The chase for All-Australian selection is on with only two spots locked in

THE 2018 All-Australian team is taking shape — and besides two locked-in positions, the race for spots is wide open.

Nat Fyfe of the Dockers.

THE 2018 All-Australian team is taking shape — and besides two locked-in positions, the race for spots is wide open.

Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe and Hawthorn’s Tom Mitchell were joint Brownlow Medal favourites before Fyfe’s suspension this week, and should lead the on-ball unit.

Mitchell is as resilient as they come and if he plays even five of the last 11 games, his All-Australian jumper is assured.

Fyfe is in similar territory but is playing below 100-per-cent fitness at the moment, so this forced break could do him the world of good.

No-one has had the ball in his hands more often in 2018 than Mitchell. He leads the AFL for disposals, averaging 34 every game.

Surely the Swans are shaking their collective heads at what they have let go.

The 25-year-old also ranks No.1 for clearances, No.2 for centre clearances and equal third for contested possessions.

He is elite. So is Fyfe.

The Fremantle skipper is both a human battering ram and an outside player of pure class.

Mitchell and Fyfe aside, the rest are still chasing selection. Carlton’s brute, Patrick Cripps, is closest. Standing taller than Wayne Carey did in his day, Cripps is a midfield monster and still learning the craft of pushing forward and hitting the scoreboard.

North Melbourne’s Shaun Higgins, West Coast’s Andrew Gaff, Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver, Giant Stephen Coniglio and Bulldog Jack Macrae all have one hand on a midfield berth but it is far from guaranteed.

Rory Laird is the only Crows player in contention.

Laird was an All-Australian for the first time last season, averaging 29.4 disposals in his 25 games. In 2018 he has raised the bar to 32 disposals per game and only bad luck will stop him going back-to-back.

Tom Jonas is the most likely Power player to be named All-Australian.

He is in a hotly contested position, once left for the dour defensive types but now it’s home to the excitement machines with the ferocity of Jonas and the brilliance of Jeremy Howe, James Sicily and Jeremy McGovern.

If Jonas doesn’t earn selection it will be at the expense of the new generation.

McGovern ranks second for contested marks, Howe rebounds it from the back 50m better than any his size and shape while Sicily is the full package if he can keep his head in its rightful space.

In the key defensive positions, Richmond’s Alex Rance and Brisbane’s Harris Andrews have been the most impressive.

Rance is near unbackable to make his fifth successive team while Andrews is in the race for the first time.

Andrews, just 21, has been rarely, if ever, beaten this year in a team that has won just one game and is locked in a three-way battle for the wooden spoon.

No spot in the front six is guaranteed either.

Ben Brown, Jesse Hogan and Jack Darling all have strong cases and three-time All-Australian key forward Josh Kennedy is back to his best and on the charge.

The race for the Coleman Medal is far from over.

Lance Franklin can never be left out of the conversation but his accuracy at goal (52.1 per cent) costs him to date.

The biggest contest of all is between two giants of the game — Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn for the ruck position.

In the air, it’s all Gawn. But everywhere else its Grundy first, daylight second.

There is only room for one — and tomorrow’s Queen’s Birthday clash at the MCG is certainly shaping not only the top eight but the 2018 All-Australian line-up as well.

Originally published as The chase for All-Australian selection is on with only two spots locked in