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.
RELATED: EVERY AFL TEAM'S BACKLINE RANKED 1-18
13. Port Adelaide
A club in the throes of change, Port's midfield had its lack of depth exposed in 2025.
With skipper Connor Rozee making the move to halfback, Zak Butters and Jason Horne-Francis were as combative as they were brilliant, but a soft underbelly anchored the Alberton natives to mid-table mediocrity. Despite the best efforts of these two bulls, the Power ranked in the bottom three for total contested possessions.
Strangely, the Power produced a rare discrepancy between their centre bounce clearance numbers and general stoppage clearance numbers, finishing bottom three in the former, and top three in the latter. Despite their general stoppage dominance, Hinkley's men produced the sixth-fewest points from this source, indicating an impotence forward of the ball, and poor quality of supply. The Power were also below league average for first possession to clearance rate.
One of incoming coach Josh Carr's first focuses will undoubtedly be rectifying a midfield that has lost the ability to intimidate the way it once did.
