Every week we hear about the efforts of great names like Nick Daicos, Christian Petracca, Patrick Cripps and Marcus Bontempelli. However, there are many players who don't necessarily find themselves high on the stats sheet, or their strong performances have gone under the radar for so long.
This season, there have been a host of players who have started off underrated or at the lower end of the best 22 for their teams but have now found themselves as consistent and important performers, starting to earn the recognition of the AFL world.
Nathan Murphy, Jeremy Finlayson, Connor Idun, Kade Chandler and Lewis Young are just a few of the underrated players who have now found themselves as incredibly valuable players.
We've broken down their 2023 seasons and how they are faring.
3. Jeremy Finlayson
Jeremy Finlayson has renewed his career as a key forward after crossing from GWS to Port Adelaide at the end of the 2021 season. After a consistent 2022 season, Finlayson has emerged as an important key forward alongside Charlie Dixon this season and already has 33 goals to his name to lead the Power's goalkicking.
With Charlie Dixon and Todd Marshall both missing games due to injury this year, Finlayson stood up to kick 11 goals across four weeks and has proven to be an integral part of Port Adelaide's rise up the ladder this season. Finlayson has also shown he can shoulder the ruck duty, having filled in for Scott Lycett in the latter part of the 2022 season and continues to occasionally appear in the contests this year.
Finlayson continues to perform whilst dealing with wife Kellie's terminal bowel cancer diagnosis off the field, tellingย Channel 7ย that his footy "is just reward of sticking tough. Doing it for Kel and Soph back home."
Finlayson's best game of the year, and possibly one of the best games of his career, was in Port Adelaide's 55-point demolition of Hawthorn in Round 12. Finlayson was ranked second on the ground, only behind teammate Zak Butters, after he finished with 17 disposals, nine marks, five tackles and most importantly a career-high five goals.
