Gold Coast SUNS spearhead Tom Lynch has capped a stellar 2016 season with inclusion in this year’s 40-man Virgin Australia AFL All Australian squad.
The SUNS vice-captain played all 22 games this season, finishing with 66 goals to finish third in the Coleman Medal race. Lynch also led the AFL in contested marks with 62 and finished fifth overall for marks with 153 for the season.
Lynch has never received an All Australian jacket and will be contending with Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch (Adelaide), Jack Gunston (Hawthorn), Lance Franklin (Sydney) and Josh Kennedy (West Coast) for a position in the team.
The final team of 22 will be named on Thursday September 1 in Melbourne.
A total of 16 clubs had at least one player selected in the squad with the Adelaide Crows (six), GWS Giants and the Sydney Swans (both five players) supplying the most representatives.
A total of 24 players were nominated for a potential first-ever All Australian selection while nine players from last year's best team were again nominated as potential selections this year – Eddie Betts, Patrick Dangerfield, Andrew Gaff, Dan Hannebery, West Coast’s Josh Kennedy, Sam Mitchell, Alex Rance, Cyril Rioli and Heath Shaw.
In contrast to the 24 potential debutants, Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury, the Geelong Cats’ Corey Enright and the Sydney Swans’ Lance Franklin are each in line for their potential sixth separate selection as an All Australian player.
The full squad is as follows:
Adelaide: Eddie Betts, Josh Jenkins, Rory Laird, Tom Lynch, Rory Sloane, Daniel Talia
Carlton: Sam Docherty, Kade Simpson
Collingwood: Scott Pendlebury, Adam Treloar
Fremantle: Lachie Neale
Geelong: Patrick Dangerfield, Corey Enright, Joel Selwood
Gold Coast: Tom Lynch
GWS: Stephen Coniglio, Toby Greene, Tom Scully, Heath Shaw, Callan Ward
Hawthorn: Jack Gunston, Sam Mitchell, Cyril Rioli
Melbourne: Max Gawn
North Melbourne: Robbie Tarrant
Port Adelaide: Jasper Pittard
Richmond: Dustin Martin, Alex Rance
St Kilda: Jack Steven
Sydney: Lance Franklin, Dan Hannebery, Josh Kennedy, Luke Parker, Dane Rampe
West Coast: Andrew Gaff, Josh Kennedy, Jeremy McGovern, Luke Shuey
Western Bulldogs: Marcus Bontempelli, Matthew Boyd
