How many A Graders do we have in 2024?

[Born to Pie]

How many A Graders do we have in 2024?
Every year the reigning premiers are anointed with x amount of A graders by various media outlets.
I certainly believe that to win a flag you need a certain amount of players to step up, beyond those that are your regular best players and A graders, and have career best seasons.

So I have two categories for our 2023 A graders, those that are regularly performing in the elite category and were A graders at the start of 2023, and, those that need to carry their A grade form from 2023 into 2024, and beyond, to be considered elite.

Regular A graders:
Pendles, has been an A grader almost his entire career,
Sidebottom, can take a bit more time to warm into games, and for that matter the season these days, but has the ability to seriously impact games.
Crisp, consistent and damaging no matter where he plays.
Howe, some may not agree but his reading of the game and intercept ability
makes him elite, and
Moore, as with Howe and is a booming kick, an elite defender in the competition for a few years now.

New to the level:
DeGoey, always on the the cusp of being elite, now potentially our most important player, 2023 was a breakout particularly as he was consistent.
Quaynor, one on one beast, interceptor, speed, power and creative.
Maynard, see IQ but also heart and soul throws himself into the fray time and time again, he lifts this team.
J. Daicos, is probably right on the cusp of this, needs to stay in games a bit more, but has talent to burn, he influences games enough though to be in this class.
Hill, standout 2023 and had a blinder finals series, he lifts our forward line into a dangerous category that we haven't had for a long time.
N. Daicos, I couldn't put him in the first category because this will only be his 3rd season, but when you've been a Brownlow fancy in your first two seasons, and you have other clubs wanting to change the father son rule because we were able to draft him, well, he's all class and an elite talent

[stui magpie]

If you consider an A grader should be in the top few in the league for their position, I'd say our current A graders are :
Moore
Jordy
Nick Daicos
IQ.

Pendles and Sidey have diminished in their output with age but are still solid B+ as would be Crisp and Bruzzy. Howe is probably down to a B but still a valuable part of the team. Jaicos and Hill are around B to B+

[Magpietothemax]

Who were our A-graders in 2023?
IQ
Nick D
Darcy
JDG
Pendles
Steele
Jem Howe
Pendles and Steele were astonishing in 2023. Pendles was A grade because of his ability to consistently make his presence felt in so many ways, and to dominate at crucial times in a game when victory or defeat was on the line. He dragged us over the line so many times.
Steele was the ultimate link in the chain on so many occasions, but not just any link, a sublime link which created the next fantastic link, or repelled the opposition's forward thrust with brilliance. His finals series was electric.
Jeremy is stellar in his anticipation and marking ability.

Who was on the cusp?
Josh D (thought he wasnt quite A grade due to his relatively quiet finals)
Jack C (just about A grade status, just a couple of performances lacking impact)
Bruzza ( similar to Jack C)

Who can we expect to fall from A grade status in 2024?
Pendles
Steele
Jem Howe
(the aging process takes its toll)

Who can replace them?

Jack C
Bruzza
Josh D
...all definitely.
Potentially:
Lachie Schulz
(kicked 30 odd goals in a flailing Fremantle. What will be possible for him when surrounded by armada of highly talented players?)

Conclusion: We will have with reasonable probabilty 7 or 8 A graders in 2024, and at least 6 with very high probability.

[inxs88]

Like the battery Nick Daicos is AAA (Grade)

[RudeBoy]

Our A graders for me are:
Pendlebury
N. Daicos
Jordy
Moore
Crisp
Sidey
Howe

[Charlie Oneeye]

Agree with everyone really.. its subjective to a degree.

Pendles arguably no longer the player he was, yet in in the last qrt of the GF 11 possies, 1 goal, 3 tackles. That's A grader
Hill wasn't an A Grader yet became one in the GF. Norm Smith, his play is clearly electrifying, a clear standout, maybe puts his toe in.
Steel 'Everywhere' Sidey, was just so good in the GF.. the sweeper and the goal kicker. That's still A grader
Jeremy Howe 2nd in the GF for metres gained 591 !!!!! That necessarily doesn't make you an A grader, but along with 24 disposals and 9 marks, shows he still is.
Nick goes without saying, he is an A graders A grader lol
Jordy is an A Grader
Crisp is an A Grader
Arguably Josh and IQ too, but imo they are close. Just like a multitude of equally talented AFL opposition players.. but A graders not yet.. even Hill , but I just see the oozing terror about to unfold in him.

