Our Rookie Rankings have seen three players in our top eight swap places, while the chasing pack outside of our leading young guns has never been more congested.
A Lions forward responded to his axing in the VFL over the weekend and will hope for a Round 20 return, with the likes of Port Adelaide's Logan Evans, Crow Billy Dowling, Giant Darcy Jones and Geelong's Lawson Humphries all pressing their case in recent weeks.
Evans and Dowling each earned Round 19 honourable mentions alongside Nick Watson, Seth Campbell and Shaun Mannagh, with the latter another name to consider in the final five rounds.
Selection Criteria: For our Rookie Rankings, we are ONLY selecting players who have made their debut this season.
Other players who may still be eligible for a Rising Star nomination but have already made their debut before the 2024 season will not be considered. I.e. Rising Star eligible players such as George Wardlaw, Angus Sheldrick and Sam Darcy are ineligible, having already played an AFL match before Round 1, 2024.
Honourable Mentions:
Shaun Mannagh (Geelong)
Nick Watson (Hawthorn)
Logan Evans (Port Adelaide)
Billy Dowling (Adelaide)
Seth Campbell (Richmond)
3. Colby McKercher (-)
The young Roo was again back to his hard running and clean ball work in the back half, needing to hold off the Blues' pressure to kickstart attacks from the defensive 50 for North Melbourne on Sunday.
McKercher became somewhat of an issue for Carlton, who utilised Alex Cincotta's lockdown abilities to try and clamp the Tasmanian in the second half.
By the end of the 19-point loss, McKercher had 22 possessions, five tackles, four marks, 344 metres gained and moved the ball at 86% efficiency.
The Kangaroos head to McKercher's home state on Saturday to host Geelong at Blundstone Arena.
