Sydney’s Peter Ladhams was influential against the Hawks in the ruck, but also around the ground. Photo: AFL MEDIA

FULL BACKS

Josh Battle (St Kilda)
It’s been an impressive turn-around for Battle, who spent the latter stages of last season as the sub or out of the team altogether. His work in defence against the Giants, with 10 marks and 23 touches, was excellent. However his emergency work in the ruck, where he contested well and even won a number of clearances, was just about match-winning.

Sam Collins (Gold Coast)
Another great game from the Suns’ full back, who blanketed Joe Daniher for the vast majority of the match, and also picked up 12 intercept possessions. The highly competitive Collins would have been disappointed to concede two late goals once the game was essentially over, but it should not detract from what was an outstanding defensive game.

Brennan Cox (Fremantle)
An assured performance once again from Cox, who has shown impressive glimpses throughout his six seasons at AFL level, but now looks to have taken a step towards consistency as part of a commanding backline combination. His 12 marks against Carlton was easily a career-high, and he did not lose a one-on-one contest for the game.

HALF BACKS

Zach Tuohy (Geelong)
Tuohy set up the Cats’ big win over North Melbourne with a typically hard working and skilful performance. He cooled off slightly after half time, and in fact spent a large chunk of the third quarter on the bench with a view towards bigger games later in the year, but was still one of the best players on the ground and too much for North’s team defence to contain.

Billy Frampton (Adelaide)
Matthew Nicks’ backline experiment for the somewhat maligned Frampton has looked ok at times this season, but his outing against the Bulldogs was easily the best of his career. The 200cm former back-up ruck was pivotal to the Crows’ victory, easily accounting for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, marking strongly, and collecting 26 disposals from defence.

Nick Vlastuin (Richmond)
The hugely important Vlastuin hasn’t missed a beat since rejoining the side after an injury interrupted pre-season. Against a deluge of inside 50s, he was able to win the ball and use it effectively going back up the field. His form in the first quarter in particular, with 10 disposals and a handful of intercepts, was a big reason why the Tigers started so well.

CENTRES

Dan Houston (Port Adelaide)
Houston has been one of Port Adelaide’s few consistent performers this season, dipping below 20 disposals on just one occasion. He worked hard in both directions against West Coast, with his 33 disposals featuring 11 intercept possessions and five rebound 50s, along with five inside 50s and a goal.

Callum Mills (Sydney)
This performance from Mills will be perhaps one of the great individual displays for season 2022 – 37 disposals at 92 per cent efficiency, 11 marks, nine inside 50s, a goal, and 11 score involvements. For a guy who couldn’t get into the midfield in his first five seasons, he’s picked it up remarkably well – to the extent that he’s now virtually elite in all aspects of the job.

Ed Langdon (Melbourne)
The king of the wing produced the goods for the Demons again, racking up 30 disposals against Richmond and looking dangerous inside 50 with some good crumbing efforts as well. His ridiculous “time on ground” numbers have been a talking point all season, and once again he hit 100%, with his total benchings for the year remaining at just one.

HALF FORWARDS

Zac Bailey (Brisbane)
A career-high swag of six goals for the emerging Brisbane superstar, including two separate bursts of two-in-a-minute, and some of the most skilful work in traffic that you’re likely to see. His ability to read contested situations and pluck the footy out before anyone else has realised what’s happened is an extremely useful skill.

Jeremy Cameron (Geelong)
Cameron’s seven goals was the biggest haul so far this year, his biggest as a Cat, and the most ever kicked by an individual in an AFL match at Bellerive. The full array of his well known skill-set was on show against North Melbourne, with an impressive seven marks inside 50, but some wiley work at ground level as well.

Jack Ginnivan (Collingwood)
A stunning break-out performance from Ginnivan, who kicked the opening goal of the game and then continued kicking them from everywhere all afternoon. There have been more than a few hints across the early weeks of the season that Ginnivan might be born for the big stage, now the football world has total confirmation.

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FORWARDS

Jack Higgins (St Kilda)
More brilliance from Higgins, who has bounced back well from his shabby round one form to be one of the best performed goalkickers in the competition in the last few weeks. Playing as a permanent small forward, he managed four goals from seven shots, and also showed his utility as a marking option in forward 50.

Todd Marshall (Port Adelaide)
When Marshall is on, he looks like he’s capable of being one of the strongest key forwards in the league – brave, accurate, self-assured, and involved. He was all of these things throughout Port Adelaide’s demolition of West Coast, with his contested marking a real highlight, and he was quite justly rewarded with a few late goals to take his tally to five.

Lachie Schultz (Fremantle)
All of a sudden, the Dockers’ small forward brigade is starting to look very dangerous, particularly when they’re applying manic pressure from all angles as they were on Saturday night. This week, it was the underrated Schultz’s turn to get the spoils in front of goal, with three goals from six shots, as well as an impressive 11 marks.

FOLLOWERS

Peter Ladhams (Sydney)
Ladhams, who looks like he was born to play in Sydney, has stepped up and filled the void left by the injured Tom Hickey brilliantly over the last few weeks. He was influential against the Hawks in the ruck, but also around the ground, where he won six clearances and was involved in numerous scoring chains across the match.

Clayton Oliver (Melbourne)
Oliver has been excellent as usual this season, but this was his first really big performance of 2022. He demolished Richmond around the clearances, winning a round-high 13 among his 41 disposals, and regularly turned them into inside 50s either via a quick handball or using his pace to burst from the contest.

Jarrod Lyons (Brisbane)
The Q-Clash whiz once again reminded the Suns just how mistaken they were to ship him off, producing another complete midfield performance against his old side. Lyons’ centre square work was outstanding, with a remarkable 10 clearances out of the middle. He also added 13 inside 50s, 10 tackles, and a goal to be the best midfielder on the ground.

INTERCHANGE

Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
Returning after only one week out with a hamstring issue, Cripps continued his form as one of the dominant onballers in the league. His eight clearances were the most for the match, and his ability to hit the scoreboard was highlighted once again with three goals – all at moments when his side was desperately trying to stay in the contest.

Connor Rozee (Port Adelaide)
Back-to-back top shelf performances from Rozee, who hasn’t played consecutive games as comprehensive as this for some time. Unleashed in the midfield on a more full time basis, he rewarded coach Ken Hinkley’s faith with four centre clearances from eight in total, and used the ball skilfully and creatively in setting up a number of goals.

Tom Doedee (Adelaide)
Doedee continued his great form as a consistent anchor in the Crows’ defence. Given the unenviable task of matching up on Marcus Bontempelli (who started forward and spent most of the game there), the Adelaide captain-in-waiting comfortably won the contest, and finished off the terrific mid-ground pressure work of his midfield with some important intercept marks.

Darcy Parish (Essendon)
As he did on the corresponding fixture last season, Parish produced enormous numbers on Anzac Day. While he had more of the ball in the first two quarters (30 disposals at half time in fact), it was his brilliant clearance work and fast hands in the third quarter that got Essendon back into the game and made a contest of it.

STIFF TO MISS
Jeremy Finlayson (Port Adelaide), Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide), Ben McKay (North Melbourne), Andrew McGrath (Essendon), Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane), Andrew Brayshaw (Fremantle), Rory Lobb (Fremantle), Reilly O’Brien (Adelaide), Chayce Jones (Adelaide), Brodie Mihocek (Collingwood)