SURVIVAL in the AFL comes in many forms.
From the ability to play through pain during a big final or the fortitude to come back from a long-term injury, to the resilience needed to scrap a way onto a list or simply extend a career beyond a normal used-by-date, the AFL is littered with great survivors.
One of them took centre stage on Friday night, with Oskar Baker kicking an extraordinary match-winning goal at Adelaide Oval, one of his three majors in a famous Western Bulldogs win. Now into his ninth year in the AFL across two clubs, Baker has only once managed 10 games in a season but has continued to fight on and now finds himself in career-best form at the age of 27.
It got us thinking of the other great survivors in the AFL, from household names to newer faces who have taken the road less travelled.
Take a look below at your club's great survivor.
TAYLOR WALKER
The Crows veteran's career was at the crossroads after being banned for six matches by the AFL for making a racist comment at a state league match in 2021. But Walker, who turns 36 in April, continues to defy age into his 19th - and possibly last - AFL season. After a career-best season haul of 76 goals in 2023, the former captain now plays a more-than-handy foil to Riley Thilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty in Adelaide's attack. The club's all-time leading goalkicker played his 300th match during last year's finals series and remains an integral part of Matthew Nicks' setup. - Brandon Cohen
LINCOLN McCARTHY
Drafted with pick No.66 in 2011 to Geelong, McCarthy played just 29 games for the Cats over seven injury-plagued seasons before being traded to Brisbane at the end of 2018. The fresh start in Queensland did him the world of good, and he missed just three games over the next five seasons before suffering a ruptured ACL against Gold Coast in 2024. A second ACL just days before the 2025 season saw him initially ruled out for the year, but a determined bid to get back on the park saw him undertake a rehab program that would see him return within five months of surgery. While that didn't pan out, the 32-year-old was granted a contract extension for this season and remains part of Chris Fagan's plans after being delisted and moved to the rookie list. He played his first AFL game in two years against Sydney in Opening Round. - Brandon Cohen
ZAC WILLIAMS
Williams' career has been punctuated by serious injuries, but he's still managed to put together 176 games across 13 seasons and two clubs. The 31-year-old utility has battled through major setbacks, including an ACL tear that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign and a high-grade calf strain that sidelined him for much of 2022. Earlier soft-tissue issues also disrupted his continuity, but somehow he's always found a way back. Since crossing to the Blues from GWS at the end of 2020, Williams has reinvented himself multiple times – from midfielder to rebounding defender to a dangerous forward, booting 22 goals in 2025 before returning to defence this season. - Alison O'Connor
SCOTT PENDLEBURY
While some make this list for overcoming adversity, the Magpies legend gets in for sheer longevity. For 21 incredible seasons, Pendlebury has not just survived the rigours of the AFL, but thrived. The fact the entire 2025 draft class was not born when Pendlebury made his debut in 2006 is testament to his incredible resilience, both physically and mentally. The 427-gamer has outlasted his peers and continues to be a vital part of the Magpies machine. Incredibly, with the all-time games record in sight, it would not at all surprise if he played on next year. - Martin Smith
WILL SETTERFIELD
Setterfield's career hasn't quite panned out as he would have hoped after being taken with pick No.5 in the 2016 draft. Drafted by Greater Western Sydney from its Academy, he played just two games for the Giants before being traded to Carlton. After four seasons and 55 appearances for the Blues, he was traded to Essendon, where injuries have limited him to just 27 games since the start of 2023. And Setterfield only just survived on an AFL list, delisted by the Bombers at the end of last year, only to get his spot back via the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP) after Nic Martin's knee injury. - Dejan Kalinic
OSCAR MCDONALD
