AFANA's Who's Hot and Who's Not #2

In our second review of the season, we are approaching the halfway mark. AFANA crunches the numbers to bring you the hottest and coldest players in the league.

HOT:

NICK DAICOS (Collingwood Magpies):

After a patch of indifferent form starting in round two, this budding superstar has absolutely torn the competition apart in recent weeks.

With three out of his last four games reaping over 30 possessions and 7+ clearances, Daicos has looked every bit the Brownlow Medal fancy most of us expected to see in 2024. Add the fact that he has hit the scoreboard for four goals in the last three games, what you have right here is the hottest of the hot!

LUKE RYAN (Fremantle Dockers):

Ryan has become the quarterback of the Dockers defense, racking up intercept marks and disposals at will. In round eight he had a whopping 39 possessions to go with a ridiculous 15 marks while hitting targets at a cracking rate out of the backline. It’s no surprise that coach Justin Longmuir entrusts "kicking in" duties to Ryan as he has become the rock of the Dockers backline.

SAM WALSH (Carlton):

After a long layoff from injury, he could have been excused for a slow start as he debuted in round five. However, it didn't happen. The young star has absolutely dominated from the get-go racking up an amazing streak of five straight games of 30 possessions or more. Two of those games included a tackle count of 11 and 13 which has dispelled any doubts about a lingering back issue. Red hot.

NOT SO HOT:

MITCH DUNCAN (Geelong Cats):

Coming off an excellent year the veteran midfielder has had a tough go of it in 2024. While he has performed serviceably there has been none of the dynamic drive and damaging burst that has been a hallmark of Duncan’s career. At almost 33 years of age, coach Chris Scott has taken the extraordinary step of resting him for this week’s big game against the Gold Coast Suns.

JACK GUNSTON (Hawthorn Hawks):

Gunston’s return to the Hawks after a season up North in Brisbane hasn’t gone to plan at all. In six games to date, the one-time elite goal sneak has managed a paltry four goals in six games while registering just four kicks in the Hawks recent win over Saint Kilda. With a young upcoming list at coach Sam Mitchell’s disposal, the writing looks to be on the wall for the ice-cold Gunston.

SHAI BOLTON (Richmond Tigers):

Bolton had a scintillating start to the season however a raft of injuries to his Richmond Tiger teammates has seen resulted in his form heading south in a hurry. A decimated midfield has meant Bolton has been used to plug too many holes and it has affected his output immensely. After a rare patch where he scored 11 goals in a four game stretch to round five, the struggling Bolton has managed just three goals in his last three contests while not registering a single 20 possession game. His form is reflecting the struggling Tigers disaster of a season as they have slumped to 17^th on the ladder.

We will be back with another update in a few week's time to see where things are heading toward the tail end of the season.