We've reached the midway mark of the 2022 AFL season, and in this chapter we reveal our mid-season awards.
The opening half of year has offered plenty of thrills and spills, with each club forging an identity as we begin to work through the final stretch of this premiership race.
Individuals have stuck their neck out in contention for particular awards, and here we detail who may be leading the honours as we turn to the second half of the season.
Without further ado, we name our All-Australian side, Brownlow Medal winner, Rising Star winner, Most Improved Player of the Year, Recruit of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Coach of the Year from the first half of the 2022 season.
Our All-Australian side is headlined by five Demons earning a jacket after the opening 12 rounds, four of which doing so after earning a nod last year.
Clayton Oliver, Max Gawn, Steven May and Christian Petracca are joined by winger Ed Langdon in our All-Australian side, which is led by Blues onballer Patrick Cripps.
Saints duo Cal Wilkie and Jack Sinclair earn their maiden jackets after a prolific start to their respective campaigns, while a further nine players also land their first All-Australian selections.
Gawn will share the ruck duties with Sun Jarrod Witts, with the latter earning a place on the interchange alongside Swan Callum Mills, Blue Sam Docherty and Docker Andrew Brayshaw.
FB: Callum Wilkie, Steven May, James Sicily
HB: Tom Stewart, Jacob Weitering, Jack Sinclair
C: Ed Langdon, Patrick Cripps (c), Bailey Smith
HF: Shai Bolton, Jeremy Cameron, Christian Petracca
FF: Charlie Curnow, Tom Hawkins, Charlie Cameron
FOL: Max Gawn, Lachie Neale, Clayton Oliver
INT: Jarrod Witts, Callum Mills, Sam Docherty, Andrew Brayshaw
Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
The Carlton ball-winner has blown out of the gates to start this season and may have already landed 18 Brownlow votes to his name from the opening half of the year.
Cripps held the lead in our 2022 MVP race prior to his side's bye, and is every chance to return atop the mantle as early as this weekend.
Likely best-on-ground performances in Rounds 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 are set to see the Carlton captain land a strong start to the count, and will be met by Lachie Neale, Callum Mills and Clayton Oliver at the top after 11 rounds.
Cripps has not only returned to the form of his career, but is playing the best brand of football we've seen from the two-time best and fairest winner.
Worthy of a mention: Callum Mills, Andrew Brayshaw, Lachie Neale, Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca
The bullish Hawk has flourished in his second season at Waverley, quickly emerging as a leading man in Sam Mitchell's midfield ensemble.
Earning his nomination in Round 5 against Geelong after a career-high 31 disposals, 'Duke' has been seen as the clubhouse favourite for the award.
Newcombe ranks top three for disposals, contested possessions, metres gained, score involvements, tackles, clearances and goal assists among Rising Star eligible players so far this season.
Young Cat Sam De Koning has placed himself on a trajectory that could surpass newcombe in the back-end of the season, but there's no denying Newcombe's place as the Rising Star winner across the opening dozen rounds.
Worthy of a mention: Josh Gibcus, Nick Daicos, Sam De Koning, Nic Martin
After being picked up as a fringe player from a struggling Gold Coast squad, Docker Will Brodie has astronomically risen up the ranks of the AFL to become a dominant midfielder out west.
After averaging 17.76 disposals, 3.64 clearances and 7.84 contested possessions per game across his time in Queensland, Brodie has considerably risen those numbers in half a season in purple.
Midfielder
Disposals
Contested Possessions
Clearances
The 23-year-old ranks elite for contested possessions, clearances and ground ball gets this year in the AFL, and has been among the catalysts that have lifted Fremantle into premiership contention.
Worthy of a mention: Dylan Moore, George Hewett, Tom Green, Ben Keays
Will Brodie (Fremantle)
To back up his Most Improved Player Award, we've given Will Brodie the nod for the best recruit of the off-season.