Another member of the three-club club, McDonald has toiled his way to 96 games across 11 seasons. He was drafted to Melbourne with pick No.53 in 2014, coincidentally the same pick the Dees used on his brother, Tom, four years earlier. The bulk of his games (81) came in his time at the Demons when he was a mainstay in their back half, but he fell out of favour after 2018 and managed just 19 matches over his final two seasons. A mix of injury and form have plagued him since his delisting from the Demons – he joined Carlton on the eve of the 2021 season as a pre-season supplemental selection period signing, but a complicated back injury limited him to just five games. The Dockers swooped on him ahead of the 2024 season but a PCL injury impacted his first year in the west. McDonald has featured in both games to start 2026, so that elusive 100-game milestone might finally be within reach. - Alison O'Connor
SHAUN MANNAGH
Mannagh is living proof that age is just a number. At 26, the livewire forward could have been forgiven for thinking his AFL dream had passed him by. But the Cats, known to be partial to a mature-age recruit, threw him a chance in the 2023 draft and he hasn't looked back. Five other clubs had him on their radar after he established himself as one of the VFL's premier players, including kicking six goals in Werribee's Grand Final win that season. But it was the Cats who took the chance and he's repaid them in spades. Mannagh has kicked 50 goals in 37 games, while averaging 17.4 disposals and 4.6 tackles. His late rise was highlighted last year when he won the AFL Coaches Association's Best Young Player – at the age of 28 – an honour judged across a player's first two AFL seasons. - Alison O'Connor
SAM COLLINS
He had to wait until 21 years of age to get his AFL chance, got delisted and then landed another opportunity, all on his way to becoming one of the competition's best key defenders. Collins was drafted by Fremantle in 2015 and played 14 games for the Dockers before being delisted, returning to the VFL and then getting his opportunity with Gold Coast. Now he is a two-time Suns best-and-fairest winner and a crucial part of a defence in a team that looks set to contend for the flag in 2026. - Dejan Kalinic
JESSE HOGAN
The Giants spearhead's late-career success, highlighted by his Coleman Medal win in 2024, is testament to the power of resilience. From a back injury that ruined his first year on Melbourne's senior list, to a battle with testicular cancer while mourning the death of his father in 2017, followed by struggles with injury, motivation and mental health during two tumultuous years in Fremantle, Hogan has dealt with far more challenges than most. But a last-ditch move to GWS at the end of 2020 after his unhappy stint at Fremantle proved the key to unlocking the potential that the prodigiously talented key forward had always shown. In Sydney's west, Hogan has found the ideal environment to produce his best form, well away from the Perth bubble and the harsh spotlight that's always present in football-mad Melbourne. The 31-year-old is averaging 2.47 goals per game at the Giants, compared to 1.89 during the rest of his career, and provided his body holds up, looks to have several good years left in him. - Michael Rogers
JACK GUNSTON
It's not being too dramatic to say Gunston's career was on a knife's edge when he returned to Hawthorn at the end of 2023 after one ill-fated season at Brisbane. Despite being a three-time premiership player at the club, he was far from guaranteed a spot in the starting line-up with the Hawks earmarking the then 32-year-old as a mentor for their young and emerging list rather than as their main man in attack. Fast forward two seasons and Gunston is in career-best form. In 2025 he booted 73 goals to finish second in the Coleman Medal and claim an All-Australian blazer. And that was after not even being selected for the first two rounds of the season. Gunston is showing no signs of slowing down, racking up 13 goals from three matches so far in 2026, and he remains on track to play his 300th AFL match later this year. - Brandon Cohen
TOM CAMPBELL
The epitome of longevity, Campbell has played 58 AFL games across 15 seasons and four clubs. Having previously been at the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne and St Kilda, Campbell moved to Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2024 season, however, he's yet to play a senior game at his latest home. But if he does earn a Demons debut at some stage – he's currently sidelined indefinitely with a neck injury – he'll become just the fourth player this century to play at four clubs. - Alison O'Connor
TOBY PINK
Taken by Sydney with the last pick of the Rookie Draft held at the end of 2016, Pink lasted three seasons on the Swans' list without playing a game before he was cut. But impressive SANFL form for Glenelg saw Pink land a chance at North Melbourne ahead of the 2024 season, and the 27-year-old has made the most of his opportunity at the Kangaroos. He has played 34 games since his arrival, holding down a key role in what has often been an undermanned and under siege Roos defence. - Dejan Kalinic
