Joe Daniher (Essendon)
He might still look like a character imagined by Pieter Bruegel the Elder but Dons forward Joe Daniher has added some weight to his spindly frame now. In 2015 he’ll surely benefit from the senior opportunities afforded to him last year. It’s impossible to predict where his ceiling is but there are few sights in football that inspire as much hope and happiness as the emergence of a high-leaping forward and Daniher is one of the brightest prospects in the league. Who knows if he’ll kick straight or avoid injuries but he’s going to take some majestic pack marks.
Angus Brayshaw (Melbourne)
If any player can soothe the Demon heartache that came when No2 pick Christian Petracca suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first months of his career, you’d think it’s the young man who followed him by one place in the national draft. With a jawline that looks carved from granite and the ability to not only win his own ball but kick goals too – a precious commodity for Melbourne – Brayshaw should make an immediate impact. You sense he’ll just push his opponents out of the way. The fact that they’ve extended his contract before he’s even played a game says everything.
Adam Treloar (Greater Western Sydney)
It’s hard to confirm this but Adam Treloar seems like one of the biggest sledgers in the AFL. If he’s not talking he’s smirking, but more than that he’s winning the ball out of the middle and doing damage with it. Treloar’s fast, he’s deceptively strong and last season he gathered an average of 28 possessions a game. In a finals team he might have been feted as a superstar, but it probably won’t be long until he establishes the fact regardless. If he wasn’t such a brilliant footballer he’d make an infuriating wicketkeeper. With the arrival of Ryan Griffen at the Giants this year, he’ll also be harder to tag. That should be fun.
Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
Robbed of the official Goal of the Year award last season, Marcus Bontempelli can console himself in the fact that he’s one of the stand-out youngsters of the competition. The Bulldogs need a few heroes to endure these lean years and “The Bont” looks ready-made for the job. His ascent probably needs to be a rapid one for the sake of his side but achieving that task has been made a little tougher by a season-ending injury to Tom Liberatore. Accordingly we’re going to get a pretty good sense of just how good Bontempelli is.
Nat Fyfe (Fremantle)
At just 23, Fyfe is now surely well within what we might eventually come to view as his window of greatness. This season might be peak Fyfe, making the Dockers a must-watch side. The thing many of us love most about him is the silky, loping stride as he runs. He doesn’t even look like he’s trying at times, moving both faster than his opponent but also it sometimes seems, in slow-motion. Without the ball he’s like a leopard about to devour its prey. With it he’s regal. Last season Fyfe polled one fewer vote than Brownlow medalist Matt Priddis despite missing four games. He was also the players’ MVP. They know how good he is; right in the conversation with Ablett and Pendlebury.
Tim Broomhead (Collingwood)
Of the young Pies, it’s probably more likely that Jamie Elliott or Alex Fasolo will do serious damage this year but dashing midfielder-forward Tim Broomhead also looks a seriously capable footballer. What caught the eye most last year was the way he ran with the ball and always looked to score. Expect some thrilling bombs at goal if he gets the chance. Like Steele Sidebottom before him, Broomhead stepped up to AFL level and just immediately looked like he knew what he was doing. You can’t teach that sort of composure.
Mitch Clark (Geelong)
Firstly, the facts: Geelong will be a far better side with Mitch Clark; less reliant on Tom Hawkins and a constant scoring threat. Importantly for Clark he now carries nothing like the weight of expectation he had at Melbourne, for whom – no matter what anyone says of his departure – he always tried valiantly. Dees fans will hope he doesn’t kick a bag against them but you’d hope that in all other respects, his return will be a success. Football is a better game with players like Clark bravely plucking marks out of the pack.
Josh Green (Brisbane)
Brisbane’s Rising Star winner Lewis Taylor might have ended up with more attention in the 2014 post-season, but he wasn’t the only Lion punching above his weight last year. Josh Green should continue his cultish ascent in 2015. He’s clever, quick, aggressive, confrontational and kicks more than his fair share of cheeky goals; 33 of them in his last campaign. Perhaps this year he’ll emerge as one of the premier small forwards in the competition, but at the very least he’ll do something to grab your attention every time he’s out there. A performer and a pest in equal measure.
Gary Ablett Jr (Gold Coast)
Through consistency of high-level output, the very best footballers tend to make you somewhat complacent of and immune to their greatness. Gary Ablett’s now well within that zone; you just expect him to gather 35 possessions and kick three goals every game. What he’s done in the last few years – in a development team and with every opposition side’s best run-with player on his tail – has been truly astonishing. He’s 30 now, further towards the end than the start. We should savour and lose ourselves in every breathtaking moment he’s got left.
Paddy McCartin (St Kilda)
It goes without saying that the football world always has its eyes firmly fixed on number one draft picks, a level of expectation and attention that could get the better of even the strongest mind. St Kilda’s Paddy McCartin gives every impression of being undaunted by the fuss, no matter what he’s actually feeling inside. Against men he won’t yet be the dominant physical presence he was in the TAC Cup, but what he will be given is plenty of opportunities in a rebuilding St Kilda side. Remember the tentative first steps of the Bambi-like Nick Riewoldt in 2001, when his pencil-thin arms and legs couldn’t yet carry him to the destinations his mind had in store? That’s McCartin this year and possibly the next couple. No pressure though, obviously.
