22Under22: AFLPA names the game’s brightest young stars
From the pocketsized skills of Zak Butters to the towering marks of Aaron Naughton and the leadership-beyond-his-years of James Rowbottom, footy’s next-gen is taking over. Who makes squad of the best 22 aged under 22?
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Who’s got next?
These are 40 of the best of the next generation of AFL stars, selected by the AFL Players’ board.
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Players must appear in at least eight games to be in the running for the 22Under22 team, which will be decided by a fan vote and be announced on .
The likes of Port wrecking ball Zak Butters, Western Bulldogs high-flyer Aaron Naughton and mature Sydney leader James Rowbottom headline the squad.
READ THEIR STORIES AND SEE THE SQUAD BELOW
BANNED BUTTERS WON’T CHANGE, WILL ADJUST
Port Adelaide pocket rocket Zak Butters says he’s shattered to miss the last two games of the season through suspension but has contacted North Melbourne’s Jy Simpkin and fully accepts the AFL’s hard line stance on headhigh contact.
The Power chose not to challenge Butters’ two-game ban for his bump which left Simpkin dazed and unable to finish the game on Saturday night.
He will still be allowed to play in their organised scratch matches and hopes to win his spot back for finals.
“Obviously I’m pretty shattered and it’s going to hurt watching the boys but what’s been done is done,” he told News Corp.
“I didn’t mean any harm or intent to hurt anyone, I got the technique wrong and if I had my time again I would probably choose to tackle.
“But that’s part of my game that I bring, I’m not going to change the way I go at the ball but will be a bit more cautious (with the bump), with head knocks and how serious it’s become it’s obviously a pretty dangerous thing they want to stamp out.
“I’ve tried to play it over a few times in my head but everything happens so quick on the field, it’s a split decision.
“But I flicked Jy a message to see that he was all right and wished him a speedy recovery, he’s a good player and hopefully he gets back out there this weekend. Hopefully he gets to finish off his season strongly.”
The 19-year-old has quickly become one of Port Adelaide’s most important players in just his second season as a combination of wrecking ball, bundle of energy and even matchwinner with his work around stoppage and in front of goal.
“I’ve never seen a guy who is 40kg wringing wet be as tough and hard as he is,” Power assistant coach Matthew Lokan said on Sunday.
On Saturday night Butters chased down North Melbourne’s 103kg ruckman Todd Goldstein to catch him holding the ball, then lay on the ground grinning after being flattened by Roos’ skipper Jack Ziebell.
“I pictured that one coming, he’s a pretty tough footballer Jack and I had given my share of bumps that night so was due to cop one,” Butters said.
“Kenny (Hinkley) expects that of everyone in the team, when it’s your turn to go you go, and I’m sure my 21 teammates would have done the same thing.
“Me and Kenny spoke (post-game) and he doesn’t want me to change but look for opportunities to be a bit more cautious and tackle when possible because the AFL is strict on anything above the neck and so they should be with the consequences of concussion.”
Butters will on Tuesday be named in the AFLPA’s ‘22 under 22’ squad which recognises the best young players in the competition this season.
Fans can vote on the final 22 from a squad of 40 and it will be announced later this year.
“To be around some really good players in the competition is a privilege and I’m happy to be named in the squad but right now finals footy and team success is the main thing on my mind at the moment,” Butters said.
“At some stages in the second half Kenny has thrown me around the ball a bit more to use my leg speed and bring some energy to the midfield when needed.
“But other than that I’ve played that half-forward role, help out down back and equalise at half-forward.
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“I feel a lot more comfortable with my role this year, and I got a lot fitter over pre-season so I’m able to cover more ground.
“I guess I came off a shoulder injury and didn’t do too much of the pre-season before Christmas in my first year, then had another shoulder op at the start of this pre-season but it was a lot earlier so I could get back and ready by day one.
“In your second year they let you go free and that was good to get the whole pre-season under my belt.”
Butters has become a human highlights reel at the Power this year but there is one moment he’d like back when his legs buckled underneath him as he ran into an open goal against Sydney last month.
“I can’t explain it, I think my legs just had a spasm and locked up,” he said.
“I’m not too sure exactly, I couldn’t feel my legs for a couple of seconds and after that I was fine, it was a bit of a weird one.
“I was just about to kick the footy and the legs gave in on me, they didn’t want me to kick the goal.”
DOGS’ HIGH-FLYING ASTRO-NAUGHT
Western Bulldogs spearhead Aaron Naughton says the forward partnership he is developing with Josh Bruce is almost ready for lift off as they target a finals berth.
The full-forwards have both enjoyed a career-best haul of six goals playing as the main man this season but are yet to click in the same attack.
Naughton (five) and Bruce (three) have combined for just eight goals in the eight games they’ve played together, although the Dogs are all-in on that pairing with Josh Schache left in reserve.
