The squad of 48 from which the VFL Team of the Year will be selected has been announced here:
https://www.afl.com.au/news/1606968/2026-smithys-vfl-team-of-the-year-squad
From the article:
"The full list of club representation is: Box Hill Hawks (four), Brisbane Lions (two), Carlton (one), Casey Demons (one), Coburg (six, including Mitch Podhajski), Collingwood (two, including Harrison Coe and Mitch Podhajski), Essendon (two), Footscray (two), Frankston (six, including Harrison Coe), Geelong Cats (four), Gold Coast Suns (one), GWS Giants (two), Port Melbourne (two), Richmond (one), Southport Sharks (two), Sydney Swans (two), Tasmania (three), Werribee (four) and Williamstown (three). North Melbourne, Sandringham and St Kilda do not have a representative named."
Box Hill: Stu Horner, Henry Hustwaite, Finn Maginness, Brodie McLaughlin
Brisbane: Darragh Joyce, Will McLachlan
Carlton: Lachie Fogarty
Casey: Riley Bonner
Coburg: Jack Bytel, Ingo Dammersmith, Cooper Keogh, Jaidyn Stephenson, Donovan Toohey
Collingwood/Coburg: Mitch Podhajski
Collingwood/Frankston: Harrison Coe
Essendon: Tyler Sellers, Elijah Tsatas
Footscray: Jack Billings, Cooper Craig-Peters
Frankston: Corey Ellison, Darby Hipwell, Tyson Milne, Trent Mynott, Jackson Voss
Geelong: Nathan Kreuger, Mitch Knevitt, Jesse Mellor, George Stevens
Gold Coast: Ben Jepson
GWS: Harvey Hooper, Jack Ough
Port Melbourne: Kaine Baldwin, Ben Hobbs
Richmond: Mutaz El Nour
Southport: Jacob Dawson, Zac Foot
Sydney: Joel Hamling, Mitch Mellis
Tasmania: Hugh Dixon, Jed Hagan, Jye Menzie
Werribee: Ajang Kuol Mun, Louis Pinnuck, Jack Riding, Brady Wright
Williamstown: Jake Greiser, Luke Parks, Jack Toner
Bit surprised Brayden Crossley didn't make the squad. I did think AJ Kuol Mun had a narrow win over him when Werribee played Southport, and perhaps the games he missed cost him the squad spot. Two in the squad seems a bit low for Port Melbourne given the sixth-placed finish, but to some extent we did have different players excelling at different points in the season. From Werribee I had expected to see Dom Brew and Charlie Lazzaro in the squad, but there is always a lot of competition for the midfield spots. Sandringham's Nathan Philactides perhaps a bit unlucky. In any case the selectors should certainly be able to pick a strong team out of this squad.