Back in the good old days of… a few years ago (before Covid – they were the shit old days) I used to throw the word “underrated” around, and inevitably, when you did that, someone would chime in with the name of Brad Sheppard.
At the time, Sheppard was one of those defenders that just always seemed to get the job done, week in, and week out, and never received any credit for his work.
Externally, that is.
I mean, we’d always laud his efforts, as we actually watched the games, and if you have access to our 2018/19 archives, you’ll see it reflected there, but in the mainstream media, there was bugger-all credit given to Sheppard for his workmanlike, and very effective methods of defending.
Then, he went and ruined it all by being crowned as an All-Australian.
To me, there are players who fly under the radar their entire career and never get the reward of being a club Best and Fairest winner, or an All-Australian.
And let’s face it… there are some who are awarded All-Australian slots that leave you scratching your head, at times.
So, I reckon that should be the start of our criteria – if you have never won a B&F, and never made an AA team, you can be considered underrated.
But there’d still be some who could fall through the cracks – those who are definitely rated, but slither through to make the team. So, let’s say that winners of a major award (Coleman, Brownlow, MVP, Rising Star, AFLCA Award, etc…) cannot be considered. And, in the past three years, you cannot have made the top three in your team’s Best and Fairest.
Lots of parameters to stop a star squeezing in, now.
And we’ll complicate matters a little by stating you must have been playing in the league for five or more years to qualify. Kids are underrated simply because they’re kids – we’re looking for the blokes who have done the hard yards over the long haul.
And it is with that in mind we present the 2024 All-Underrated Team.
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