NAB AFL Rising Star.
Before a gathering with the AFL Commission in Melbourne today, the captains were asked five key questions on the season ahead, with the proviso that their individual answers would be treated anonymously to ensure personal views:
Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year's top eight?
Which other club is most likely to reach the Grand Final?
Who do you think will win the 2018 Coleman Medal?
Who do you think will win the 2018 NAB AFL Rising Star?
Who do you think will win the 2018 Brownlow Medal?
Travis Boak (Port Adelaide), Trent Cotchin (Richmond) and Shannon Hurn (West Coast) will NOT be part of today’s media opportunity at Etihad Stadium but each completed the survey. They will be replaced respectively today by Ollie Wines, Jack Riewoldt and Andrew Gaff.
The full voting was:
Which seven other clubs apart from your own do you think can make this year's top eight? (18 times seven selections)
17 - Adelaide Crows, Geelong Cats, GWS Giants, Richmond, Sydney Swans.
14 - Port Adelaide.
10 - Melbourne.
5 – Hawthorn.
4 - Essendon, West Coast.
2 - Western Bulldogs.
1 – Collingwood, St Kilda.
Which other club apart from your own is most likely to reach the Grand Final?
7 – GWS Giants.
5 – Richmond, Adelaide Crows.
1 - Sydney Swans.
Who do you think will win the 2018 Brownlow Medal?
7 - Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong Cats).
3 - Dustin Martin (Richmond).
2 - Nathan Fyfe (Fremantle).
1 - Josh Kelly (GWS Giants), Josh Kennedy (Sydney Swans), Zac Merrett (Essendon), Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn), Luke Parker (Sydney Swans), Rory Sloane (Adelaide Crows).
Who do you think will win the 2018 Coleman Medal?
12 - Lance Franklin (Sydney Swans).
3 - Josh Kennedy (West Coast).
1 - Joe Daniher (Essendon), Charlie Dixon (Port Adelaide), Tom Hawkins (Geelong Cats).
Who do you think will win the 2018 NAB AFL Rising Star?
4 - Paddy Dow (Carlton).
3 - Luke Davies-Uniacke (North Melbourne).
2 - Andrew Brayshaw (Fremantle), Cam Rayner (Brisbane Lions).
1 - Aiden Bonar (GWS Giants), Nick Coffield (St Kilda), Darcy Fogarty (Adelaide Crows), Oliver Florent (Sydney Swans), Jack Graham (Richmond), Aaron Naughton (Western Bulldogs), Alex Witherden (Brisbane Lions).
