Mark Robinson says Nathan Fyfe assumes mantle as AFL’s best player, but not by much

MARK Robinson says footy will always have its list of the game’s best players. But when it comes to lining them all up against the wall and picking the best, it gets tough.

FOREVER and a day footy will have its official, unofficial, pub-talk, coffee drinking list of the game’s best players.

Here’s one today — the annual Top 50 — with the simple criteria: Put all 700-odd AFL players up against the wall and start picking.

Look for whatever you want: brilliance, greatness, the unique, the special, the tough, the beauty and the youth.

It’s all there.

It’s why 10-year-olds wear No. 4 from the Bulldogs, 55-year-olds still wear No. 29 at Richmond. Numbers 35 and 7 will be in abundance at Geelong and Fremantle (respectively) this season.

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Nathan Fyfe returns this year after a season on the sidelines and, in my opinion, assumes the mantle of the game’s best player ahead of Patrick Dangerfield who ended last year as the game’s best player.

The best of Fyfe v the best of Dangerfield could be Peter Dickson’s next documentary. Imagine that. They are both furious at the ball, powerful and explosive breaking away with it, and win the footy in tight, in space, on the burst or in the air. Dickson would nail it.

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ROBBO: FYFE v DANGER IN ROUND 1

Fyfe is No. 1 by the narrowest of judgments. Very little else separates them, if anything but Fyfe’s superior marking as a resting forward — yes, I know Danger can mark as a forward — got him the nod.

The top 10 is made up of five midfielders, three key forwards, a ruckman and a key defender.

There’s standouts in every bracket of 10 players.

There’s the walk-ups such as Sam Mitchell, Joel Selwood and Scott Pendlebury, there’s a sprinkling of personal favorities such as Western Bulldogs pair Liam Picken and Dale Morris — two trench players if there ever were any.

There’s a couple to keep an eye on such as Josh Kelly, Zac Merrett, Patrick Cripps, Issac Heeney and — surprise, surprise — Tom Lynch from the Suns.

Robbo isn’t the only one who’s a big wrap for Tom Lynch. Picture: Getty Images

In fact, it’s not about keeping on eye on Lynch, it’s about keep watching him.

He is 24, imposing, has sticky hands and Dermott Brereton and Jonathan Brown think he’s the best player in the league. He could be by the end of the 2017 season.

It doesn’t matter if he’s not, though, because footy is all about “team’’ filled with its heroes, as Dickson in his most recent doco displayed in his gloriously passionate and emotional offering of the Western Bulldogs premiership — and its build up — which was shown at the AFL season launch last Thursday night.

It was truly masterclass.

Visually and emotionally it delivered on the club, its history, it’s torment and splendidly on last year’s premiership victory with the use of Luke Beveridge’s pre-match and halftime speeches, unseen footage, the crowd involvement, all in slow motion, backed by a haunting song about running and finally catching.

Marcus Bontempelli is among the Bulldogs in Robbo’s top 50. Picture: Michael Klein

It was everything we love about footy.

Which kind of made the next 50 minutes of the season launch a touch baffling, from a TV armchair-viewing point of view, at least.

From a heart-wrenching viewing of Dickson’s story, which made you smile, maybe even made you cry, the welcome to the AFL season was a sombre affair, which is so unlike what football actually is.

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Easton Wood, the Bulldogs captain, read a prepared speech about dreams and belief and spirit and “’brothers’’ and any other cliche you could think of. It was so unlike what I expected from Wood.

He plays the game in a manner which makes you smile and every other time I’ve heard him speak, it’s been with a sense of adventure and reality and unselfishness.

This time there was a touch of indulgence.

Sam Mitchell was a ‘walk-up’ for the Top 50. Picture: Getty Images

Peter Gordon, the Bulldogs president, also read a prepared speech, but added his cheeky bits, while Mike Fitzpatrick and Gill McLachlan did the AFL thing with various degrees of animation.

And was there any chance the AFL life members could crack a smile? A smirk? Anything that radiated the excitement and satisfaction of their careers?

All the while, the camera focused on a crowd of captains, coaches, chief execs, presidents, media and sponsors who appeared to be sitting at a funeral instead of the season launch of the most spectacular ball sport in the world.

The point is, footy starts this week and the official launch was so removed from the what the essence of footy is all about — and that is excitement and noise and celebration and anticipation.

The best players in the country will run out at the weekend, Fyfe, Dangerfield, Buddy, Max, Gaz, Rance and The Bont among them.

They might not be in your Top 10, but they are in mine, and you’ll probably disagree with a number of next 40 players.

But this time next week, sombre will have been surpassed by the sublime and we might have better understanding of who is No. 1

Dangerfield v Fyfe on weekend No. 1 is a hell of a start.

UNLUCKIEST TO MISS MY TOP 50:

Dayne Zorko, Dyson Heppell, Jobe Watson, Shane Mumford, Jack Viney, Taylor Walker, Luke Hodge, Kade Simpson, Dayne Beams.