Welcome to Zero Hanger's top 50 player rankings for 2025 - a list based primarily on a player's 2025 production in addition to their career pedigree and future projections.

The bar is as high as ever to impact as an AFL footballer consistently, let alone to a star level. All-Australian discussions are in constant debate as several guns often find themselves snubbed from proper recognition.

Here is the third edition (30-21) of our top 50 AFL players of 2025...

READ: PART 1 (50-41)
READ: PART 2 (40-31)

24th - Will Ashcroft

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Will Ashcroft of the Lions kicks the ball during the AFL Grand Final match between the Geelong Cats and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Will Ashcroft of the Lions kicks the ball during the AFL Grand Final match between the Geelong Cats and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

2024 rank: 31

Will Ashcroft is quickly rising the ranks as one of the league's brightest young talents, and another dominant September campaign at just 21 years old will help accomplish that.

Ashcroft boasted 27.1 disposals, 3.5 tackles and 5.7 clearances per game in 2025, all significant career-highs, and damaged the scoreboard as a more prominent option in the midfield, kicking 15 goals and contributing to over a quarter of Brisbane's scores.

What's wild to think about is just how much room Ashcroft still has to grow. He's not leading Brisbane's engine room yet and his accuracy in front of the sticks is below average, yet he remains one of the AFL's greatest game-breaking talents.

A third premiership - and potentially a record-equalling Norm Smith Medal - beckons for Ashcroft in 2026.

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