The former Sun has firmed as a bargain buy for Justin Longmuir, having been packaged in a deal along with Pick 19 in what was already seen as a questionable move by Gold Coast on face value alone.
Brodie had played in just three wins across a five-year stint at the Suns, often placed on the periphery of Stuart Dew's selection planning.
Securing a move to a new environment has since seen the big-bodied onballer well exceed expectations in filling a mould in midfield left open by Nat Fyfe's absence.
Brodie ranks among the top 10 in the competition for clearances, contested possessions and disposals, quickly meeting the level of his teammates in Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong.
Worthy of a mention: George Hewett, Mabior Chol, Tyson Stengle, Nic Martin
Jeremy Cameron (Geelong) and Tom Hawkins (Geelong)
With the Coleman Medal race an objective journey to the leading goalkicker award, we've decided to shake things up a little.
Instead of honouring the competition's best goalkicker, we've added in the metric of goal assists to skew the competition's tally among the best forward threats.
Forward
Disposals
Goals
Goal Assists
Funnily enough, while Cameron was already holding the lead for the Coleman Medal, the Cats sharpshooter is joined atop the Offensive Player of the Year standings by teammate Tom Hawkins, with the pair sharing a combined goals and goal assists total of 47.
Cameron's 38 majors and 9 assists are levelled by Hawkins' 33 and 14, while Blues spearhead Charlie Curnow (41), and Bulldog Aaron Naughton narrowly trail.
| Player | Goals | Gola Assists | Total |
| Jeremy Cameron | 38 | 9 | 47 |
| Tom Hawkins | 33 | 14 | 47 |
| Charlie Curnow | 37 | 4 | 41 |
| Aaron Naughton | 30 | 8 | 38 |
| Charlie Cameron | 30 | 7 | 37 |
| Bayley Fritsch | 28 | 9 | 37 |
| Max King | 32 | 3 | 35 |
| Lance Franklin | 28 | 4 | 32 |
| Shai Bolton | 21 | 11 | 32 |
| Luke Breust | 20 | 12 | 32 |
| Mitch Lewis | 27 | 3 | 30 |
| Mabior Chol | 24 | 6 | 30 |
| Zac Bailey | 26 | 3 | 29 |
| Peter Wright | 25 | 4 | 29 |
| Tyson Stengle | 23 | 6 | 29 |
| Marcus Bontempelli | 15 | 14 | 29 |
Steven May (Melbourne)
The All-Australian defender has backed up his stellar premiership campaign in red and blue with a career-best season to date.
The former Sun has held down the fort for Simon Godwin's defensive structure and will continue to play a key role on the Demons' last line as they defend their title as the standard of the competition.
May sits head and shoulders above the next best backman for one-on-one defending despite often taking on the toughest scalp the opposition has to offer.
Defender
Disposals
Marks
Rebound50s
While being able to negate opposition attacks, May is also an apt mover of the ball out of defensive, acting like a slingshot for the reigning premiers.
Worthy of a mention: Tom Stewart, Jacob Weitering, James Sicily, Sam Docherty
Justin Longmuir (Fremantle)
Credit where it is due to the Dockers coach, who has not only found the best out of his fringe players but has instilled a menacing game style that works efficiently both with and without the ball in hand.
The third-year coach has side his sitting pretty among the top four of the competition after claiming the scalps of Melbourne, Brisbane and Geelong across the opening half of the year.
Fremantle have continued to restrict sides moving forward, conceding just 749 points from 12 matches, seeing them ranked second in the league with a two-point deficit separating them from first overall.
Offensively, Fremantle have a forward line that has flipped the script on their goalkicking woes of yesteryear as the likes of Lachie Schultz, Sam Switkowski and Michael Frederick wreak havoc on opposition defences.
Even without superstar midfielder Nat Fyfe, Longmuir has his engine room purring thanks to the aforementioned rise of Will Brodie and the services of role players Blake Acres and James Aish.
Worthy of a mention: Stuart Dew, Craig McRae, Michael Voss, Simon Goodwin