Western Bulldogs champion Brad Johnson received the greatest accolade yet in his distinguished AFL career by being named captain of the team for the first time.
Johnson and Didak were named as the two small forwards in the line-up and while the veteran Bulldog's selection was never in doubt, considering his amazing effort to finish second in the race for the Coleman Medal this year with 70 goals, the selection of Didak will set off plenty of debate amongst footy fans.
The selectors also surprisingly ignored the huge improvement of Fremantle this year with the Dockers only having one representative - perennial All-Australian Matthew Pavlich.
Didak was one of 10 first timers named in this year's All-Australian team, the others being defenders Nathan Bassett, Craig Bolton, Darren Glass and Lindsay Gilbee, Port pair Shaun Burgoyne and Brendon Lade, Sydney's Ryan O'Keefe, Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola, following his first ever Coleman Medal, and Melbourne's underrated James McDonald, who finally gets the recognition he deserves.
At the other end of the scale not only was Johnson named for a fifth time but so was his teammate Scott West while former Eagles' skipper Ben Cousins gets his sixth All-Australian jumper while his teammate and fellow Brownlow Medalist Chris Judd returns for a second time after being controversially overlooked last year.
And this year's Brownlow Medal favourite, Sydney's Adam Goodes, was also named for a second time and for the first time since sharing the 2003 Brownlow with Adelaide's Mark Ricciuto and Collingwood's Nathan Buckley.
Adelaide pair Andrew McLeod and Simon Goodwin were also named for a fourth time, along with Pavlich, while eight players kept their place from last year - Johnson, West, Cousins, Goodwin, Pavlich, Richmond's Joel Bowden, West Coast ruckman Dean Cox and Sydney spearhead Barry Hall, who was also named vice-captain this year.
While many fans will claim there are players who deserved to be in ahead of the low-profile McDonald, the Demons tagger has enjoyed a career best season.
Not only did McDonald, who for years lived in the shadow of his older brothers Alex and Anthony, amass more than 500 disposals during the home and away season but he regularly subdued some of the game's best midfielders.
This year's All-Australian team also features virtually an entire new defence with Eagles' stopper Darren Glass winning the coveted full-back spot while Bowden was named at centre-half-back, even though he plays more as a rebounding defender instead of as a key position backman.
In picking the defence the selectors acknowledged players who have been crucial components in the AFL's two best defences - Sydney and Adelaide - by picking players such as Sydney's Craig Bolton and Adelaide's Nathan Bassett while Bulldog Gilbee is the AFL's most attacking defender, along with Bowden, as well as possibly the best kick - particularly from the kick-in - in the competition.
But it is the choice of the inspirational Johnson as captain for the first time which is certain to be the most popular decision, in what is always a heavily scrutinised All-Australian team.
Johnson was previously named in the 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2005 All-Australian teams, as well as having won the Dogs' best and fairest in 1999 and 2002, but has enjoyed a career best season in 2006 with not only his goals but also his leadership driving the Bulldogs into the finals for the first time in six years.
Eleven clubs were represented with last year's grand finalists Sydney and West Coast leading the charge with four players named while the Bulldogs' huge improvement was acknowledged with three representatives.
The five clubs that failed to have an All-Australian this year were Brisbane, Essendon, the Kangaroos, Hawthorn and Geelong, summing up the Cats' decline in 2006.
But the Cats, like Fremantle and Hawthorn, could easily have had claims on Didak's position on a half-forward-flank.
While Didak has had a career best season with 41 goals and 383 disposals in playing all 22 home and away games, his numbers simply don't stack up compared to some of the game's other small forwards in 2006.
For example Geelong's Paul Chapman amassed 484 touches for the season and kicked 31 goals while Fremantle's Jeff Farmer was instrumental in the Dockers reaching the finals for only the second time with 50 goals from just 19 matches.
And Hawthorn's Mark Williams fared better than all of them, kicking 60 goals for the season in a team that finished in 11th place.
Other players that consider themselves unlucky not to be chosen were Essendon forward Scott Luca, who kicked 67 goals in a team that finished in 15th place, Carlton centre-half-back Lance Whitnall, who won his first best and fairest this year, Fremantle skipper Peter Bell and Carlton's Heath Scotland, Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell, Port's Kane Cornes and young Bulldog Daniel Cross - who were all amongst the league's top ten possession winners for the season.
The 2006 Coca Cola AFL All Australian Team team
Backs: N Bassett, D Glass, L Gilbee
Half Backs: C Bolton, J Bowden, A McLeod
Centres: S Goodwin, S West, A Goodes
Half Forwards: A Didak, B Hall (vc), R O'Keefe
Forwards: B Johnson (c), B Fevola, N Riewoldt
Ruck: B Lade, C Judd, B Cousins
IC:: S Burgoyne, D Cox, J McDonald, M Pavlich
