A typically modest Easton Wood couldn’t quite believe his selection in the 2015 AFL All-Australian side on Tuesday night.

Named on the half-back line alongside teammate and All-Australian captain Robert Murphy, Wood paid tribute to his teammates for their defensive work to help his end of the ground throughout the year.

“I still quite can’t believe it.

“I think the strength of our group through the year and why our defence was effective for a lot of the year was because our midfielders were so good at putting on that pressure, and the forwards were (too).”

Wood finished the season ranked ninth for marks, and led the league for intercept marks.

His contested marking was the number one feature of his game this season, finishing 11th in the competition for that stat.

The 26-year-old said it was coach Luke Beveridge who allowed Wood and his teammates to explore different strengths in their game and give them confidence to attack the ball.

“He’s come in and had such an incredible impact in being able to bring that positivity to players and especially with a young group he’s been able to get us to explore different avenues of our game that we might not have done before.

With the defensive side of the game I was taught from a young age, coming through, to really negate a player and play as a defensive role and really just stop your opponent.

“So he’s really encouraged to not worry so much about direct match up but to try and defend the ball coming in, don’t worry about the opponent just try and defend wherever the ball is going.”