The usual suspects in the “who’s the best?” discussion (from left) Nat Fyfe, Patrick Dangerfield and Dustin Martin.

Seven weeks in and season 2019 is even, unpredictable and yet to provide any incontrovertible evidence that would identify the club that would be king come season’s end.

That question without answer is not restricted to which side is best in 2019. It also applies to which player is currently the best in the AFL, but that’s a poser that can be tackled right now.

From the outset, let it be pointed out that this is a question without a definitive answer, though I have been so taken by the form and influence of my choice for “numero uno” that I’m aiming to win you over if you aren’t already a firm believer.

To further my case for making my man your man in just a few short paragraphs, please allow me to pose the question as to who is the best player in the AFL today slightly differently.

Let’s first alter the wording, changing best to most valuable. They appear interchangeable, after all our Brownlow Medal is awarded to the competition’s best and fairest player, as is the MVP or most valuable player in many other major sporting competitions.

The other caveat I would apply is to confirm that we are talking about the best player as of Monday, May 6, 2019. To ensure that’s what we are doing here, let’s apply the playground law.

The playground law imagines all current AFL footballers having to line up against the old school fence with you and a classmate selected as skippers.

You will take turns, one selection at a time, at picking the best team out of all those players lined up in front of you. A coin is tossed. You choose heads and it lands on … heads! Lucky you, the first pick is yours, but before you make it, may I make a suggestion?

I would strongly advise that you go with a player who has been an under-achiever for most of his AFL career. A player who until now has had a range of reasons, or to be brutally honest, excuses, for not fulfilling his obvious potential.

Has it really been injury, ill-discipline and poor team structures that have held our man back? Or is it simply the case of a footballer who needed time to develop a football brain that would complement his precocious talent.

I thank you for your patience, and I will shortly identify the player, but first, an idea of how far he has come in just seven rounds.

Prior to the start of each AFL season, the Herald-Sun releases its Top 50 players as selected by the chief football writer.

In recent years, that position has been filled by Mark Robinson. The list, which has a predictive component, was released mid-March with our mystery man failing to get a mention.

The same goes for the list compiled by Mark Duffield of The West Australian, making it two chief football writers who couldn’t find a spot for this player in their list of the best 50 AFL footballers heading into the 2019 season.

The vastly-improved player to which I refer is now in his eighth AFL season, making his glaring omission from those lists proof that his first seven seasons were somewhat underwhelming.

Enough beating around the bush. Right now the most valuable player in the AFL is Jeremy Cameron of GWS.

After seven rounds, Cameron tops the AFL goal-kicking with 30, having bagged no less than three goals in any game this year.

He has had hauls of seven and six against Richmond and St Kilda respectively. The Giants’ full-forward dominates the goal-kicking landscape, having kicked almost twice as many goals as his nearest rivals. Tiger Tom Lynch and Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey head a large but distant chasing peloton with 17 majors apiece, 13 behind Cameron.

So impressive has Cameron been that the ancient debate over whether a player can “kick the ton” has been revived.

A single player kicking 100 goals in just one season may seem far-fetched today, but records show it was once a relatively common occurrence. Discussions over which player could reach the mighty milestone were widespread.

Footy fans and paid experts predicted which player would break the century mark for goals, and in some seasons there was more than one correct answer, because there were three or four player who topped the magical 100 goal mark.

It’s not just his goal tally that makes Cameron the best in the business. He has an imposing presence that commands respect and like all champions he is the man for the moment, as his brilliant mark and goal against St. Kilda proved on the weekend.

With the Saints coming hard at the Giants, Cameron imposed himself on the contest in the dying minutes of the third quarter. He took a chest mark running back with the flight of the ball at full pace that would have made a kamikaze pilot wince, then went back and calmly slotted the vital six-pointer.

There’s more to the former Victorian than hunting down a Coleman Medal. Cameron is averaging over 16 disposals per game with a season high of 30, recorded in the Giants’ thrashing of the Tigers in round three.

Furthering his case is the paucity of goal-kicking key forwards at present, a problem exacerbated by early-season injuries to Jack Reiwoldt and Buddy Franklin.

Add their absence to the poor form of Tom McDonald, Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling, Jesse Hogan, Taylor Walker, Eric Hipwood, Ben Brown and Sam Reid, and you begin to see why Cameron has become hen’s teeth and is the clear first choice in that schoolyard of ours.

If not Cameron then who? The season-ending injury to uber-defender Alex Rance, and a group of top midfielders that take turns in ruling the roost has created a void at very top end of the game.
You could argue that Nat Fyfe is top dog among the on-ballers right now, but the real question is for how long?

Tom Mitchell, “Danger”, “Dusty” and “Pendles” have all taken turns recently at being recognised as the best mid in the game, but due to injuries and a strong field of challengers, no-one seems capable of holding the title for more than a few weeks

The facts are clear. Your man for the now is Jeremy Cameron. Vote One for the candidate from Greater Western Sydney but understand that his selection does come with a warning.

Just as may be the case when casting your vote in the upcoming Federal election, what seems so right on the day could very quickly come back to bite you on the proverbial.