Hawthorn and Geelong premiership player Isaac Smith has taken it upon himself to undertake the near-impossible task of naming the top 10 midfielders of the 21st Century.
"They had to start 2000 onwards, so Simon Black, who was one of my all-time favourites, started in 1997, he can't be in the list."
Speaking on Triple M during Thursday's blockbuster between Collingwood and the Hawks, Smith mentioned 10 names who he says stick out among the rest, while ranking his top five of all time.
Sam Mitchell, Marcus Bontempelli, Nat Fyfe, Scott Pendlebury, Lachie Neale were all in the top 10, but couldn't steal a spot in Smith's upper echelon of midfielders.
"The one I really struggled with was I wanted to put Luke Hodge in there, but he played mainly as a defender."
5Joel Selwood
"A premiership captain of mine.
"Coming up against Joel was very difficult, and you would plan all week. He's as tough as I've seen. Him and Sam Mitchell are probably the two toughest players along with Luke Hodge that I've played with.
"He was so zoned in on what was happening. The only way you could get anywhere near stopping him was Will Langford used to go to him sometimes, and just stand in front of him, so he couldn't get access to the ball. And that was the only way you could stop him."
