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Find your Sport Nation frequencyWhy Dwayne Russell is making one final change to his 2025 AFL top 8 prediction
SEN • March 4th, 2025 2:07 pm
Dwayne Russell has made one change to his top eight after the AAMI Community Series wrapped up.
Before the official pre-season kicked off, Russell ranked all of the teams from 1 to 18, with Melbourne his very early eighth side to play in September.
While Russell still has the Dees rising in 2025, he has replaced them in his top eight with Carlton after the Blues beat GWS by 58 points at Manuka Oval on Friday.
“Seven of my top eight were already locked in pretty much prior to the weekend of footy we just had,” Russell told SEN Afternoons.
“But I actually loved what Carlton showed me. I loved the progression of Tom De Koning as the number one ruck, and he might end up being a contender for the All-Australian ruck spot this year.
“He showed me something on the weekend that I really wanted to see, and that was a guy who looks like he's about to take the next step, a bit like Sam Darcy has been showing us for quite a while.
“There were a couple of issues with the backline that I had in my mind that weren't necessarily looking like they were going to be fixed by Carlton, but I liked the addition of Jack Silvagni.
“The fact that Carlton don't have to rely on Lewis Young as their second key defender has encouraged me to think that they might have evolved to the point that they've got a backline that can hold up.”
With Melbourne sliding from eighth to ninth in his rankings, Russell thinks the main thing that’s holding the Dees back from being a top-eight lock in his eyes is their tall forwards situation.
“The issue with Melbourne is as good as they looked on the weekend, they still haven't fixed their forward line problem,” Russell said.
“It's been a problem for 3 years. We've been told for three years it's going to be fixed. Van Rooyen, we have been told is going to be the fix.
“But they don't appear to have fixed it for mine to the point that I’d put Melbourne in the eight ahead of Carlton.
“So, Melbourne, I have at ninth.”
Dwayne Russell’s updated top eight for 2025
1 – GWS 2 – Hawthorn 3 – Geelong 4 – Fremantle 5 – Brisbane 6 – Sydney 7 – Collingwood 8 – Carlton
