WHEN AFL analysts and pundits have assembled their respective lists of the league’s best players in recent years, the same names have continued to pop up.

Patrick Dangerfield, Nat Fyfe, Lance Franklin and, more recently, Alex Rance have dominated the top five discussion — and for good reason, as they’re all superstars of the game.

But one gun midfielder continues to be left out of the conversation — a man who’s been forced to shoulder a big on-ball burden after Dangerfield departed his club.

And looking at Adelaide star Rory Sloane and his rapid improvement across nearly every part of his game to date, he undoubtedly deserves to be in the discussion.

Round 18

“Surely it’s time that Rory Sloane is talked about in the same company as the likes of Paddy Dangerfield and Nat Fyfe and Joel Selwood when you’re talking about the best midfielders in the game,” Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy told Fox Footy’s On The Couch.

“I compared him to Wayne Schimmelbusch earlier last year and he just continues to improve in all facets of the game. He’s one of the most rounded players in the competition.”

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Sloane is one of the most unique players in the competition.

Like cross-town rival captain Travis Boak, Sloane does many things well, rather than excel purely in one or two aspects of his game.

He ticks the three boxes you want a midfielder to tick. Not only does he rack up plenty of the ball — both inside and outside, but especially inside — he also applies outstanding defensive pressure, hits the scoreboard and brings his teammates into the game.

“For whatever reason, he’s not as fashionable as those other names, but he’s every bit as effective,” Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall said.

“He’s lightly framed and he’s only an average size, but gives his all.”

With the ball, Sloane is among the top on-ballers in the league to date this year, ranking second in the competition for average clearances (8.3) and third for average contested possessions (17.3). He also brings teammates into the game, averaging 8.3 score involvements per game to date — ranked equal-seventh of all AFL midfielders.

Adelaide's Rory Sloane has been just as impressive as Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield. Source: FOX SPORTS

Without the ball, he was the best pressure player of the top offensive players in the AFL last year, according to Champion Data. This year, he’s already ranked third in the league for average tackles (9.3), while his average of 5.3 intercepts is ranked third among midfielders.

But the cherry on top of the Sloane cake is his outstanding overhead ability for a guy who’s just 183cm.

Over the past fortnight, Sloane has proved he’s more than just a ground-level player, taking four contested marks against the Hawks and Power combined. Most impressively, two of them were pack marks deep inside forward 50, which he converted into goals at crucial stages.

Ball winning, scoreboard impact and defensive pressure — Sloane is the complete midfield package. And he does it either an above average or elite level.

“That’s the discussion that in nearly all phases of the game, Sloane is elite,” dual premiership player David King said.

“Particularly without the ball, his ability to help win it back by intercept marking and his pressure around the action.”

Rory Sloane won the Showdown Medal against Port Adelaide. Source: Getty Images

King added that not only is Sloane benefiting individually, his outstanding output and influence is filtering down to his younger teammates.

“This is where we talk about leadership a lot. You can see it come out in Charlie Cameron, Rory Atkins and (Matt) Crouch — you can see these younger players are saying ‘we want to be like him’.”

And according to triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown, Sloane’s outstanding defensive pressure helps him curtail the influence of his opponents.

“When opposition gun midfielders get away, what separates Sloane compared to other midfielders is he can go and attack the midfield,” Brown said.

“He can take them on head-to-head, he can nullify that gun midfielder for the opposition but still get the footy and have an influence for his own team.

“I don’t think there’s a midfielder quite like that in the competition when his side needs it the most.”

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