AFL’s top 50 players under 23 years old ranked ahead of the 2026 season
Who is footy’s best young gun? Glenn McFarlane takes on the challenge of selecting his top 50 players yet to turn 23. But there’s one club who misses out completely.
It’s like choosing your favourite flavour of ice-cream, knowing that you can’t lose either way.
When set the task of choosing the top 50 players who are 22 and under heading into the 2025/26 pre-season, it was always going to be a thankless, near impossible task.
It’s always subjective.
Ask 50 people to do it and you might get 50 different orders ... with 75 or more individual players.
But picking No.1 was just as difficult to navigate.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MACCA’S TOP 50 PLAYERS UNDER 23
Do you pick the game-breaking midfielder who already possesses the best-votes-per-game record in Brownlow Medal history … without actually winning one?
Or the mobile big man who could change the way the game is played in the coming years, being equally as adept on the ground as he is in the air?
Or the defender-turned-midfielder who produced one of the greatest individual quarters in the history of the game, then changed the narrative around his football club simply by putting his signature on a slip of paper? He was one of only two under 23s to have won his club’s best and fairest this year.
Or the third-year midfielder who is writing some sort of history as a September specialist with more medals than he could ever have dreamt about – by the age of 21?
You wouldn’t lose out on any of them, but a final decision had to be made.
In setting a criteria for this list, we took into consideration a range of markers including what these young stars have done in their relatively short careers so far (most notably this season) but also importantly what we expect from them in 2026 and beyond.
That’s why 2024 No.1 pick Sam Lalor gets in, though he has only played 11 games.
And, controversially, it is why Jagga Smith – who is yet to debut after suffering an ACL injury last pre-season – has snuck into 50th position.
Smith could be a star. And if you had the choice of selecting Smith for the long-term, or those who narrowly missed out on this list, there wouldn’t be many who would pass on the Blues midfielder, who could finish 2026 as a top 20 under 23 player.
We also took into account the importance of each player’s role within their team’s structures next year and beyond, their skill capabilities, as well as their sense of flair and dare.
There were some very stiff players to miss out including Isaac Kako, Ollie Hollands, Ethan Read and co.
But what this exercise has shown is what a rich vein of young talent is on offer right now, all before even adding the 2025 draftees to the equation.
Originally published as AFL’s top 50 players under 23 years old ranked ahead of the 2026 season
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