I guess we could classify some of the above A graders as A-, A--, A+, A++ that would be fitting.
We are blessed.

[BazBoy]

I’d like to mention not A graders mentioned but another thing that may lead to some
A quinella that landed with us this year —they are Shultz,Sullivan and DeMattia
Feel at least two of these will be A graders

[Magpietothemax]

[lazzadesilva]

[perthmagpie]

Watching Bobby Hill he’s going to another level with his confidence. As a small forward he could be an A grader this year.

[Charlie Oneeye]

[LaurieHolden]

[Harrysz]

What's an A Grader? It's hard to define but I imagine it's an elite player who plays consistently at the top level and whom opposition teams must plan for.
In that regard we have 3: Nick Daicos who is one of the best players in the AFL, if not the best, Jordan De Goey who has an outstanding finals record, and Darcy Moore who is a brilliant intercepting running defender.

What about Pendles you say? He's been an A Grader for most of his career but generally I think he's slipped slightly below that. Of course, I was enraptured by his Grand Final, particularly the last quarter. I put Sidey in the same category. Maynard, Quaynor, Crisp, Josh Daicos, Miocek - wonderful players but in my opinion, not quite A Graders. Gee we've got a great team though.

I'll tell you who is a A Grader. Craig McRae. We are so lucky to have him. Credit to Graham Wright and whoever else was responsible for choosing him.

[Boot]

I think there is a lot of exploits that define a player as "A-Grade" but playing well in winning Finals and Grand Finals is a high factor for me. Using that as a basis I think there are a few Collingwood players I would rate as A-Graders coming into season 2024 including;
1. Darcy Moore - Talent alone as a key defender makes him an A-Grader. The worry I have is that he doesn't play the shutdown role very well but in a team as well coach as Collingwood and with Murphy and Howe available to back him up I think Moore offers that class that makes him A-Grade quality. I still think it would be ideal for Collingwood to be able to use Moore at CHB to help generate more attacks from the defensive half as opposed to playing him at Fullback where his and the clubs defensive structure always gives the opposition full forward too much opportunity to get amongst the goals. I'm still hopeful that one of Billy Frampton or Charlie Dean can step up to be that defensive "gorilla" to free Darcy Moore to play further up the ground.
2. Scott Pendlebury - Getting older, but based on the 2023 Grand Final has still got it.
3. Jordan DeGoey - Terrific consistency over the past two years especially in Finals. Actually DeGoey has been pretty good at turning up for final series all his career.
4. Nick Daicos - Generational Talent.
5. Bobby Hill - Seems to have evolved into an elite small forward with super pace and goal sense overnight. He was very good all 2023 but had a super finals series.
6.Jack Crisp - Has been a force that rivals DeGoey in impact for the past couple of years. I think he has evolved as an "A-Grader" from being a very good consistent B-Grader due to his developed ability to hit the scoreboard and when added to his versatility makes his input an elite and a very important part of this Collingwood team.

Others who have reasonable claim as A-Graders, but may be debatable at the moment, include; Jeremy Howe, Steele Sidebottom, Jamie Elliot, Brayden Maynard, Brody Mihocek and Isaac Quaynor. Even Tom Mitchell could be argued as being "A-Grade" at what he does from a contested ball gathering role.

I'm also very hopeful that Beau McCreery, Josh Daicos and Lachie Shultz will be able to continue their development to be considered as A-Graders in 2024 and if they do then the future for Collingwood looks very bright.

Then we have the youth of Fin Macrae, Reef McInnes and Ed Allan who all look very capable of being very good AFL players about to establish themselves in the AFL over the next couple of years. Here's Hoping!!

[gurugeoff]

top '50' lists coming out.
Robbo in the sun has Naicos (3), Degoey (7), Moore (22), Jaicos (4, Maynard (50)

ESPN has only the first three in it.

Robbo gives Jaicos a bit of a backhander. He puts Josh Kelly at number 22, and states that Jaicos was all Australian wingman, but if you put both Josh's against a wall, which one would you pick?