‘Very, very stiff’: Tigers great slams star’s All-Australian snub as selector reveals tough calls

The omission of Richmond star Tim Taranto has become the biggest talking point of the 44-man All Australian squad released on Monday, while the decision not to include a couple of Cats also raised eyebrows.

Richmond recruit Taranto finished the 2023 season ranked as elite in disposals, kicks, tackles and clearances in AFL Ratings, but was overlooked in favour of the likes of Freo’s Caleb Serong, Gold Coast’s Noah Anderson, Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe, GWS’ Tom Green and Stephen Coniglio, and Melbourne’s Jack Viney.

Richmond great Matthew Richardson was particularly critical of the call on Taranto, as he claimed the midfielder was “ extremely close” to selection before his “very, very stiff” omission four weeks later.

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But AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan (panel chairman) and selection panel Kevin Bartlett, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, Kane Cornes, Andrew Dillon, Glen Jakovich, Chris Johnson, Cameron Ling, Matthew Pavlich and Laura Kane didn’t have any room for Taranto in the 44-man squad.

SEE THE FULL 44-MAN ALL AUSTRALIAN SQUAD

All Australian selector and Fox Footy’s Nathan Buckley admitted there were a number of tough selections.

“This is the second year I’ve done it and it doesn’t get any easier,” he revealed On the Couch.

Speaking on Taranto’s omission, Buckley confirmed the midfield group was a hotly contested category.

“We thought that he was a bit quiet towards the end of the year and there was plenty of competition in the midfield spots,” he said.

Hawks great Luke Hodge shared his surprise at Taranto’s omission from the squad, questioning what more the midfielder could have done in 2023.

“The Tim Taranto one … halfway through the year I think (All-Australian selector Kane Cornes) said he wanted to see him kick more goals … he averaged almost one a game, had 140 odd clearances, averaged 29 touches a game, I thought it was a pretty consistent year,” Hodge said on SEN.

“He did so much well in a team that did struggle.”

Jonathan Brown said his glaring omission from the 44-man squad was Cat Jeremy Cameron.

“Obviously a sensational first half of the year and was almost locked in the first half of the year,” Buckley said of Cameron.

“Due to the injury, not his fault the contact with (teammate Gary) Rohan … he missed quite a bit of footy.”

Buckley revealed Magpie Jamie Elliott was close to a call up but selectors opted for Hawthorn’s Luke Breust, while it was a tough call between former teammates Max Gawn and Luke Jackson – with the latter getting his first AA nod.

“I didn’t think I’d be talking about him in the All-Australian 40,” Fremantle great Paul Hasleby said of the Jackson call up on SEN.

Another player some critics were surprise to miss out was Geelong’s Gryan Miers, after he broke Lion Jason Akermanis’ impressive most goal assists stat this season.

Miers was the most accurate kick inside 50 for the year of any player in the AFL, and was part of Fox Footy expert David King’s predicted final 22 – yet didn’t even make the squad cut.

“He reminds me back in my era of Mark Mercuri, Brett Heady, the way they dominated that front half, the way they made great decisions with their ball use inside 50. They rarely wasted a possession in that front half,” former AFL coach Brenton Sanderson praised of Miers on SEN earlier this month.

Sam Taylor (GWS) missed out despite some calling for his inclusion off the back of only 15 games due to injury.

But it was a season where he became just the second player to be ranked number one for both winning and losing defensive one-on-one contests in the same season, with only Eagles star Jeremy McGovern achieving the same feat in 2016.

Essendon’s Nic Martin didn’t make the cut as a genuine winger while Lion Josh Dunkley was arguably one of the most consistent mids in a team that finished top-two.