2008 All-Australian team explained

The 2008 All-Australian team represents the best performed Australian Football League (AFL) players during the 2008 season. The selection panel provided the 40 leading players of the year in their playing positions at the conclusion of the home and away season before announcing the final 22 during the All-Australian Presentation Dinner on 15 September. The team is honorary and does not play any games.

Selection panel

The selection panel for the 2008 All-Australian team consisted of non-voting chairman Andrew Demetriou, Adrian Anderson, Robert Walls, Gerard Healy, Mark Bickley, Glen Jakovich, Rod Austin and Kevin Bartlett.^[1]

Team

Initial squad

The 40-man squad was announced on 3 September, with ten players named.^[2]

2008 All-Australian squad
Defenders
Nathan Bock	Corey Enright	Luke Hodge	Tom Harley
Samuel Fisher	Max Hudghton	Andrew Mackie	Luke McPharlin
Dale Morris	Daniel Pratt	Darren Milburn	Matthew Scarlett
Midfielders/Ruckmen
Gary Ablett Jr.	Jimmy Bartel	Joel Corey	Adam Cooney
Brett Deledio	Dean Cox	Brett Kirk	Matthew Richardson
Chris Judd	Lenny Hayes	Daniel Cross	Aaron Sandilands
Simon Black	Joel Selwood	Drew Petrie	Sam Mitchell
Forwards
Jonathan Brown	Daniel Motlop	Lance Franklin	Brent Harvey
Robert Murphy	Steve Johnson	Brendan Fevola	Daniel Bradshaw
Paul Medhurst	Matthew Pavlich	Ryan O'Keefe	Nick Riewoldt

Final team

Note: the position of coach in the All-Australian team is traditionally awarded to the coach of the premiership team.

The 2008 All-Australian umpire was also awarded, with that honour going to Brett Rosebury.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sam . Edmund . Cats dominate All-Australian team for second year running . Herald Sun. 16 September 2008 . 16 September 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080916193305/http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0%2C26576%2C24351997-19742%2C00.html . 16 September 2008 . dead .
2. News: Cats dominate initial All-Australian squad. 3 September 2008.
3. Web site: Matt. Burgan. Geelong's All-Australian night. AFL BigPond Network. 15 September 2008. 16 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080916205023/http://www.afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=67704. 16 September 2008 . dead.