The Geelong side of 2007 has been acclaimed the greatest in the history of the game - at least in the eyes of the All-Australian selectors - after a record nine Cats were named in the AFL's team of the year on Monday night.

All nine Geelong players amongst the 40 players nominated for this year's All-Australian team - defenders Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn and Matthew Egan, midfielders Jim Bartel and Gary Ablett, forwards Cameron Mooney and Steve Johnson and Joel Corey and Cameron Ling, who were both named on the interchange - made the final 22 in a stunning acknowledgement of the club's dominance of the home and away season.

Adelaide's Andrew McLeod was named captain of the team - becoming the first indigenous player in the modern era to achieve that honor - with Brisbane powerhouse Jonathan Brown capping off a stunning season by not only making the team for the first time - named at centre-half-forward in a year in which he won his first Coleman Medal - but also by being named vice-captain.

While the Cats are favoured to win their first premiership in 44 years this year after finishing three games clear on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season and winning their opening final by 106 points, Mark Thompson's side still received more spots in this year's All-Australian side than even the greatest premiership teams of the modern era such as Carlton in 1995, Essendon in 2000 and Brisbane in 2002.

The Blues of 95 only lost two games that season yet only had five players named in the All-Australian team of that year while in 2000 the Bombers - who only lost one game all season - had four players named in the All-Australian team.

And the Brisbane side of 2002 - which won the second of the Lions' three successive premierships - had six players named in that year's All-Australian team.

Just ten clubs had players named in this year's team, due to the Cats' dominance, with Port Adelaide and West Coast the only other clubs to have more than one representative in each picking up three places in this year's team.

The clubs which failed to have a representative in this year's team were Carlton, Collingwood and Melbourne - which did not even have a nominee - as well as Richmond, Sydney and St Kilda.

Only six players retained their place in this year's All-Australian team from last year - in West Coast pair Darren Glass and Dean Cox, Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich, Bulldog Brad Johnson, Port's Brendon Lade as well as McLeod.

For Johnson - captain last year - it was his sixth All-Australian nomination while for McLeod and Pavlich it was their fifth.

There were 11 first timers in the team in Cats' Milburn, Johnson, Egan, Bartel, Ablett, Mooney, Corey and Ling as well as Hawthorn's Campbell Brown, West Coast's Daniel Kerr as well as Lion powerhouse Brown.

With Brown named at centre-half-forward it was the man who finished runner-up to him in this year's Coleman Medal in Pavlich who was named at full-forward while Mooney - who has dominated at centre-half-forward this season for the all-conquering Cats - was named in a forward pocket.

Glass won the coveted full-back spot for the second successive season while Egan's stunning improvement this year saw him rewarded with