Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea likes what he has seen across the competition this season, with the Power's revitalised Charlie Dixon, 26, and Gold Coast's marking machine Tom Lynch, 24, earning high praise.

Indeed, Tredrea, the Power's 2004 premiership skipper and now a sports presenter for Channel Nine, says Lynch is the pick of the bunch.

"If you ask yourself right now and you are picking a key forward for the future, which would you pick? I think Tom Lynch is the answer," he told Fairfax Media.

"Buddy [Lance Franklin] is as dynamic a player as there is in the game but he is getting close to 30. Josh Kennedy is as good as there is in the game but he is closer to 30. Tom Lynch is in his early 20s. He is powerful, he is tough, he has a physical aspect that he doesn't take anything [untoward] from the opposition. He is a great contested mark, he jumps and takes the ball at the highest point and he is really good in front of goal."

Lynch, an All-Australian last season (66 goals), who also claimed his second best and fairest, has 20 goals in seven matches this year at time when he has also taken on the responsibility of co-captaincy.

"I grew up watching [Wayne] Carey play, Chris Grant was probably the next [best key forward] in that era. I played against guys like Jonathon Brown, Barry Hall - there were a number of players," Tredrea said.

"Then we went into the stages of [Matthew] Pavlich, who was probably a little bit different - played key forward but was probably a bit more versatile and less-contested marking player. Then you saw Buddy take the competition, and [Jarryd] Roughead. You keep going through the players - there have been some superstars in that position.

"Good forwards like him [Lynch] are hard to find. What he did last year in a team that was struggling, it was outstanding. He was forward pocket in an All-Australian team. He is a big brute of a man who uses that body to sheer force within the rules. That's brilliant."

In Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker, 27, Greater Western Sydney's Jonathon Patton, 23, and Melbourne's Jesse Hogan, 22, Tredrea tips the AFL is on the verge of a "golden decade" of match-winning, pack-crunching talls. North Melbourne's Ben Brown, 24, has also enjoyed a strong campaign, while much is still hoped from St Kilda's Paddy McCartin.

While the Giants' Jeremy Cameron, 24, Essendon's Joe Daniher, 23, and Fremantle's Cam McCarthy, 22, are more in the mould of mobile, hard-leading forwards, they, too, have long careers ahead.

"There are a lot around and many are young. You might now be into an another era of a golden decade of power key forwards," Tredrea said.

"The game is constantly evolving and power forwards have to, too. The power forward nowadays - there is no Pagan's paddock any more. You are now with plus-one defenders, who all hold their structure. I think it's possibly right on the verge of another break-out era."

Port Adelaide star Chad Wingard said the return of the power forward was good for the game, pointing to the influence Dixon and ruckman Paddy Ryder can have on results.

"You have big midfielders coming in, you have big guys coming in as forwards. It's amazing how the game changes," he said.

"I think in the last three games, he [Dixon] has really stepped up. He and Paddy Ryder. They are in a league of their own in terms of the physical capabilities they have got, so they are finally realising that.

"Paddy is, obviously, coming off a year off and Dicko has had injuries through his whole career ... he is just starting to find his form. He is in career-best nick."

That's a sentiment Power coach Ken Hinkley echoes, and that's hard to argue against, for Dixon - set to line up against his former club for the first time - has 17 goals in seven matches.

Lynch, though, is seen by some as the league's most coveted talent. Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton was so impressed he told SEN earlier this year: "If you gave me an open chequebook and said: 'Start a club, who do you want to buy first?' Tom Lynch is my No.1 target. Bar none ??? the best player at your club to build around, it is Tom Lynch."

The only mild concern Brereton had was that he was a "bit robotic in his kicking nature".

The former Dandenong Stingray, who has been with the Suns since their inception, is off contract after the 2018 campaign, when he will be a free agent. His desire to remain is encouraging, for an unexpected departure would flatten a franchise still struggling to have the impact many thought it would already have enjoyed.

The multimillion dollar offers will come. If Jonathan Brown thought Hogan was worth $15 million over a decade, Lynch surely has a higher currency.

"We often over-exaggerate how much people want to move for money. This kid is getting big bucks. He is getting big bucks because he is a very good footballer. He is up there with the best there is around," Tredrea said.

"He seems settled. When you are happy and settled, there is no reason to move. Money is not everything in football.

"You want to play for success, you want to play for belief, you want to play for the guernsey. Where you are living is important, where you want to live post football is important and money is another factor. Everyone always wants to push the $15 million line.

"There is a [salary] cap for a reason. Blokes like him are going to be paid well on the Gold Coast. If you go elsewhere you are going to be paid well. It doesn't really matter."