There's no particular surprise about the sorts of players leading the various media awards and fi guring heavily in betting on this year's Brownlow Medal. Gary Ablett, Adam Cooney, Brent Harvey, all names we've come to know very well these past few seasons, and in Harvey's case, a fair bit longer than that.

But for all the individual honours, AFL football remains a team game, one in which even those who don't necessarily attract the most kudos and publicity can still play a valuable role. And so does it also remain a game of surprises, one in which a "good, ordinary player", as Jack Dyer used to call them, can become a star in the space of a season.

The announcement of this year's All-Australian team - becoming a talking point with only six rounds to play - could well cater to both elements. Geelong created history last season with nine players in the AFL's official best composite side of the year. Can the Cats possibly match that achievement in 2008?

They will no doubt have more than their share of representatives, most of whom will raise few eyebrows at all. But even at Geelong, and certainly among its rivals, are serious contenders for the prestigious honour the mere mention of whose candidacy back in March would have been fanciful.

There's the young Cat, still to pass the 40- game mark, whose meteoric rise seems to know no bounds. The once-pilloried small forward from a pilloried club, who has done far more than merely fi nd a new lease of life at his new football home. The slow-to-develop big man coming off one of his poorest seasons to play unquestionably his best.

The low-profile Crow who has swapped from one end of the ground to the other with dramatic effect. And the even lower-profile Bulldog now clearly one of the AFL's midfi eld elite.

The selection of any of these five players as potential All-Australians was more than unlikely last March. Far from it come late July.

DAVID HILLE, ESSENDON
DAVID Hille had enormous shoes to fill when Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd went down injured two years ago, still establishing himself as a player, let alone as a stand-in captain. The battle appeared to catch up with him last year, inconsistency a bugbear that led to him being dropped twice late in the season, the second time earning a last-minute reprieve
for the final game of the year - Kevin Sheedy and James Hird's last.

A solid performance that day became the launching pad for what has become easily the best of the big man's eight seasons at senior level.
Anyone who still doubted Hille's intensity and vastly improved vigour would have been satisfied the weekend before last when the big Bomber bowled over two Brisbane Lions opponents in quick succession.

Finally, the Essendon big man is exerting the sort of physical presence to go with his size. And the proof is in the pudding, Hille ranked first at Essendon for contested possessions and hardball gets this season, and second for clearances.

So, too, has the quality of his work at the bounces risen to another level to go with his mobility and possessionwinning ability around the ground. His average of 20 hitouts a game is easily a personal best, sixth in the AFL.

His average of 16 disposals and five marks is also a career high, Hille averaging the third most disposals of any ruckman in the competition.

There are no gaping holes left in Hille's armour, now impressive enough for him to be the favourite to partner Dean Cox as an All-Australian ruckman.

NATHAN BOCK, ADELAIDE
IT WAS just two rounds into this season when former Adelaide captain and now commentator Chris McDermott called Nathan Bock, a player who had never once featured in the top 10 of the Crows' best and fairest, a potential All-Australian.

It seemed a ridiculously parochial prediction at the time. Now it seems like one of the most prescient. Bock, until this year a low-profile player even in the goldfi sh bowl of Adelaide, is a clear frontrunner for centre half-back in the elite squad after an outstanding 2008.

He had spent nearly all of 2007 up forward, where he managed just on 30 goals to finish behind only Scott Welsh in the goalkicking. But the switch to defence has produced a bigger payoff. Bock has become the perfect key position rebounding defender, averaging 23 disposals, eight marks and four rebound 50s a game.

That's eight, two and three more for those categories than last year, the undoubted highlight an amazing 35 disposals against Hawthorn in round 12. Bock's 249 kicks is third highest in the AFL, and the quality of his disposal is notable, with an efficiency rate of 82%. The switch has been smooth as hand in glove.

"I don't mind playing forward but I feel more comfortable and seem to play with more consistency down back," he concurs. "I haven't played a lot of footy at this level in defence ... I'm still coming to grips with when to defend and when to attack but that's something I'm working hard on."

