Dustin Martin, Luke Hodge and Andrew McLeod stamped their place in football immortality, rising above the rest in their respective finals campaigns, dominating an impossible September campaign looking like a training run.
This season, many of the league's best will have their opportunity to take to the field and put their name in the conversation as one of the great finals performers.
Each player in the 2026 AFL finals series can shape the way the remainder of the season unravels, but there are some who are required to do much more.
With the added element of Wildcard football to this finals campaign, the game has never required more from a star player to deliver premiership success from that position.
Superstars like Nick Daicos, Ed Richards, Max Gawn and Patrick Cripps must lead their teams out of the trenches that is the wildcard, just to give themselves a chance to battle through a gruelling September.
Some teams will go into battle without some of their stars, while others may just be tipped as heavy underdogs.
One legacy-defining performance could completely alter the finals race from anything we thought could happen this year.
So here are the 20 most important players to their respective clubs' chances of shaping the 2026 AFL finals race.
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5. Max Gawn
Melbourne are faced with a near-insurmountable challenge in this finals series, with a likely finals path of Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, Sydney at the SCG and Fremantle at Optus Stadium being the route to the Grand Final for the Demons.
Gawn, fresh off an AFL record nine All-Australian selections, has the premiership experience to go along with the skill and will need every bit of it to help Melbourne do some damage.
4. Harris Andrews
The best defender in the game, Andrews' leadership in the backline for Brisbane is paramount to their potential success, vying for their second three-peat in club history.
Everybody expects the Lions to come out and storm through the finals like it has done in previous campaigns, with Andrews in defence being the key reason why.
3. Nick Daicos
Daicos has announced himself as the unanimous best player in the league, winning both the AFLCA and AFLPA champion player of the year and a shoo-in for the Brownlow Medal with the narrowest odds in its history.
If there is any player in the league able to turn a finals series on its head, Daicos is the man, averaging 34.9 disposals and 1.1 goals per match this season.
2. Charlie Curnow
Sydney is the real wildcard of the 2026 finals series, losing three All-Australian level talents overnight, sending their season into a whirlwind.
The Swans do still have a double chance, courtesy of finishing second on the ladder after an impressive 2026 campaign and will be relying heavily on this year's Coleman medallist to be one to carry the flame for Sydney into September.
1. Errol Gulden
The most important player to the way this finals series plays out is Gulden, who's now been shouldered with the task of holding together a midfield that has lost an incredible amount of talent.
For most, it is a near certainty that Brisbane defeats Sydney in the Second Qualifying Final, but if Gulden can say otherwise, it will send the 2026 finals series into an absolute frenzy, forcing Brisbane to take the long road to the premiership.
