A MAJORITY of AFL captains believe Port Adelaide can make the leap into the top eight at the conclusion of the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season minor rounds.
During the AFL Captains’ Day at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday, the skippers were asked which teams would play finals - other than their own - with 10 expecting Port to feature in September.
The Power won all of its three pre-season fixtures, including two impressive Marsh Community Series victories against Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs.
It also defeated Adelaide in an under 23s game by six points at Thebarton Oval a fortnight ago.
Last year’s grand finalists Richmond and Greater Western Sydney - along with West Coast - received the most votes (17) from the captains, with every skipper expecting them to play finals in 2020.
Collingwood (16), Brisbane (15) and the Western Bulldogs (13) were also highly backed in for September action.
The Giants (seven) and the Eagles (five) were the most popular picks amongst the captains to play in this year’s grand final, while Richmond (four) and Collingwood (two) also polled votes.
Patrick Cripps (five) was voted as most likely to win the Brownlow Medal, Tom Lynch (six) the Coleman Medal and no.1 draft pick Matt Rowell (nine) the Rising Star award.
Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year's top eight?
17 – West Coast, Richmond, GWS Giants, 16 – Collingwood, 15 – Brisbane, 13 – Western Bulldogs, 10 – Port Adelaide, 8 – Geelong, 5 – Melbourne, 3 – St Kilda, 2 – Hawthorn, 1 – Essendon, North Melbourne, Sydney
Which other club is most likely to reach the grand final?
7 – GWS Giants, 5 – West Coast, 4 – Richmond, 2 – Collingwood
Who do you think will win the 2020 Brownlow Medal?
5 – Patrick Cripps (Carlton), 4 – Lachie Neale (Brisbane), 3 – Nat Fyfe (Fremantle), 2 – Dustin Martin (Richmond), Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs), 1 – Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong), Stephen Coniglio (GWS Giants)
Who do you think will win the 2020 Coleman Medal?
6 – Tom Lynch (Richmond), 5 – Jeremy Cameron (GWS Giants), 3 – Josh Kennedy (West Coast), 1 – Charlie Cameron (Brisbane), Ben Brown (North Melbourne), Bayley Fritsch (Melbourne), Lance Franklin (Sydney)
Who do you think will win the 2020 NAB AFL Rising Star?
9 – Matt Rowell (Gold Coast), 2 – Tom Green (GWS Giants), Max King (St Kilda), 1 – Chayce Jones (Adelaide), Caleb Serong (Fremantle), Noah Anderson (Gold Coast), Luke Jackson (Melbourne), Dylan Stephens (Sydney)
