AFL News 2023: Ranking and analysis of each club’s age list
Geelong also have the oldest list in the AFL in 2023, but other clubs at the top and bottom of the age and experience spectrum might surprise you. See where your club ranks.
Reigning premier Geelong remain the oldest and most experienced team in 2023 despite saying goodbye to a trio of veterans in the off-season.
The Cats’ playlist for the upcoming season has an average age of 25.5 years and an average of 92.4 games played.
Dubbed ‘too old, too slow’ last season, Geelong defied the critics to celebrate an emphatic 81-point triumph over Sydney in the 2022 grand final.
Chris Scott’s team are now the early favorites going straight into 2023.
The median age of the Cats roster has fallen slightly since 2022 – when it was 25.6 – after the retirements of Joel Selwood (34), Shaun Higgins (34) and Luke Dahlhaus (30).
However, Geelong still have 12 players who will be over 30 next season – three more than any other team.
At the other end of the spectrum, Hawthorn and St Kilda only have one player over 30 on their playlists.
The Western Bulldogs are surprisingly the second-oldest team, having secured veteran pairing Liam Jones (31) and Rory Lobb (29) during the free agency and trade era.
Brisbane are the third oldest team, with Richmond rounding out the top four.
Hawthorn’s off-season cleanout, which saw the Hawks bid farewell to Jack Gunston (Brisbane), Tom Mitchell (Collingwood), Jaeger O’Meara (Fremantle) and Liam Shiels (retired), makes it the youngest team to leave next season an average age of 23.1 years.
The Hawks only have three players on their roster — Luke Breust, Chad Wingard and Jarman Impey — who have played 150 or more games.
Adelaide is the second youngest and second least experienced list, with Essendon and Fremantle also in the bottom four in both categories.
Essendon’s new manager Brad Scott warned last month that his young side would need time to climb the ladder.
“With the demographics of this list, talent is just speculation if it’s 18 or 19 years old,” Scott said.
“I was impressed with the skills on our list but the reality is and the facts are they are very young and they will need time to develop and so the team will need some time to develop to the right.”
Fremantle, a finalist last year, lost David Mundy (retired), Blake Acres (Carlton), Griffin Logue (North Melbourne), Darcy Tucker (North Melbourne) and Lloyd Meek (Hawthorn) in the off-season.
Originally released as AFL 2023: Geelong, it is still the oldest team to start the 2023 season
https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/afl-2023-cats-still-the-eldest-team-of-all-headed-into-2023-season/news-story/7907814ddbe30c2dcc06400b2eccdfcf?nk=00e6b77d673cebc7d192efadd6172332-1674624187 AFL News 2023: Ranking and analysis of each club’s age list
