Each week of the 2025 AFL season, ESPN.com.au's Jake Michaels looks at six talking points.
This week's Six Points features my updated 'superstar' list, why Nick Daicos should be tagged every single week, some fair Jack Ginnivan criticism, and something weird I received from Didi (yes, that Didi).
1. There are now only 13 'superstars' in the AFL
One of my biggest pet peeves in football is seemingly every commentators' obsession with overusing the 'superstar' tag. Last year, I claimed there were only 14 bone fide, legitimate superstars in the AFL. Not only am I refusing to back down on that take, I think we've actually dropped to 13!
So what is a superstar? A great player, obviously, but it's much, much more than that. How are you viewed by your peers? How are you viewed by the fans? Are you recognisable away from the footy field? You need aura. And for many, longevity. Now, playing for a powerhouse club certainly helps your case, as does your position on the field. You can be the best defender in the game, at a small club, but do you ever really reach superstar status? Sorry, Sam Taylor, I don't think so.
No matter what broadcast commentators will sell you, there aren't 40 players in this most elite and exclusive club. Being a 'one in 20' player and being viewed as a superstar just doesn't pass my pub test. Instead, I've got 13, around 1.6% of the 800ish AFL-listed players. So here are the only players in the league that should be referred to as superstars in season 2025 (in alphabetical order):
MARCUS BONTEMPELLI
JEREMY CAMERON
PATRICK CRIPPS
CHARLIE CURNOW
NICK DAICOS
PATRICK DANGERFIELD
MAX GAWN
TOBY GREENE
ISAAC HEENEY
SCOTT PENDLEBURY
CHRISTIAN PETRACCA
LACHIE NEALE
BAILEY SMITH
I love Jordan Dawson, and he might well win the Brownlow Medal this season, but he's not yet a superstar of the game. Nor is Zach Merrett, Zak Butters, Noah Anderon, Izak Rankine, Shai Bolton, or Sam Darcy. Many of them are right on the cusp, and perhaps one day they'll get there, but not right now. The closest to the list at the moment would have to be Chad Warner. The Sydney star (see what I did there) has had his fingernails on superstar status for a while now, but can't quite seem to pull himself up alongside the other names. Perhaps he'll get there by season's end, but right now it's 13, and only 13.
2. Nick Daicos should be tagged every single week
We now have enough of a sample size to suggest a Nick Daicos receiving maximum opposition attention for four quarters isn't close to a Nick Daicos who is free to run wherever he wants and do as he pleases. To be fair, who is?!
The Demons sent hard runner Ed Langdon to Daicos on Monday afternoon, making the little master's life as difficult as possible and doing everything in his power to restrict his amount of possession. And apart from giving away a few free kicks (let's be honest, he probably should have given away a couple more), Langdon played the role perfectly. Daicos only really had any notable involvement in the game when Langdon was stuck on the bench, and he finished up with a meagre 19 disposals to his name.
Now I know what you're thinking ... who cares, the Magpies won the game. Yes, I understand. But it doesn't change the fact opposition coaches should be opting to tag him week in, week out. The evidence highlighted above proves restricting his output gives you a a far greater chance of beating Collingwood than if you ignore him.
Don't get me wrong, Daicos is good enough to find a way to beat these tags if they keep on coming, but it's truly baffling that the hard run-with role only seems to be a once every two month occurrence.
To tag or not to tag? 🤔
— ESPN Australia & NZ (@ESPNAusNZ) June 11, 2025
In the case of Nick Daicos, it's obvious, says @JMichaelsESPN...
Catch the FULL EP of the ESPN Footy Podcast 🎧 : https://t.co/PH8iQh9pmv pic.twitter.com/povpJbExMD
3. Jack Ginnivan needs to grow up ... fast!
There's nobody in football more polarising than Hawthorn forward Jack Ginnivan. Whether it's on social media, or the footy field, Ginnivan just continually finds new ways to rub people the wrong way.
On Thursday night at Marvel Stadium, Ginnivan played a pivotal role in the Hawks' upset win over the Bulldogs, tallying 23 disposals and kicking two goals. But it was his show-the-ball taunt before slamming through his match-sealing second major that had everyone talking ... and for all the wrong reasons.
just wanna have fun, & be a kid ðŸ˜
— Jack Ginnivan (@GinnivanJack) June 5, 2025
I love a footy villain as much as anyone and don't want Ginnivan, or anybody else, for that matter, to become robotic and predictable. But timing is everything in life and Ginnivan completely missed the mark here. Remember, this Hawthorn team, the one that entered the season as the second favourite to win the premiership, hadn't exactly been flying. Coming into the game they had lost three straight, humiliated by Collingwood the previous week. Carrying on like that probably wasn't the smartest idea, Jack.
Of course, we know Ginnivan doesn't want to grow up. He told us so after the game. But he'd want to be reining it in a touch or he's only going to appear more foolish when the tables eventually turn again.
4. Giants face a massive test -- against the team which broke them last year
There aren't many bigger 'what ifs' in footy than the Giants in last year's finals series. Up by 44 points in a cutthroat semifinal against Brisbane, Adam Kingsley's side had one foot and four toes in a preliminary final, a game they would have almost certainly started favourite in, despite it being on the road.
Of course, their 80-36 lead evaporated in the blink of an eye and the Lions pulled off one of the most improbable finals escapes. And yes, Brisbane deserves a ton of credit for its resilience and ability to flip the game on its head, but, from a GWS perspective, it has to be viewed as the greatest choke job in footy history.
On Saturday afternoon, these two sides face each other for the first time since that remarkable final and so much has changed.
The Lions won a flag, bid farewell to finals hero Joe Daniher, and recruited young gun Levi Ashcroft. The Giants had a controversial offseason, have suffered a bunch of shocking losses, and are languishing a little better than midfield on the ladder, and that's with having played an extra game than most other teams around them.
Did that loss late last year break GWS? Can resuming hostilities with Brisbane spark them back into the sort of form that had many tipping a flag was in their near future? We'll soon find out.
5. Something quirky I noticed
On Friday morning, one of the strangest emails I've ever received landed in my inbox. And believe me, that's saying something!
Rideshare company Didi was flaunting some new promotion, valid for customers who correctly tipped Sunday evening's Carlton-Essendon game correctly. That wasn't the strange part, however, Instead, the email proceeded to absolutely rip both clubs.
It's fair to say I certainly didn't expect this from a rideshare company! Now, the grammar needs a little work, but I'm a big fan of the swipe at both clubs. Whoever wrote this, fancy a job?
6. My favourite stat of the week
'Favourite' might not be the correct descriptor for this one, but the incredibly low scoring across Round 13 was hard not to notice.
This past weekend, nobody got close to scoring 100 points. In fact, Hawthorn's 81 points against the Bulldogs was the top team score of the round, the lowest highest score (read that carefully!) for a round that had at least four matches since Round 3, 1967.
Round 13 also had an average team score of 62.9 across the seven games which, excluding the 2020 season that featured shortened quarters, is the lowest since Round 11, 1989.