MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 28: Dylan Grimes, David Astbury and Nick Vlastuin of the Tigers celebrate during the 2019 Toyota AFL Grand Final match between the Richmond Tigers and the GWS Giants at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 28, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Former AFL star Brendon Goddard has taken to theĀ Herald SunĀ to rank each AFL side's defensive stocks from best to worst, with reigning premiers Richmond taking the honours in spite of losing star fullback Alex Rance in the opening encounter.

The 300-gamer claims that the Tigers possess "everything you want in a defence" as the likes of Dylan Grimes, Bachar Houli and Nick Vlastuin starred through their victorious campaign, with Rance's return next season following ACL surgery set to be equal to "the biggest recruit of 2020".

Fremantle and the Gold Coast Suns were analysed with less bullish results, as he finds that "there are some holes" in the Dockers' defensive roster following a tough year on the injury front while the Suns were ranked bottom having conceded more than 100 points per game on average in 2019.

The top four backlines in Goddard's list belong to the Tigers, Cats, Eagles and Magpies.

Brendon Goddard ranks AFL defences 1-18

  1. Richmond
  2. Geelong
  3. West Coast
  4. Collingwood
  5. GWS Giants
  6. Brisbane
  7. Western Bulldogs
  8. Essendon
  9. Port Adelaide
  10. Hawthorn
  11. Adelaide
  12. Carlton
  13. Melbourne
  14. North Melbourne
  15. St Kilda
  16. Sydney
  17. Fremantle
  18. Gold Coast