The Breakers: Who are the AFL’s most ‘media-savvy’ players?

Former Sydney Swans captain Brett Kirk is a high-profile bust ... Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes an obvious tick.

Media isn’t for everyone and only a select few AFL players have successfully made the transition into the industry following their careers.

According to 7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary, Melbourne skipper Max Gawn (who regularly appears on Triple M’s Mick in the Morning show) is No.1 ... but Cleary has some surprising names in his top five.

Speaking on the new hit podcast The Breakers , Cleary’s criteria takes in the players who pay the closest attention to what’s being said about them, and also the competition.

It also considers players who regularly consume news coverage, understand media nuances, and are well-equipped to handle the spotlight.

”I wanted to give the top five a little bit of age diversity, because I didn’t want it to be all 30-plus players, because players in their 30s naturally read more and consume more than I think players early in their career that just want to go and get a kick,” Cleary said on The Breakers podcast.

Coming in at No.5 is North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel, who demonstrated his media awareness in how he handled the recent criticism from Channel 7’s AFL expert Kane Cornes.

“He’s a big consumer, and he’s well across what is being said about him,” Cleary said.

Xander McGuire added: “He understood the nuance of how Kane went about it.”

Essendon former captain Zach Merrett claimed the No.4 spot, with Cleary highlighting how he was across everything during his challenging 2025 season where he failed to get to Hawthorn.

Brisbane veteran Dayne Zorko rounded out the top three, described as being “across it all” and having a potential future in media.

McGuire revealed that he had spoken to Gawn about it and Gawn had nominated Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield.

“I would admit, Danger is probably stiff to not make the top five and raise an apology,” Cleary said.

“Danger, look, that’s a bit of an oversight from me and this will get back to him because he is a consumer.”