Cats dominate All-Australian team - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Cats dominate All-Australian team

By Roger Vaughan 17/09/2007 10:30:00 PM Comments (0)

Geelong dominated Monday night's naming of the AFL All-Australian team, with a record nine players gaining the honour.

Adelaide defender Andrew McLeod was named captain for the first time, while Port Adelaide's Chad and Kane Cornes became the first set of brothers in the same team since Justin and Simon Madden 20 years ago.

The Cats finished the season three games clear in top spot and are strong favourites to win Friday night's preliminary final against Collingwood at the MCG.

For the first time, the AFL announced a squad of 40 from which the final team of 22 was named on Monday night.

All Geelong's nominated players made the team, reflecting their domination of the season.

Of the Cats, only Matthew Scarlett had received All-Australian honours before and this is his third selection.

The other eight Cats picked are Brownlow Medal favourite Gary Ablett (rover), Matthew Egan and Darren Milburn (defenders), Jimmy Bartel (centre), Steve Johnson and Cameron Mooney (forwards), and Joel Corey and Cameron Ling (interchange).

The last time a team dominated a season in this manner was Essendon's premiership in 2000, but the Bombers only gained four selections that year.

The Cats had no selections in the last two seasons.

This year's All-Australian selections featured 11 first timers - half the team.

Johnson's selection represents a massive turnaround in his career.

The team suspended him for the start of the season after an alcohol-rated incident on Christmas Eve and the Cats made it clear he was on his last chance at the club.

But Johnson has been outstanding since resuming his senior career in round six, finally realising his rich potential.

"Things can change pretty quickly if you do the right thing," Johnson said.

Asked if he doubted his ability to return to the AFL, he replied: "Personally I didn't doubt it, but I suppose a lot of people did and that drove me."

Under the new selection system, the selectors named the original squad earlier this month of 12 defenders, 12 forwards and 18 midfielders.

They then named six backmen, six forwards and six midfielders from the groups, with no restrictions on the interchange.

While this was the first time McLeod gained the captaincy, it is his fifth All-Australian selection.

Western Bulldogs forward Brad Johnson, captain last year, made an All-Australian team for the sixth time.

It was also the fifth selection for Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich.

Coleman Medallist Jonathan Brown was named at full-forward and is centre half-forward.

Despite his three premierships, this is Brown's first All-Australian team and he was also named vice-captain.

West Coast's Darren Glass is full-back and Egan is centre half-back.

Egan is praying that Geelong win this Friday and he then recovers in time from a broken foot .to play in the grand final.

"The foot is going really well, hopefully 'Bomber' (coach Mark Thompson) saw that," Egan said, referring to his confident walk to the stage.

Asked what sort of chance he gave himself to be fit if Geelong make the grand final, he replied "I would be hoping 100".

Joining Ablett in the first ruck are Eagles pair Dean Cox and Daniel Kerr, who missed Friday night's nail-biting semi-final loss to Collingwood with a broken finger.

Kerr had a humorous crack at his team-mate as they stood on stage together.

"We'll see how he goes (next season) without Juddy," Kerr said of Cox, referring to captain Chris Judd's momentous decision to leave West Coast.

Of this weekend's preliminary finalists, only Collingwood did not have a representative in Monday night's team.

The Magpies were furious that none of their players were named in the original squad.

The Power had three selections, second to Geelong, and the Kangaroos' Brent Harvey also made the team.

The Cornes brothers were named on the two wings and Power ruckmen Brendon Lade was named on the interchange.

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