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.
We have accumulated who we believe are the league's best of the best, but before it is unveiled, here is a list of players who just missed the cut:
Unlucky to miss:
Patrick Cripps
Josh Daicos
Nick Vlastuin
Darcy Cameron
Gryan Miers
Touk Miller
George Hewett
Shai Bolton
Josh Worrell
Josh Battle
Here is the first edition (50-41) of our top 50 AFL players right now...
444th - Toby Greene
2024 rank: N/A
If this were a list of best match-winners in the AFL, Toby Greene would certainly be inside the top 10. The Giants captain may not consistently influence the contest for a full 120 minutes at 32 years old, but his ability to take over in the moments that matter sees him enter the top 50.
His heroics in Round 24 against St Kilda epitomise this aura, with Greene pulling off sensational back-to-back marks in the final minute to capture the win for GWS and secure a Finals berth, adding to his two goals and four score involvements in the final term of a see-sawing affair.
In saying that, Greene still kicked 41 goals in 2025, the fourth time he's reached that mark in five seasons, and he went goalless on just four occasions throughout the year.
GWS lost all four of those games, highlighting its continued importance to the AFL's latest expansion side.
You have to wonder how these lists are compiled. What do they look for? Clearly it is the flashy players. Collingwood played in the Preliminary Final despite only having 2 players in the top 50. Port Adelaide, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne had, apparently, more of the best players in the competition but couldn’t even make the finals. Go figure.