From left: Brad Sheppard, Harris Andrews and Aaron Naughton all win a spot in Finey’s current All-Australian team.

After eight rounds of this AFL season, I presented a Footyology All-Australian team. Unsurprisingly, there were a number of readers who responded with their own teams and others who forwarded players they thought should at least be part of the discussion.

Overall, however, it seemed the Footyology family were comfortable with the team I had come up with. And seven rounds on, it’s time to re-visit it.

Some players who shone early continued their strong form, while others have stalled. Injury played a role in some players losing their spot in the side, but for others it has simply been a matter of not being able to match their early-season brilliance.

Jarrod Harbrow and Jack Billings have both maintained their form and could be considered unlucky to have lost their positions in the team. They are both victims of the downgrading that comes when you play for a club at the wrong end of the ladder.

Whilst it’s not impossible to play for a bottom side and still make the All-Australian team, the reality is that being a match-winner adds considerably to a candidate’s credentials and it’s hard to be match-winner in a side that isn’t winning.

The look of the backline changes with Harbrow’s omission. In comes the outstanding Harris Andrews, who has overcome an early-season injury to press his claims as the AFL’s best tall defender. With Andrews at full-back, Dylan Grimes moves over to the back-pocket to give the latest All-Australian team a bigger backline than the round eight version.

Shannon Hurn has continued to be a fine leader at West Coast, but hasn’t quite maintained the form that saw him named an All-Australian half back flanker last year. The consummate team man, I’m sure Hurn wouldn’t mind stepping aside for All-Australian debutant and fellow Eagle Brad Sheppard.

A change of centre half backs would not come as a surprise to most. Darcy Moore might reconsider his change of hair colour, as it appears to have coincided with a drop in form.

On a more serious note, he is one of many Magpies to fall out of the side due to a dip in form. James Sicily, on the other hand, continues to impress with his strong marking and attacking flair. The sometimes fiery Hawk’s move from the interchange bench to starting 18 is well deserved.

The centre line is now home to Nat Fyfe in the middle and Andrew Gaff on the wing. Those two champs are picked in their best positions, with Patrick Cripps moving to the bench and Rory Sloane missing out altogether.

Sloane is out of the side because he hasn’t had a particularly strong couple of months, which is poison if you are competing for a spot in an All-Australian side. An interrupted last month is behind Patrick Cripps’ move from pivot to bench-warmer.

The Carlton skipper is still a star and would be many fans’ first player chosen if they were picking sides in the schoolyard. The reason for the move to the interchange bench is that Cripps has missed the last two matches because of injury, and prior to that was kept quiet by close checking taggers in a couple of other games.

It hasn’t been all bad for Cripps over the last seven rounds. His performance against Brisbane in round 12 had to be seen to be believed. The powerful midfielder had 38 touches, and kicked four goals to get his Blues over the line against the Lions. It serves as a reminder that when fully fit, Cripps clearly has the ability to win back the coveted position of All-Australian centreman.

The forward line boasts some new names as well. Two of the four new forwards are midfielders enjoying seasons that have continued to build from round one.

Richmond’s Dustin Martin and Port Adelaide’s Travis Boak are not out of place up forward as they both know how to hit the scoreboard, either personally, or via goal assists. Martin in particular is often played in attack.

The other two new forwards have both been match winners this year. Fremantle is still in the hunt for a finals berth thanks to one man, Michael Walters. The brilliant small forward has worked further up the field this season, but was operating in familiar waters close to goal when he sealed Brisbane and Collingwood’s fates with last-gasp match-winning kicks.

The other new face up front may raise a few eyebrows. Yes, Aaron Naughton is helped by the poor form or the injury status of many of the game’s other tall forwards, but he is equal first for contested marks in the AFL and makes a meaningful contribution to the Bulldog cause each week.

Forward line omission Jordan de Goey was named as a forward-pocket in my round eight side, but like the team he plays for, has not been able to maintain the rage. At times, de Goey appears to be playing on cruise control, not good enough if you want to be an All-Australian.

Gary Ablett has slipped out of the team without doing much wrong. Spots are always hotly contested in an All-Australian side, and Gary Jr. makes way for Walters because he hasn’t quite reached the match-winning heights the Freo man has.