WILL BRODIE
The No.9 pick in the 2016 draft, Brodie was unable to establish himself across five seasons at Gold Coast, before the Suns traded him to Fremantle at the end of 2021. Brodie appeared to be establishing himself at the Dockers, playing 24 games in 2022 and five the following year, but the midfielder hasn't been sighted at AFL level since round seven, 2023. Brodie was traded to the Power at the end of last year for pick No.103, landing at his third club and reuniting with new Port coach Josh Carr, a former assistant at the Dockers. - Dejan Kalinic
JOSH GIBCUS
This nomination could easily go to the Tigers skipper, Toby Nankervis, who spent three years on Sydney's list for just 12 games, before shifting to Richmond with immediate, premiership-winning effect. Though Gibcus is only into his fifth AFL season, he's already been through more than most of his peers, regardless of their age or longevity. A promising 18-game debut season after being selected at No.9 in the 2021 AFL Draft quickly faded into the distance as a severe hamstring tendon injury in 2023 prevented him from playing any football. Gibcus recovered from the initial injury and subsequent complications to return to the field in Opening Round of 2024, only to suffer an ACL rupture the following week. The recovery from knee surgery was long and arduous, with repeated setbacks and a long stint in the VFL to build form and fitness keeping him from the senior team until round 25, 2025 - an absence of 527 days. Now healthy again, the soon-to-be 23-year-old will be hoping his misfortune is behind him. - Michael Rogers
LIAM STOCKER
The former first-round pick has ridden the highs and lows of the game more than most, but at 26 he has established himself as regular for Ross Lyon at St Kilda. The subject of a famous pick swap draft call from Carlton in the 2018 draft, Stocker played just 28 games for the Blues in four seasons, and has bravely shared his story of the toll the game took on his mental health early in his career. Delisted and then picked up as a rookie ahead of the 2023 season, he has played 57 of a possible 73 games at the Saints as a tough and reliable defender. - Martin Smith
DANE RAMPE
Having taken the winding road to the AFL at the start of his footy journey, the former Swans skipper is also showing plenty of resilience at the end of his career, which is now into its 14th season. Rampe didn't start playing the game until his late teens and after a move to Victoria failed to materialise in an AFL chance, he returned to Sydney and dominated the local competition before being given a rookie deal by the Swans at the age of 22. He's gone on to captain the club, earn All-Australian and best-and-fairest honours and play in four Grand Finals, regularly playing undersized and holding up the backline. He could well finish this year in the top five most games played for the club, a remarkable achievement given his humble beginnings. - Martin Smith
JAMIE CRIPPS
One of only three Eagles remaining from their 2018 premiership win, Cripps' AFL journey started on the other side of the country and in far from ideal circumstances. Drafted to St Kilda with pick No.24 in 2010, Cripps was diagnosed with diabetes in his draft year, a condition he still manages today. Homesickness also set in for the West Australian and after just 16 games at the Saints, he got his wish to return home to Perth. Since then, he's become renowned for his commitment and reliability, riding the highs of the flag, the lows of the Eagles' recent malaise and everything in between. At 33, he's sixth all-time for goalkickers at the Eagles and 10th for games played, and he's not done yet. - Martin Smith
OSKAR BAKER
Baker's wonderful match-sealing goal against Adelaide last weekend, snapped from the boundary line to silence a hostile Adelaide Oval crowd, will take some topping for the most heart-warming moment of the year. The 27-year-old has spent nine seasons on AFL lists at Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs for the return of 51 games. Only once - in 2023, his first year at the Dogs - has he played more than 10 games in a season, and that was the only year he had played in round one. If 2026 is any guide. Baker has had his moments (three goals against Gold Coast after coming on a sub in round three, 2024; two important goals from a wing in Melbourne's win over GWS in the penultimate round of the COVID-affected 2020 season). A popular clubman and teammate, Baker's off-field efforts in promoting the annual BCNA Pink Lady game have been as notable as his 1980s-style headband and moustache combo. Few would begrudge the speedy winger if he were able to add an AFL flag to the two VFL premiership medallions he's already won at Footscray. - Michael Rogers
