THE AUGUST edition of The 25 featured four new faces and there's a handful of desperately unlucky players on the verge of breaking through next month.

On Tuesday, AFL.com.au's panel of journalists and experts released our monthly list of the 25 best players in the AFL, based both on form this season and a body of work across previous years.

There were four new players compared to the July list, with big names Patrick Cripps, Christian Petracca, Zach Merrett and Jesse Hogan all dropping out and Errol Gulden, Kozzy Pickett, Riley Thilthorpe and Izak Rankine coming in.

While the four who missed out are on the way down, two players to keep an eye on next month are Andrew Brayshaw and Brodie Grundy, who have both been in red-hot form this year but fell just short of making the August list.

Hogan is also a watch for the rest of the season; if he can overcome his injury issues and return to his 2024 form, he'll likely be back in The 25 in no time.

Take a look at the August rankings below and be sure to return in a few weeks for our post-season edition of The 25.

The 25, August edition

1) Marcus Bontempelli
2) Nick Daicos
3) Jeremy Cameron
4) Sam Darcy
5) Zak Butters
6) Isaac Heeney
7) Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
8) Jordan Dawson
9) Noah Anderson
10) Caleb Serong
11) Lachie Neale
12) Max Gawn
13) Bailey Smith
14) Hugh McCluggage
15) Matt Rowell
16) Max Holmes
17) Luke Jackson
18) Toby Greene
19) Ed Richards
20) Chad Warner
21) Izak Rankine
22) Riley Thilthorpe
23) Kozzy Pickett
24) Sam Taylor
25) Errol Gulden

26) Zach Merrett
27) Patrick Cripps
28) Andrew Brayshaw
29) Jesse Hogan
30) Brodie Grundy