Few would argue against Stephen Coniglio being in best AFL side this season. He is proving to be the best of a good lot in a star-studded GWS midfield. No wonder he is the hottest property in the game today, and central to the most salacious of the trade gossip currently doing the rounds.

Coniglio takes the spot of another demoted Pie, Adam Treloar. The former Giant continues to find plenty of the ball, but questions rightly remain about his ball use and overall effectiveness.

Collingwood fans will be screaming blue murder with the naming of an interchange bench sans Scott Pendlebury. His omission means four Magpies have lost their place in the side that was selected after round eight.

He and Hawthorn’s Ricky Henderson make way for two in-form midfielders, in the ever-consistent Luke Parker and the often-overlooked Ben Cunnington. Their selections reward Sydney and North Melbourne, whose improved form in turn helped the two midfielders force their way onto the bench.

Of the two players to lose their spot on the bench, Henderson is probably more harshly done by than Pendlebury. Henderson’s form has slipped in the last fortnight, but given his consistent output prior to that, it would not shock to see him resume in the role of damaging ball-magnet soon.

The AFL 2019 season is far from over, and those footballers who lost their positions from the round eight team have enough time to win back a spot in the side that recognises football’s best of the best.

The same applies to those players who were part of the discussion but narrowly missed out on making the team.

Mark Blicavs (Geelong), Alex Keath (Adelaide), Tom Clurey (Port Adelaide), Scott Thompson (North Melbourne) and Aliir Aliir (Sydney) are all keeping pressure on the tall backs. Ditto for Adam Saad (Essendon), Sydney Stack (Richmond) and Caleb Daniel (Bulldogs) when it comes to small and rebounding defenders.

The heat is being turned up on the midfield by West Coast pair Luke Shuey and Elliott Yeo, Bomber skipper Dyson Heppell, Demon Clayton Oliver, North skipper Jack Zeibell, Jack McCrae from the Dogs and the unluckiest player of all those overlooked, Brisbane’s Lachie Neale.

Tall forwards Tom Hawkins and Ben Brown are both pressing their cases strongly, though it may simply come down to goal tallies at the end of the home and away season.

Putting mids in the forward line has always been a way of ensuring the best players in the competition don’t miss out, but it limits the spots for genuine small forwards. That being the case, I would suggest the only players pressing Walters would be Port star Robbie Gray, Tom Papley from Sydney and a real bolter in the Doggies’ Sam Lloyd.

When you add the above mentioned players to the 10 who lost their place in the side from round eight, it’s clear to see that a large field remains in contention to receive that coveted All-Australian blazer come the end of the 2019 season.

Of course this is only one man’s idea of the All-Australian team after round 15, though I’d like to think it wouldn’t be too far from the official version from the AFL if Gillon McLachlan and his team entertained such follies

FINEY’S 2019 ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM (after Round 8)
B: Tom Stewart (Geel) Dylan Grimes (Rich) Jarrod Harbrow (GC)
HB: Jack Crisp (Coll) Darcy Moore (Coll) Shannon Hurn (WC)
C: Rory Sloane (Adel) Patrick Cripps (Carl) Marcus Bontempelli (WB)
HF: Jack Billings (StK) Nat Fyfe (Frem) Patrick Dangerfield (Geel)
F: Gary Ablett (Geel) Jeremy Cameron (GWS) Jordan de Goey (Coll)
Rucks: Brodie Grundy (Coll), Tim Kelly (Geel), Adam Treloar (Coll)
Inter: James Sicily (Haw), Scott Pendlebury (Coll), Hugh McCluggage (Bris), Ricky Henderson (Haw)

FINEY’S 2019 ALL-AUSTRALIAN TEAM (after Round 16)
B: Tom Stewart (Geel), Harris Andrews(Bris), Dylan Grimes(Rich)
HB: Brad Sheppard (WCE), James Sicily (Haw), Jack Crisp (Coll)
C: Marcus Bontempelli (WB), Nat Fyfe (Frem), Andrew Gaff (WCE)
HF: Patrick Dangerfield (Geel), Aaron Naughton (WB), Travis Boak (PA)
F: Michael Walters (Frem), Jeremy Cameron (GWS), Dustin Martin (Rich)
Rucks: Brodie Grundy (Coll), Tim Kelly (Geel), Stephen Coniglio (GWS).
Inter: Ben Cunnington (NM), Hugh McCluggage (Bris), Patrick Cripps (Carl), Luke Parker (Syd)