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)

22nd - Sam Darcy

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 28: Sam Darcy of the Bulldogs celebrates kicking a goal during the round three AFL match between Carlton Blues and Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, on March 28, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 28: Sam Darcy of the Bulldogs celebrates kicking a goal during the round three AFL match between Carlton Blues and Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium, on March 28, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

2024 rank: 48

If not for a knee injury that disrupted the middle part of his year, Darcy was on pace to kick 70 goals in 2025, highlighting just how close he is to making the AFL his world.

The physical gifts that Darcy possesses make him an almost impossible task for defenders, with the combination of his size, strength and surprising mobility enabling him to dominate aerially but also at the drop of the ball. Among key forwards, Darcy has the second-best win rate of offensive one-on-one contests, claiming victory in 40.4 per cent of his 3.4 per game.

Similarly to King, Darcy has an impressive shot accuracy of 63 per cent. If he can remain fully fit in 2026 and bolster his shots at goal to the levels of a Jeremy Cameron or Jack Gunston, he could very easily wind up as a top 10 player in the AFL in 12 months time.

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