A squad of 40 players was selected on 30 August 2010. There was a change from the tradition of previous years and instead of players being selected by position, the selectors simply chose who they considered to be the 40 best performers for the season. The top four sides provided half of the 40 players. Geelong had the most players selected of any side, with seven, while minor premiersCollingwood had five and the third and fourth-placed finishers, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs, both had four players selected respectively. Adelaide, the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide did not have any players nominated for the squad. Eighteen players in the 40-man squad had not been selected to the All-Australian team before. Eight players who had been selected in the 2009 team did not make the 2010 squad, including 2009 captain Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown, Brendan Fevola, Leon Davis, Craig Bolton, Simon Goodwin, Nick Maxwell and Matthew Scarlett. Carlton: Chris Judd
The 2010 All-Australian team was announced on 13 September 2010. Six of the 22 players were Geelong players, with four players coming from minor premiers Collingwood, while Hawthorn, Melbourne, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs had two players each and Carlton, Fremantle, Richmond and West Coast all had a lone representative. This meant that Adelaide, the Brisbane Lions, Essendon, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide and Sydney were not represented in the final 22. Players to make the squad for the first time were James Frawley, Harry Taylor, Harry O'Brien, Jack Riewoldt, Mark LeCras, Mark Jamar and Scott Pendlebury. No current team captains were named on the field and so the selectors named Hawthorn vice-captain Luke Hodge as the captain and 2009 Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett Jr. as vice-captain, though he was neither a captain or vice-captain at the time. Of the 18 players from the squad of 40 who missed out, the non-selections of Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich, Melbourne's Brad Green, St Kilda's Lenny Hayes and 2008 Brownlow Medal winner Adam Cooney were considered the most contentious. Hayes, in particular, was considered a surprise, with St Kilda teammate and All-Australian wingman Leigh Montagna saying: "I was very surprised Lenny wasn't in the team... I pencilled him in for a captain or vice-captain. It's a big shock." Pavlich's non-selection also raised some eyebrows, with many experts predicting that the Fremantle captain would be selected in what would have been his seventh All-Australian side. Note: the position of coach in the All-Australian team is traditionally awarded to the coach of the premiership team.
