AS THE All-Australian Team was announced for 2008 at the Docklands in Melbourne, afl.com.au’s Jennifer Witham caught the thoughts of the latest players to receive the honour.

Full-backs
Dale Morris (Western Bulldogs)
"It's a massive honour that I never thought I'd get. It's because of the team that I'm here; it's the team that makes the individual, and I'll accept it but I wouldn't be here without my teammates."

Matthew Scarlett (Geelong)
"I'm very honoured to be up here for the fourth time. You're nothing without your teammates, and I'm pretty fortunate to be around some pretty good players."

Tom Harley (Geelong)
"Last week was a really humbling honour (winning the AFLPA's best captain award) and this is equal to that. I'm very surprised and really, really proud."

Half-backs
Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
"Playing half-back with the rebounding is pretty important for the team. I'll play wherever the coach puts me, but at this stage, I'm enjoying playing down back."

Nathan Bock (Adelaide)
"It's special to be named for the first time, and it's a huge honour and something I'll always cherish. I'm really grateful."

Sam Fisher (St Kilda)
"As a team, we didn't get off to a good start to the year and we did a bit of soul searching halfway through and now we're playing good footy as a team. I'm just happy to try and keep my opponent under control and then rebound as well for the team."

Centres
Jimmy Bartel (Geelong)
"It's tough to compare year to year but the thing that remains the same is every year you get a lot of help from your teammates and we're good at sharing the load. Getting presented this award from a champion [Robert Harvey] is pretty special."

Joel Corey (Geelong)
"It's a real pleasure playing alongside those two [Bartel and Ablett]. We just get in there and do the job. I'm very lucky and this is something I'll look back on and be very happy about."

Adam Cooney (Western Bulldogs)
Did not attend due to illness.

Half-forwards
Steve Johnson (Geelong)
"It seems like a long time ago [the drink driving incident in 2007], but it was probably the best thing to happen to me. There was a lot of scrutiny on my season last year so I probably went under the radar this year."

Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda)
"Our turnaround in the team's performance in the second half of the year has come because we've really grown and improved, and we've got some good improvement in front of us this week."

Brent Harvey (North Melbourne)
"We shot ourselves in the foot in that last game against Port Adelaide, so we missed the double chance. But a lot of young guys came through and we've got a lot of fantastic players coming through. I try and set a pretty high standard, and try and lead from the front with training, so if the young guys learn something very small then I've done my job."

Forwards
Brendan Fevola (Carlton)
"To win 10 games this year and to see the growth of a bloke like Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy, and you look at guys like Matty Kreuzer … they're all going to be super footballers and by the time they get up there, I'm going to be nearly finished so hopefully I can hang on and play some finals with these boys and maybe win a premiership."

Lance Franklin (Hawthorn)
"It's very special to be recognised as an All-Australian footballer and it's an honour that I'll cherish forever. I couldn't have got this award without my teammates."

Paul Medhurst (Collingwood)
"It's a pretty proud night. There's some amazing players in the team and to be put in the forward pocket, it feels great."

Followers
Dean Cox (West Coast)
"I've been given a job to play each week and I try to do my best in doing that. It's been a very disappointing year to win four games, but the positive to come out of it is that we blooded so many young kids. We'll come back stronger next year."

Chris Judd (Carlton)
"My first year at Carlton has been great. It was a pretty big move, changing clubs, and I'm rapt to be at Carlton. I feel very fortunate to come into a club where the players are so accepting and have really taken to me, so I've enjoyed the year and with our young list, we're looking forward to bigger and better things next year."

Gary Ablett (Geelong)
"It's been a big week and it's also been very humbling and something I didn't expect. There's also some other guys that are unlucky [from Geelong] not to be recognised tonight."

Interchange
Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle)
"It's good to be up standing here, although I'm a little bit nervous. It was just good to have an injury-free year."

Matthew Richardson (Richmond)
"The team is full of champion players so it's always going to be tough. I'm just happy that I scraped in."

Corey Enright (Geelong)
"Our form last year was pretty good, and it's been pretty good this year as well so I'm rapt to get selected."

Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle)
"This year has been relatively satisfying. Given the fact we haven't been overly successful as a team, it's always a nice thing to get an individual award but then you do get jealous of teams still going around."

Umpire
Brett Rosebury
"Field umpires these days run anywhere between 13 and 16 kilometres a game, so you've definitely got to be fit to keep up with the players."