But Naughton said the two contested marks Bruce took at the start of the last quarter on Sunday night showed signs of life as their chemistry grows.
“We trained together pretty much the whole pre-season and then I went down just before Round 1, and then hurt my ankle (in Round 4) so we haven’t actually played too much footy together,” Naughton said.
“Now we’re starting to actually play together. You don’t want to be fighting for the same ball all the time, but there’ll be times where you have to go for the same contest.
“It’s those little things like reading the cues of each other that will just come from training and playing a fair bit of footy together.
“We’re starting to do that, which is nice.”
Naughton, 20, has taken six contested grabs in the past two games, against Geelong and West Coast, with his clean marking likened to Wayne Carey.
The West Australian had the perfect view of captain Marcus Bontempelli’s matchwinner against the Eagles, and was certain it cleared the goal line.
“I was right underneath (Jeremy) McGovern and believed it was a goal straight away,” he said.
“I ran over to (Mitch) Wallis and said, ‘That’s a goal’. It was a big captain’s goal, which was nice.”
Naughton – selected in the AFL Players’ Association 22-under-22 squad – took a courageous contested grab of his own in the last quarter against the Eagles.
He got to his feet wearing a big grin, and explained why.
“I’m good mates with Oscar Allen and in the contest before we squared-off in the ruck and were laughing at each other,” Naughton said.
“He got that hitout and I was like, ‘Next contest I’m going to win’ and it was a mongrel quick in and I just willed myself to get to the footy.
“I jumped up and was able to get there in time. We both flew for the mark and we both hit bodies and came down, and I came down with the footy.”
Naughton the defender played on Allen the forward in the WAFL in 2017 and they co-captained Western Australia’s Under-18s together.
Their phones lit up with former teammates sending clips of Sunday night’s contest in group messages.
Naughton swung to the backline as a seventh defender after Bontempelli’s goal but said that would be the extent of his time behind the ball.
The kid with flowing hair and oodles of swagger rated Robbie Tarrant (North Melbourne) and All-Australian Harris Andrews (Lions) as the hardest defenders to play on.
Naughton’s set-shot routine is five walking steps and then five running steps and was only developed in 2019.
As for his contested marking?
“It’s something that comes a bit natural, reading the flight of the footy is something I’ve always had as a junior,” he said.
“I try not to worry too much about the opponent and just focus on the footy.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve got any secret tricks, I just like to keep it simple and keep my eyes on the footy.”
SWANS’ LEADER AT JUST 19
Sydney Swans’ breakout star James Rowbottom has already been expedited to leadership status at just 19 years of age.
When one of the other teenagers at the club, Elijah Taylor, was busted for his COVID-19 breach in Perth, Swans coach John Longmire contrasted his lack of maturity to Rowbottom, who has looked at home in the AFL as an old head on young shoulders.
That is confirmed by the fact Rowbottom, just 26 matches into his career, has been encouraged to take on an active leadership role among his older peers – such is the esteem in which he is held at the Swans.
Rowbottom will on Tuesday be unveiled in the AFLPA’s under 22 team of the year, and he is the face of the Swans’ quiet revolution.
Sydney have endured another tough year in terms of injuries and results, but the future suddenly looks a lot brighter – with Rowbottom, the centrepiece of the next generation.
“The coaching staff and the established leaders have been onto me about becoming a better leader as well and working towards more leadership among the group,” said Rowbottom.
“And that’s where I’ve taken messages out of the team meetings and been trying to be the sort of bridge for the senior players and the younger players to try and develop my leadership in that sense.”
Rowbottom has emerged as one of the rising stars of the competition and one of the best up-and-coming midfielders going around.
If he had only played 10 matches in his rookie year in 2019 rather than 12 (therefore making him ineligible), he would have been an overwhelming favourite for the Rising Star.
However, Rowbottom is more than a player, but potentially on track to become one of the youngest captains the game has seen.
Rowbottom says it hasn’t been easy to be a leader to young men who are older and more experienced.
“It’s been a bit of a challenge. It’s a bit hard to stand up in front of a group and speak up but the group and senior players and coaches made it clear that anyone is entitled to,” he said.
“If you see something you’re better off saying it than not saying it, because most likely someone else is thinking the same thing.
“Everyone very much on the same page about supporting each other with their views and driving each other to be the best that we can be. That’s been the main message.
“No one really takes a backward step or sits there waiting.”
Rowbottom says his art to adjusting to AFL football is to try and focus on one knew skill every week.
“I just really wanted to work towards putting together some four quarter games and I’ve done that,” he said.
“I think throughout the last six weeks or seven weeks has been the most satisfying.
“I’ve set a goal every week and done everything to achieve it and ticking off goals along the way to being as good as I can be.
“Ticking off things each week and adding something to my bow as well as maintain what I’ve developed.”
