Clockwise from top left: Robbie Gray, Toby Greene, Christian Petracca, Jake Stringer. Photos: AFL MEDIA

What does it take to win an AFL final? A team needs evenness of performance across the board. It needs its less-heralded members making some sort of contribution. And while it might be stating the obvious, it needs its best players playing at their best.

Even the stars of this season’s finals line-ups might do it differently, however. Some will accumulate, their influence creeping over a game by degrees. Others may do so by blunting an opposition strength. And then there are those who might simply explode.

Matchwinners are a precious finals commodity. They can genuinely turn a big game their team’s way as a one-man band, whether it’s shifting up a gear around the contest to dominate possession, unleashing a hail of goals in a short space of time, perhaps both, or exerting their leadership presence over a game when most required.

As the eight finalists prepare for the first joust of this year’s post-season playoffs, we’ve nominated one man from each club who can get their team over the line when it counts all on their own.

MELBOURNE (Christian Petracca)
Absolutely no disrespect intended to the brilliant Clayton Oliver, but where his consistent best will deliver death by a thousand cuts to opponents, it’s Petracca who can land the quickest, cleanest most decisive blows for the Demons. He ranks first in the AFL for total score involvements (averaging more than a goal per game himself, fourth in Melbourne’s goalkicking) and first for inside 50 entries, besides averaging more than 28 disposals. A solid, bullishly-built player, Petracca has the silky skills to back up his physical strength. If he cuts loose, and Petracca can do it quickly indeed, the Demons will be at shortish odds to beat whomever they’re playing in September.

PORT ADELAIDE (Robbie Gray)
Was there anyone else Port Adelaide would have wanted with ball in hand last week with a few minutes left on the clock and a top two spot on the line? Gray effortlessly converted the shot which gave the Power a huge premiership chance, just as he’d kicked so many clutch goals before. But it’s not just about a cool head and efficiency. The Port veteran only needs small windows of opportunity to bust a game open, to convert half-chances to scores in quick time, and to feed eager teammates with his lightning, sure hands. He’s 33, in his 15th season and just past 250 games, but the Port wizard is still the man Power’s finals opponents may well fear the most.

GEELONG (Jeremy Cameron)
The Cats have a watertight defence, plenty of prolific ball-winners midfield, and the huge frame of power forward Tom Hawkins always threatening, but it’s the more recent acquisition to the Geelong star class who could be the man who does most to land the club that elusive premiership. Injury may have delayed Cameron’s debut in the hoops, then cost him a chunk of five games more recently, but it cannot be disputed the Cats’ forward set-up ticks over far more effectively with his presence, Cameron, who has averaged nearly three goals per game in 2021, part of four of Geelong’s five highest scores of the season. His presence alongside Hawkins might well the be final piece of the Cats’ premiership jigsaw puzzle.

BRISBANE (Charlie Cameron)
There are players who seem like reliable barometers for their teams, either in a results or emotional sense. The Lions’ pocket dynamo is both, not to mention an enduring crowd favourite. Cameron’s six-goal haul against Collingwood in round 22 was the 14th time in his career he’d kicked four goals or more in a game. His teams (including Adelaide) have won every time. When it’s three goals, the win-loss record is 26-6. That’s a pretty reliable indicator. But it’s also the sheer energy an up-and-at-‘em Cameron gives his teammates and crowd which takes the Lions to another level. Joe Daniher’s recent uplift has been big for Brisbane, but Cameron’s capacity to win a game off his own boot is an even bigger x-factor for the Lions’ finals prospects.

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WESTERN BULLDOGS (Aaron Naughton)
The Bulldogs’ untimely form slump threatens to take them from top of the ladder just three weeks ago to a third straight first-week exit from the finals. If that is to be avoided, the high-leaping, mop-haired key forward with the uncanny resemblance to former Wa Wa Nee lead singer Paul Gray is going to have offer his team plenty of “stimulation” (sorry). Naughton was huge for the Dogs across the first 10 rounds with 27 goals (they won nine). Since then, he’s kicked only 13 goals in 11 games, the Dogs going 6-5 in those, quite the correlation. Josh Bruce’s loss obviously has raised the stakes considerably higher still. A big game from Marcus Bontempelli could get the Dogs a win this week. A big game and goal-haul from Naughton, and that’s not just likely, but probable.

SYDNEY (Isaac Heeney)
Surely this should be Lance Franklin? Well, not necessarily. As explosive and dynamic as is the champion drawing in on 1000 goals, a big game from “Buddy” hasn’t inevitably been the key to a Sydney win this season. Indeed, Franklin has kicked bags of four or more in five games this year and the Swans have lost three. Heeney, in contrast has kicked at least three goals in seven games, Sydney winning all of them. But it’s not just the goals; in four of those performances, Heeney has also gathered more than 20 possessions to provide dual impact. Franklin booted five goals against Greater Western Sydney in round five, without Heeney alongside him and the Swans still lost. He’s there this week, and if he produces another three-goal, 20-possession-plus game, this time you can have short odds on a Sydney win.

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY (Toby Greene)
The Giants have had a procession of senior players stand up when they needed to get their team to the finals. The likes of Callan Ward, Tim Taranto and Josh Kelly have been superb during GWS’s run of four wins from the last five games. But the man they should be thanking the most is not only the man who for so much of this season seemed to carrying the team on his own, but the player who could take them a lot further still. Greene has been outstanding for the Giants all season. His 42 goals (at nearly 2.5 per game) are 10 more than the next most prolific Giant, and from five fewer games. He’s No.1 in the AFL for average score involvements; he creates scores and scores himself, and has repeatedly shown his capacity to wrest the advantage his team’s way quickly. No player in the GWS line-up will be feared nearly as much as Greene.

ESSENDON (Jake Stringer)
The Bombers have several players who can help turn games, but they have one standout capable of winning it off his own boot. Stringer has rightly just been nominated for the All-Australian squad after easily his best season since he was an All-Australian in 2015. He’s Essendon’s leading goalkicker, averaging 2.1 per game, but he also ranks fifth in the AFL for centre clearances. It’s his bullocking presence in the middle and explosive power near goal which has helped the Dons transform their midfield and their forward line, his role now very similar that played by Dustin Martin for Richmond. If Essendon does break its finals drought, rest assured Stringer will have played a key role.

This article first appeared at ESPN.