While the defence of AFL teams can go unheralded at times, it often remains the crucial difference in premiership-winning sides.
Flying under the radar of the casual fan, and irregular winners of the AFL's top awards, the Australian Rules backman epitomises selflessness and playing your role for the team.
There are hardly eye-catching stat sheets or highlight reel-worthy goals, but their fundamental ability to spoil and negate opposition forward lines is central for success.
In addition, the growing trend of speedy, skilful kickers off half-back are often underrated components that set the attack into motion.
At Zero Hanger, we've undertaken the challenge of ranking each positional line from 18-1. In the final category of this series, each club's defence is under the microscope to determine which team has the best defence heading into the 2025 season.
In part one, we've revealed the bottom six teams, ranked 18th through 13th...
4. (15th) Essendon
A mediocre year defensively and desperate need of improvement from their key stocks is what places the Bombers inside the bottom four of our backline rankings.
Essendon ranked 15th for points against, albeit not to the leaky extent of North Melbourne, Richmond and West Coast, conceding 88 points per game.
The Bombers also ranked last for defensive one-on-one contests won, negating just 67.9% of their matchups. It presents a shaky look for 2023 recruit Ben McKay, who arrived at the side as arguably the solution to their defensive woes over the years, having ranked 16th and 15th in 2022 and 2023 for points against.
Ultimately though, the Bombers' defence stacks up well on paper. Mason Redman is a weapon that can launch bombs out of the defensive arc, while Jordan Ridley is reliable when uninjured. Andrew McGrath has become the dependable general in defence, while Archie Roberts looms to be Dyson Heppell's replacement. Jaxon Prior and Jayden Laverde offer solid depth options too.
However, the talent will continue to be overshadowed by their on-field performances, which to date have been subpar. The Bombers will need drastic improvement from the players they intentionally recruited to become stars in defence if they are to stem the scoreboard bleeding they've seen in the last three seasons.
