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.
Will Phillips
Pick 3 in the 2020 draft, Phillips has been out of favour with the Kangaroos as the young brigade that has joined since has stormed past him. Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, Colby McKercher, and now Finn O'Sullivan are all fighting for midfield minutes as North Melbourne aim to finally finish their years of rebuilding.
Potentially on the cusp of being axed, Phillips was offered a one-year contract extension until the end of 2025. Hence, Phillips now more than ever needs a breakout year to keep his AFL career alive.
Phillips emerged as a tagger last season, potentially revitalising his career. Whether he is solely used as such in 2025 remains unknown, but becoming the league's best tagger is a surefire way to earn a new deal. It reignited Hawk Finn Maginness' career, perhaps that route could be the unorthodox way Phillips becomes a breakout Roo.
