AFL 2023: Every club’s list age ranked, analysed in 2023
Are the Power ready to cash in on the prime of their list? Could the Crows overachieve with such a young team? Check out your club’s age ranking, games played and over 30s heading into a monster 2023 season in the AFL.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Reigning premier Geelong remains the oldest and most experienced team entering 2023, despite waving goodbye to a trio of veterans over the off-season.
The Cats’ playing list for the coming season has an average age of 25.5 years and has played an average of 92.4 games.
Labelled “too old, too slow” last season, Geelong defied the critics to post an emphatic 81-point triumph over Sydney in the 2022 Grand Final.
Chris Scott’s team is now the early favourite to go back-to-back in 2023.
The average age of the Cats’ list has dropped slightly from 2022 – when it sat at 25.6 years – following the retirements of Joel Selwood (34 years old), Shaun Higgins (34) and Luke Dahlhaus (30).
However, Geelong still has 12 players who will start next season over the age of 30 – three more than any other team.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hawthorn and St Kilda have just one player over 30 on their playing lists.
The Western Bulldogs surprisingly sit as the second-oldest team after securing experienced pair Liam Jones (31) and Rory Lobb (29) during the free agency and trade period.
Brisbane is the third-oldest side, with Richmond rounding out the top-four.
Hawthorn’s off-season clean-out which saw it say goodbye to Gunston (Brisbane), Tom Mitchell (Collingwood), Jaeger O’Meara (Fremantle) and Liam Shiels (retired) leaves it as the youngest team next season with an average age of 23.1 years.
The Hawks have just three players on their list – Luke Breust, Chad Wingard and Jarman Impey – who have played more than 150 games.
Adelaide is the second-youngest and second-least experienced list, with Essendon and Fremantle also sitting in the bottom-four in both categories.
New Essendon coach Brad Scott warned last month that his young side would take time to climb the ladder.
“With the demographic of this list, talent is just speculation when they’re 18 or 19,” Scott said.
“I’ve been impressed with the capability on our list, but the reality is and the facts are they’re very young and they’re going to take time to develop and therefore the team is going to take a bit of time to get right.”
A finalist last year, Fremantle lost David Mundy (retired), Blake Acres (Carlton), Griffin Logue (North Melbourne), Darcy Tucker (North Melbourne) and Lloyd Meek (Hawthorn) over the off-season.
More Coverage
Originally published as AFL 2023: Every club’s list age ranked, analysed in 2023
‘Overdone’: Shock Welcome to Country take
The former Geelong forward and proud Aboriginal man has very strong feelings about “overdone” Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Former umpire stuck in two-year legal limbo
Michael Pell’s lawyer says the former umpire has no interest in officiating as his legal limbo approaches two years since he was arrested over a Brownlow Medal insider scandal.