The midfield is home to the AFL's most recognised names. This line receives the most individual recognition, sweeping the league's suite of awards most years. Those in the engine room shoulder the responsibility of galvanising their side through winning possession and determining field position.
Midfield groups are usually emblematic of a given team - good teams have good midfields, and bad teams do not.
Here's Zero Hanger's ranking of the league's 18 midfield corps for 2025.
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7. North Melbourne
The young Roos have figured out how to turn clearance dominance into scores, in eerie scenes for the rest of the competition.
Clarkson's joeys were third for centre clearances, second for stoppage clearances, second for first possession rate, second for scores from centre bounce, and fourth for scores from stoppage.
Similarly to the Blues, the Roos would undoubtedly like to see improvement in turning first possession into clearance, after ranking sixth in this metric.
Highly touted draftees Harry Sheezel and George Wardlaw have developed an exemplary and complementary inside and outside combination, while Tom Powell had himself a career-best year in 2025. Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jy Simpkin and Bailey Scott present different auxiliary strengths.
The biggest kink that still requires the master's ironing is midfield defence. The Kangaroos struggle to stop opposing midfields having their way with them, allowing the most points from stoppage in the league, and the second-most from centre bounce.
