As the 2025 AFL season nears, there will be players training ferociously throughout pre-season to perhaps finally break loose from the shackles of years of average performances and officially reach their potential.
Perhaps it's a top draft pick finally coming of age, as Mac Andrew and Tom De Koning showed glimpses of in 2024.
Or maybe it's a player nearing the age of their prime who has teetered on the edge of mediocrity for a while but finally excelled at the top flight. Think Tristan Xerri and Jake Waterman.
Last year, the hype around the potential of De Koning and Ben King ultimately delivered, while players such as Paddy Dow failed yet again to reach their potential estimated in their draft year.
A club's success is often off the back of unheralded players having surprisingly good years.
Hawthorn was fortunate to be on the end of multiple players enjoying breakout seasons in 2024, including first-time All-Australian Dylan Moore, trade recruit Massimo D'Ambrosio and veteran Sam Frost.
Likewise, premiers Brisbane enjoyed the sudden emergence of Kai Lohmann and the eventual fruition of Callum Ah Chee and Ryan Lester's potential.
Those clubs that struggled found their players with glimpses of stardom did not reach their potential. Max King was on and off the field with injuries which again hurt St Kilda's finals chances, while the ineptness of Collingwood's young talent failed to fill the holes of out-of-form veterans, resulting in a failed flag defence for the Pies.
So ahead of the new season, we've named eight players who will be desperate to have a breakout year to either save their career or propel their club further up the ladder in 2025.
Finlay Macrae
Tipped to flourish in 2024, Macrae contrastingly struggled to find a consistent patch of form at AFL level. Macrae played just nine games for the Magpies - five of which he was subbed off or the starting substitute - at an average of just 10 disposals per game.
Collingwood holds the title for the AFL's oldest list, with midfielders Scott Pendlebury and Steele Sidebottom reaching their mid-to-late-30s as they play through their twilight years. It means they will soon be handing over the reins, and besides Nick Daicos and Jordan De Goey, no other inside midfielder has fully staked their claim to become part of the next midfield brigade.
Macrae tore up the pre-season fixture last year and it will be intriguing whether he can show glimpses of his breakout form yet again. Macrae has been a VFL star for some time, averaging 27.5 disposals per game and 25.5 disposals in 2024 and 2023 respectively.
If he can take his game to the next level and help propel the 'Pies back into premiership contention, Macrae's end of the bargain will be met after Collingwood extended his contract to 2026 early last year.