And, as has become apparent, with plenty of success.

PAUL MEDHURST, COLLINGWOOD
AT THE beginning of 2008, people were still debating whether Collingwood or Fremantle had got the better of the Chris Tarrant-Paul Medhurst trade.

They're not any more. Tarrant's struggles with the Dockers aside, Medhurst's meteoric rise has not only won the argument hands-down, but made him a warm favourite for All-Australian selection as a small forward.

There's barely a single statistical category in which he isn't returning career-best fi gures. Averaging 16 disposals a game. Eight marks. Four inside 50s. And most tellingly, three goals a game, his 44 thus far equal seventh in the AFL, the half-dozen players ahead of him all traditional big power forwards.

Medhurst is doing it everywhere. At ground level, where his football smarts have always been first-class. In the air, Collingwood's leading mark-taker. And well beyond the goalface as well. They're the most obvious measures of a new level.

But just as important in the minds of the Collingwood brainstrust has been a vastly improved defensive mindset, Medhurst's chasing, tackling, smothering and one-percenters helping make him a vastly different proposition from the Freo goalsneak often pilloried as pudgy and lazy.

Collingwood assistant coach Guy McKenna sums it up succinctly: "He's got clean hands, an ability to fi nd his way through traffic, and he's so strong over the ball. And I reckon he's gone to another level this year simply because of his want."

A want that may be rewarded with something more tangible than a tick from his coaches come All-Australian night.

JOEL SELWOOD, GEELONG
GEELONG had no fewer than nine All-Australians selected last season. Can the Cats possibly churn out any more, given they've lost fewer games and are even further ahead of the rest of the competition now? Quite possibly.

You could well be adding the name of Joel Selwood, which given how good his 2007 senior debut was for Geelong, would be no small feat.

It's not like Selwood has come from nowhere, having played 21 games in his first year, playing in a flag and winning the Rising Star. It's more a comment on how comprehensively he's shattered that ol' "second-year blues" chestnut, with a season that much better still.

Geelong assistant coach Ken Hinkley remarked before this season began: "No matter how high a draft pick they are, I don't think you could expect anyone to come in and have the season Joel had."

But could the Cats even then have expected another such quantum improvement again? Selwood's major fi gures are up on his already impressive returns from 2007. He's averaging 24 disposals, five marks, three hardball gets, three clearances and four inside 50s a game.

And Selwood appears to have gone to an even higher level over the past month, with a career-high 37 disposals against Adelaide, followed by 35 the following week against Fremantle. They're huge numbers, which hardly suffer by comparison even with teammates the quality of Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey, whose All- Australian company Selwood
may well be keeping in a matter of weeks.

MATTHEW BOYD, WESTERN BULLDOGS
THE Western Bulldogs would argue that Matthew Boyd has long been a top-liner after six seasons, more than 100 games and a fi nish of fourth in last year's best and fairest. Recognition beyond the kennel, however, has been far slower coming.

Boyd is not flashy. He doesn't have the smooth run and grace of an Adam Cooney or Ryan Griffen. But it's hard to think of a more effective midfield "stopper" in 2008, certainly not one who can win as much of his own ball.

Boyd has been handed the job of curbing the likes of Brent Harvey, Adam Goodes, Daniel Kerr, Nathan Foley and Simon Goodwin. He's done so effectively, but never at the expense of his own productivity.

Boyd is averaging 26 disposals, six marks, four hardball gets and three clearances a game. He's had 30-plus touches in five games this season, his 411 disposals ranked seventh in the AFL.

Perception is plenty in the world of AFL football, and has clearly played a part in Boyd's higher public rating now. His fi gures were pretty good in 2007, too, but the Dogs had an ordinary year, and the prolific output of Scott West always drew more attention.

In 2008, the team performance has been superb, and the veteran centreman West hasn't been there much of the time, allowing Boyd more space to grab attention.

He's still very understated, but given the recent preparedness of All-Australian selectors to pick more defensiveminded on-ballers and midfielders, he's a very real chance to achieve what would be by far his highest honour in AFL football.