All-Australian team 2018: Port’s Robbie Gray and Adelaide’s Rory Laird hold spots among AFL’s elite
ROBBIE Gray and Rory Laird were South Australia’s representatives as the AFL named the All Australian team for 2018, captained by the greatest goal kicker.
PORT Adelaide’s Robbie Gray has been handed his fourth All-Australian blazer and Rory Laird backed up last year’s honour as the dream team of the 2018 season was named at a gala event in Melbourne on Wednesday night.
Gray and Laird were the only representatives from SA’s two clubs in the All-Australian team.
Twelve of the 18 clubs were represented.
The greatest goalkicker among the current players — Sydney superstar Lance “Buddy” Franklin — was named the captain for the first time as he received his eighth All-Australian gong in a glittering career.
Franklin’s selection has him join an exclusive club; he is one of only five players who did not play in the carnival era to have been chosen for eight All-Australian teams.
The others are former Crows captain, premiership player and Brownlow Medallist Mark Ricciuto, Geelong’s Gary Ablett senior, Geelong and the Gold Coast’s Gary Ablett junior, and St Kilda’s Robert Harvey.
Geelong Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield was named as Franklin’s deputy as he collected his sixth All-Australian selection.
There were eight players who retained their spots from the 2017 team, among them Gray and Laird.
The other six were Franklin, Dangerfield, Richmond’s Dustin Martin and Alex Rance, West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern and Hawthorn’s Brownlow favourite Tom Mitchell.
The better-performed teams had a higher representation.
Richmond, which has been backed to defend the AFL pennant, supplied four players to the team while Hawthorn and West Coast each supplied three.
The team was chosen by a panel made up by AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan (chairman), Kevin Bartlett, Luke Darcy, Danny Frawley, Steve Hocking, Glen Jakovich, Chris Johnson, Cameron Ling, Matthew Richardson and Warren Tredrea.
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Gray has been booked in for a clean-out of his right knee — the same which he had reconstructed after a 2012 injury — but the procedure is not expected to have any major effect on his summer training.
“Robbie will have a clean-out of his right knee this week,” Port Adelaide fitness coach Ian McKeown said on Wednesday.
“It is expected that Robbie’s surgery is unlikely to have a significant impact on his off-season program and he will be able to resume pre-season training with the rest of the team in November.”
Gray averaged 21 disposals this season and kicked 36 goals but more significantly — was the X-factor that continued to open up games at crucial moments.