The popular consensus is that the 2017 season is one of the most even in recent memory.

After all, with 12 rounds completed, only one game separates fourth from 11th on the AFL ladder, and only two games sit between fourth and 15th.

Sitting in the middle of it all is Collingwood, placed 13th with five wins, seven losses and a percentage of 101.7 to its name.

So, in an even year, can a team in the thick of the logjam produce players worthy of state and All-Australian berths?

This is what football’s experts had to say.

Jeremy Howe
The high-flying, intercept marking, precise kicking, all-round defensive star has won Mark of the Week plenty of times.

He has even won Mark of the Year, back in 2012, and is likely to do it again this year after his stellar grab on the Queen’s Birthday.

Can he add the words ‘All-Australian’ to his list of honours?

AFL Media certainly thinks so, naming him in the back pocket in their mid-season team of the year.

He has some fair company in that backline, named alongside Alex Rance (Richmond), Sam Docherty (Carlton) and Michael Hurley (Essendon) among the taller defenders.

Rohan Connolly agrees.

Connolly, writing in The Age, listed Howe in the back pocket in a defensive six that matched AFL Media’s player-for-player.

Howe, Connolly wrote, is to play the “’floater’, or third tall” in his hypothetical backline.

There was no such love from Matthew Lloyd (Herald Sun), though, nor Dermott Brereton (SEN), who left Howe out of their mid-year teams.

Scott Pendlebury
The Collingwood captain has been named in five All-Australian teams – all between 2010 and 2014 – but has narrowly missed the cut in each of the past two seasons.

This time, though, he has slotted neatly into Brereton’s side on a wing. Ditto Connolly’s, who noted Pendlebury, like his peers Lance Franklin, Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield, can sometimes be marked harshly given their high standards over the past decade.

Pendles had no luck in Lloyd’s team, nor AFL Media’s, although the latter’s readership voted the captain as the player most unlucky to miss their side.

Brodie Grundy
Is this the year Grundy is recognised as having joined the game’s elite?

It appears Sam Jacobs is the main hurdle in his quest to do so.

Jacobs was named ahead of Grundy by both Connolly and Lloyd, who each cited the Magpie’s hot form, but couldn’t manage to edge out the Adelaide big man.

(It must be noted, too, that Brereton’s team is being named over the space of several weeks, while Lloyd’s side was submitted as early as 19 May).

Captain not so obvious speaks
Essendon great turned SEN commentator Scott Lucas named his mid-year All-Australian team comprising players who have gone under the radar.

The one Magpie to earn selection was Jamie Elliott, who has kicked 20 goals in eight games after missing the entire 2016 season through injury.

Elliott is averaging a career-high 2.5 goals per game and has kicked at least three goals in each of his past five games.

A statement of fact?
It remains to be seen whether the AFL will revive State of Origin football.

But, for now, the fun still exists in picking hypothetical state teams during the mid-year break.

AFL Media named teams for Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and The Allies (NSW/ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and NT) on 31 May.

Among the Magpies represented were Jeremy Howe (Allies – Tasmania), Brodie Grundy (South Australia) and Daniel Wells (Western Australia).

Scott Pendlebury was considered an unlucky omission for Victoria, while, interestingly, Grundy was named in a forward pocket for the Croweaters. He has only kicked two goals this season.