With the announcement of the 2024 All Australian team, I’m putting myself out there again as I attempt another AFL Victorian country footy version. As with previous iterations of this team the process of putting it together is relatively simple.

Any player who is named in either the All Australian side or squad and started at an AFL Vic aligned league or club before being drafted is an automatic in, then the rest of the positions are filled with other former Vic country players who have had outstanding 2024 seasons. As with each previous year, those additional selections are made by using the players season rating and other season statistics for 2024 from afl.com.au to justify their position in the side.

The majority of those selected in the team were in the Top 100 players rated for the 2024 season on AFL.com.au

Where possible I have kept the players in the same position as they were named in the 2024 All Australian team, but some minor tweaks have been required. This year’s team has also been selected to mirror the AFL team in terms of positions and also trying to select a team in positions where they played a majority of the season. That being said, our two wingmen are those who have played the majority of the year in that position, as opposed to dropping in another midfielder.

Now every year there are alway some controversial selections, namely to do with the players origins and whether they are Victorian or not. So just to be clear to qualify, a player needs to originally be drafted from:
- a Victorian country football club
- a New South Wales club that plays in an AFL Victoria affiliated country league.

For reference, AFL Victoria affiliated leagues that include NSW based clubs are:
- Central Murray FNL
- Golden Rivers FNL
- Murray FNL
- Ovens & Murray FNL
- Sunraysia FNL
- Upper Murray FNL

Also there are always arguments made that leagues such as Geelong FNL, the Mornington Peninsula Nepean FNL and the Outer East FNL should not be included in a ‘country’ team. Whilst they are significant population centres and located much closer the the city now than in years gone past, they are under the auspices of AFL Vic Country, so fit our criteria.

BACKS:
One of the biggest selection issues was in this part of the ground as there was no standout for a second key defender to partner Jacob Weitering (Mt Eliza FNC) so at CHB we’ve gone with Jake Lever (Romsey FNC), who rated was rated in the Top 20 for key defenders for the season. Lever gets the nod ahead of other possible options of Tom McCartin (St Joseph's FNC) and Ben McKay (Warragul FNC).

There were plenty of options to support the key backs with a group of players. Despite a couple of lean weeks across the season, Tom Stewart (South Barwon FNC) holds his spot from last year as does Lachie Whitfield (Mornington FNC) and we’ve chosen Nic Newman (Mornington FNC) as an extra defender on the interchange bench.

MIDFIELDERS:
There were so many options in this part of the ground, but with a focus on selecting players in position, unlike the actual All Australian team I’ve chosen to have two dedicated wingmen rather than just add in an extra midfielder. Mason Wood (Geelong Amateur FNC) and Hugh McCluggage (South Warrnambool FNC) filled these two spots given they spent a large part of games across the season patrolling the wings

The rest of the midfield has talent to burn so I’ve added additional midfielders onto the interchange bench instead of just sticking them into other spots on the ground. Sam Walsh (St Joseph's FNC) James Worpel (Bell Park FNC) Jack Crisp (Myrtleford FNC) were stiff to miss out.

FORWARDS:
I’ve tried to match the All Australian side format with the number of big key forwards. Carlton’s Charlie Curnow (Torquay FNC) would make an awesome pairing with Jeremy Cameron (Dartmoor FNC) and Josh Treacy (Cohuna FNC) get the spot as a third tall and also to play the back up ruck role ahead of Harry McKay (Warragul FNC). The on ground forward 6 has a total of 241 goals for the season, only 34 less than the total of the All Australian forward group.

Harry McKay (Warragul FNC) and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (South Warrnambool FNC) as key forwards and Tom Papley (Bunyip FNC) and Josh Rachele (Shepparton Swans FNC) as smaller forwards are the ones who could also have been selected for this part of the ground.

INTERCHANGE:
The make up of this is one dedicated midfielder in Jai Newcombe (Poowong FNC) while Hayden Young (Somerville FNC) and Luke Davies-Uniacke (Rye FNC) could also play a high half forward role or also rotate through the midfield. As mentioned earlier Nic Newman (Mornington FNC) is our extra defender

COACH:
John Longmire’s (Corowa Rutherglen FNC) gets the gig as his Sydney Swans finished higher on the ladder than Ken HInkley’s (Camperdown FNC) Port Adelaide FC, Aliastair Clarkson’s (Kaniva FNC) North Melbourne and Richmond coach Adem Yze (Shepparton United FNC).

Michael Voss could be considered unlucky to miss given that he was born in Traralgon and lived in Orbost, before moving to Queensland at the age of 11.

So there you have it, my picks for this year's AFL Vic Country All Australian team. I’m sure there is plenty of room for debate in who I’ve picked, where they are selected and who missed out, but that’s the fun part of this whole process.

Feel free to have your say on the selections via our Twitter or Facebook page by sharing who the changes you would make.