Rory Sloane will begin the 2017 season as Adelaide’s highest ranked player in the AFL’s Official Player Ratings.

The reigning Malcolm Blight Medallist is eighth in the rankings, which uses a statistical algorithm to measure a player’s impact across his last 40 games.

Sloane is statistically the fifth-best pure midfielder in the AFL according to the ratings on 579 points. The courageous Crow is within striking distance of the top five overall, with Western Bulldogs onballer Marcus Bontempelli just 30 points ahead in position No.5.

Sloane has never drifted outside the top 50 players since the ratings system was introduced and, incredibly, has maintained a top 10 standing since Round 19, 2014. His highest ranking was fourth in early 2015.

Eddie Betts is the next-best Crow at No.28 after another stellar season.

Betts’ ranking has grown steadily since he joined the Crows ahead of Season 2014. The former Blue has been among the top 50 players on the ratings hierarchy for over a year and is the third-highest small/medium forward on the list behind Hawthorn’s Cyril Rioli (No.9) and Port Adelaide’s Chad Wingard (No.22).

Fellow forward Tom Lynch was one of the League’s biggest movers on the Player Ratings ladder last season.

Lynch was ranked 176^th at the end of 2015 but has vaulted more than 140 places into position No.33 to be the fourth-highest rated small/medium forward in the competition.

Sam Jacobs is the final Crow rated inside the top 50, ranked at No.41 heading into Season 2017.

Jacobs is the fourth-highest rated ruckman on the Player Ratings table behind North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein (No.6 overall), West Coast’s Nic Naitanui (No.7) and Melbourne’s Max Gawn (No.13). The 202cm ruckman climbed as high as 10^th on the Player Ratings ladder in late 2015.

Rory Laird (No.89), Taylor Walker (No.92) and Brodie Smith (No.93) are the only other Crows rated inside the AFL’s top 100 players.

Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield is rated as the No.1 player in the AFL ahead of Sydney’s Josh Kennedy and Power midfielder Robbie Gray.

AFL OFFICIAL PLAYER RATINGS TOP 10 - ADELAIDE