2010 All-Australian team

The 2010 All-Australian team represents the best performed Australian Football League (AFL) players during the 2010 season. It was announced on 13 September as a complete Australian rules football team of 22 players. An initial squad of 40 players was previously announced on 30 August. The team is honorary and does not play any games.

Selection panel

The selection panel for the 2010 All-Australian team consisted of chairman Andrew Demetriou, Adrian Anderson, Kevin Bartlett, Gerard Healy, James Hird, Glen Jakovich, Mark Ricciuto and Robert Walls. Healy and Walls both announced their retirement from the panel and therefore the 2010 season was their last as selectors. It was also Hird's last season as a selector, as he became coach of in 2011.

Team

Initial squad

A squad of 40 players was selected on 30 August. There was a change from the tradition of previous years and instead of players being selected by position, the selectors simply chose who they considered to be the 40 best performers for the season. The top four sides provided half of the 40 players. had the most players selected of any side, with seven, while minor premiers had five and the third and fourth-placed finishers, and the , both had four players selected respectively. , the and did not have any players nominated for the squad. 18 players in the 40-man squad had not been selected in the All-Australian team before. Eight players who had been selected in the 2009 team did not make the 2010 squad, including 2009 captain Nick Riewoldt, Matthew Scarlett, Nick Maxwell, Simon Goodwin, Brendan Fevola, Leon Davis, Jonathan Brown and Craig Bolton.

Final team

The 2010 All-Australian team was announced on 13 September. Six of the 22 players were Geelong players, with four players coming from minor premiers Collingwood, while , , St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs had two players each. , , and all had a lone representative, which meant that , the , Essendon, , Port Adelaide and were not represented in the final 22. Players to make the squad for the first time were Harry Taylor, Jack Riewoldt, Scott Pendlebury, Harry O'Brien, Mark LeCras, Mark Jamar and James Frawley. No current team captains were named on the field (Chris Judd, captain of Carlton, was named on the bench) and so the selectors named vice-captain Luke Hodge as the captain instead. 2009 Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett Jr. was named vice-captain, although he was neither a captain or vice-captain at the time.

Of the 18 players from the squad of 40 who missed out, the non-selections of Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich, St Kilda's Lenny Hayes, Melbourne's Brad Green and 2008 Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney were considered the most contentious. Hayes, in particular, was considered a surprise, with St Kilda teammate and All-Australian wingman Leigh Montagna saying: "I was very surprised Lenny wasn't in the team... I pencilled him in for a captain or vice-captain. It's a big shock." Pavlich's non-selection also raised some eyebrows, with many experts predicting that the Fremantle captain would be selected in what would have been his seventh All-Australian side.

Note: the position of coach in the All-Australian team is traditionally awarded to the coach of the premiership team.

References

{{2010 AFL season

All-Australian Team, 2010
All-Australian Team