The squad of 48 from which the VFL Team of the Year will be selected has been announced here:
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1606968/2026-smithys-vfl-team-of-the-year-squad
From the article:
"The full list of club representation is: Box Hill Hawks (four), Brisbane Lions (two), Carlton (one), Casey Demons (one), Coburg (six, including Mitch Podhajski), Collingwood (two, including Harrison Coe and Mitch Podhajski), Essendon (two), Footscray (two), Frankston (six, including Harrison Coe), Geelong Cats (four), Gold Coast Suns (one), GWS Giants (two), Port Melbourne (two), Richmond (one), Southport Sharks (two), Sydney Swans (two), Tasmania (three), Werribee (four) and Williamstown (three). North Melbourne, Sandringham and St Kilda do not have a representative named."
Box Hill: Stu Horner, Henry Hustwaite, Finn Maginness, Brodie McLaughlin
Brisbane: Darragh Joyce, Will McLachlan
Carlton: Lachie Fogarty
Casey: Riley Bonner
Coburg: Jack Bytel, Ingo Dammersmith, Cooper Keogh, Jaidyn Stephenson, Donovan Toohey
Collingwood/Coburg: Mitch Podhajski
Collingwood/Frankston: Harrison Coe
Essendon: Tyler Sellers, Elijah Tsatas
Footscray: Jack Billings, Cooper Craig-Peters
Frankston: Corey Ellison, Darby Hipwell, Tyson Milne, Trent Mynott, Jackson Voss
Geelong: Nathan Kreuger, Mitch Knevitt, Jesse Mellor, George Stevens
Gold Coast: Ben Jepson
GWS: Harvey Hooper, Jack Ough
Port Melbourne: Kaine Baldwin, Ben Hobbs
Richmond: Mutaz El Nour
Southport: Jacob Dawson, Zac Foot
Sydney: Joel Hamling, Mitch Mellis
Tasmania: Hugh Dixon, Jed Hagan, Jye Menzie
Werribee: Ajang Kuol Mun, Louis Pinnuck, Jack Riding, Brady Wright
Williamstown: Jake Greiser, Luke Parks, Jack Toner
Bit surprised Brayden Crossley didn't make the squad. I did think AJ Kuol Mun had a narrow win over him when Werribee played Southport, and perhaps the games he missed cost him the squad spot. Two in the squad seems a bit low for Port Melbourne given the sixth-placed finish, but to some extent we did have different players excelling at different points in the season. From Werribee I had expected to see Dom Brew and Charlie Lazzaro in the squad, but there is always a lot of competition for the midfield spots. Sandringham's Nathan Philactides perhaps a bit unlucky. In any case the selectors should certainly be able to pick a strong team out of this squad.
Bloody hard task to pick a VFA/VFL team of the year now with so many sides in the comp. Who are the ruckman selected in that side? (Ignorance on my part).
* It's time to restore the VFA name.
Harrison Coe, Cooper Keogh, and AJ Kuol Mun. Don't think there are others - those are the names I recognize as ruckmen and also the 3 with hitouts listed as a stat in the article. I've been tipping Kuol Mun for the ruck position in the team since I think he did beat Crossley in their head to head, but looking at the stats for Werribee's game against Coburg, it looks like Keogh won that ruck battle. I don't think I actually watched that game, though.
Yes, the number of sides in the comp does make it tough to pick a team. Corey Ellison surely gets in as the Frosty Miller medallist, and then some players will be stiff to miss out no matter who they select for the team. Tried to pick just a starting midfield (admittedly not having watched widely enough to have the most informed opinion), and I'm not sure how they'll narrow it down.
The final team and all award winners now announced here: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1612713/mynott-stevens-share-liston-eaves-breaks-through-for-lambert-pearce
Has it ever happened before that the top 2 Liston vote getters were both ineligible through suspension?
I remain unconvinced that Hobbs' suspension was deserved. This is at least not only Port Melbourne bias since my first reaction to a suspension at this point is usually to wonder if it's an overreaction to a football act. [Edit: Well, from what Hobbs himself said about it, it was a fair suspension. Good seasons by him, Dawson, Mynott and Stevens.] At any rate, while I have many thoughts about the quality of the VFL umpiring, none of them complimentary, we do now know the umpires aren't unfairly biased against suspended players in the voting - I'd thought there was no chance Hobbs would finish with the most votes because he wouldn't poll as many as he deserved after the suspension.