Gold Coast’s Alex Sexton (middle) celebrates one of his six goals against North Melbourne on Saturday. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

FULL BACKS

James Sicily (Hawthorn)
Sicily capped off a pretty remarkable return season with a complete masterclass in defensive marking against the Western Bulldogs in Launceston. The key Hawk had more disposals than anyone on the ground with 33, and also reeled in 17 grabs. With Ben McEvoy retiring, Sicily will be in the mix to take over captain duties in 2023.

Sam Taylor (GWS)
Another fantastic game from Taylor, who has established himself as one of the leading key backs in the AFL this year. He led the Giants’ surge in the early part of the game by controlling everything from the back half, with 10 spoils and nine intercept marks (five contested) a sign of his complete dominance in the air.

Brayden Maynard (Collingwood)
Whilst Jamie Elliott did the damage up forward with two last-quarter goals, it was Maynard who helped break Carlton fans’ hearts up the other end with a superb defensive display. The Blues had their chances in the final term, but Maynard seemed to be in the way of everything, with his determined spoiling on bigger opponents a big factor in the result.

HALF-BACKS

Ben Long (St Kilda)
In what was easily the most prolific game of his career, Long had an absolute day out against Sydney in the last match of the home-and-away season. Having only ever had 20 disposals once in his career, the tough Saint managed 27 possessions at 100 per cent kicking efficiency, five contested marks among a whopping 17 in total, 13 intercepts and a goal.

Darcy Moore (Collingwood)
Another key contributor to Collingwood’s vital win was undoubtedly defender Darcy Moore. Outside of the third term, where Carlton’s tall forwards made their mark, Moore was able to hold the Blues at bay and limit the damage from 65 inside 50s, sending the ball back out on 10 occasions with his long accurate kicking.

Jordan Clark (Fremantle)
The move to Fremantle has been a major success for Clark, who has played every game after only 14 in the previous two seasons at Geelong. The way his pace and dare has livened up Fremantle’s ball movement was on show again against the Giants, with Clark also nailing a fantastic goal from outside 50 to give the Dockers the lead.

CENTRES

Josh Daicos (Collingwood)
Having spent much of the game on-ball last week, Daicos had a big impact in Sunday’s game changing between his traditional wing role and some more minutes in at centre bounces. His influence in driving Collingwood forward was as strong as it’s been most of the season, and also he worked hard in the other direction in laying seven tackles.

Caleb Serong (Fremantle)
With 32 touches, 11 clearances and a late goal that put the icing on the cake, Serong was undoubtedly one of the best performed midfielders of Round 23. Nearly half of his possessions were contested, and he showed again why Justin Longmuir can be comfortable playing Nat Fyfe up forward for most of the match.

Dylan Stephens (Sydney)
It’s been a season of fits and starts, but Stephens ends his home-and-away campaign on a high note with a great game against St Kilda. He didn’t collect huge numbers, but showed why he was rated so highly by the Swans at the 2018 national draft with the way he competed and ran hard up and down the wings.

HALF-FORWARDS

Will Hayward (Sydney)
With Sydney’s only two goals in what was a highly-entertaining final term, Hayward was a big reason why the Swans managed to cling on to a top-four spot in the final stages of Round 23. Neither of the goals were straightforward, with the underrated forward demonstrating his significant bag of tricks to cap off a solid four-quarter display.

Tom Lynch (Richmond)
Richmond will be relieved to dodge any significant injury to Lynch, given that he is probably the form player of the competition in any position right now. He is marking strongly and kicking at goal with rare accuracy, but his work between the arcs helped make him the most influential player on the ground on Saturday night.

Tyson Stengle (Geelong)
Having kicked three goals on no fewer than eight occasions this season, Stengle managed to bookend his year with bags of four with a damaging performance against West Coast on Saturday. He’s finished with 46 goals, behind only Charlie Cameron as far as pure small forwards are concerned. A great story, and a genuine All-Australian contender.

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FORWARDS

Kysaiah Pickett (Melbourne)
In picking up right where he left off in Round 22 with a terrific goal in traffic, Pickett kicked off a dominant performance for the Demons and also from a personal point of view. The electrifying forward had four goals as Melbourne took an 11-goal lead into half-time, including a set-shot banana and two left-foot snaps.

Max King (St Kilda)
After a week of fraught discussion, King managed to quite literally reverse his goalkicking fortunes by slotting five goals straight against Sydney. Clearly, he did not make any dramatic technical inroads during the eight-day break, which suggests a great deal of weight on the upstairs factor. He finishes with 52 goals, easily the youngest of the 40-plus goalkickers.

Alex Sexton (Gold Coast)
For one reason or another, Sexton does not regularly get a game under Stuart Dew, but there’s no denying that when in the side, he absolutely knows where the goals are. Coming in to replace the injured Izak Rankine, Sexton kicked six goals, which is the biggest bag of his career and also the most by a Sun in season 2023.

FOLLOWERS

Jonathan Ceglar (Geelong)
Joining the team as one of Chris Scott’s famous late changes, Ceglar ended up having an enormous influence in the centre square against West Coast. Combining well with Mark Blicavs, the former Hawk gave Geelong first use, but also had 24 touches and a game-high 11 clearances himself. An interesting selection battle looms ahead of the finals series between him and regular No.1 ruck Rhys Stanley.

Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
This was an ultimate heart-and-soul performance from the Carlton captain. Shattered though he’ll be not to have won the Blues a spot in the finals, Cripps can take heart from the fact he did everything within his means, bulldozing the Collingwood midfield to win 27 contested possessions and 12 clearances, and releasing some of the best handballs under duress you’re likely to see. Perhaps a Brownlow will be his consolation prize.

Connor Rozee (Port Adelaide)
The way in which Rozee has been able to add to his game this season has been a huge win for Port Adelaide, with the highly impactful midfielder showing defensive intensity to match his flashy work on the outside. He was tremendous in all facets against Adelaide, with 34 touches, eight tackles, a goal and two assists as a deserved Showdown Medallist.

INTERCHANGE

Noah Anderson (Gold Coast)
This was a damaging display from Anderson, who led an impressive Suns midfield group to a big win over North Melbourne in their final match of 2023. Continuing his season-long commitment to driving the ball forward at all costs, Anderson had nine inside 50s, with nearly half of his 30 touches resulting in Gold Coast scores.

Blake Hardwick (Hawthorn)
Once again, Hardwick did what few small defenders are able to regularly do in keeping a dangerous opponent quiet whilst also having a big impact going the other way. Despite a total inside-50 domination from the Bulldogs, Cody Weightman only managed one score on Hardwick, with the Hawthorn backman racking up 26 disposals at 88 per cent efficiency.

Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
Oliver did his Brownlow Medal chances no harm at all with yet another strong game in which he was dramatically better at stoppages and contested ball than anyone else. His 13 clearances on Friday night brought his season average to 8.7, which is the third highest since stats started being recorded.

Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs)
The Bulldogs kept Hawthorn in the game for too long with their inability to capitalise up forward, but the main reason they had so many opportunities was the performance of Josh Dunkley. With 29 touches, nine marks, nine tackles and eight clearances, he starred in all aspects of the role and was the most damaging midfielder on the ground.

STIFF TO MISS
Adam Cerra (Carlton), Lewis Young (Carlton), Dion Prestia (Richmond), Zak Butters (Port Adelaide), Todd Marshall (Port Adelaide), Tom Hawkins (Geelong), Mark Blicavs (Geelong), Jake Lever (Melbourne), Curtis Taylor (North Melbourne), Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs).