Following the nine-part series ranking each AFL club's positional lines, it is time to review each AFL team's list in its entirety and determine which sides can enter 2025 with full confidence in the talent on their list.
While some clubs may be star-studded in one spot, this list will take the entire squad into account, looking into the depth, firepower, and performances in 2024 across all three areas of the field.
Those who have been consistently at the top of the rankings throughout our series will undoubtedly find themselves at the top of the board once again, but those who popped into the top six just once, or those who had a starkly low ranking in comparison to their other results, may find themselves dropped to midtable or below.
RELATED: FORWARD LINE RANKINGS, MIDFIELD RANKINGS, & BACKLINE RANKINGS
So, here is the concluding chapter to Zero Hanger's pre-season list rankings, signifying the best and worst teams on paper for the year ahead.
2. Western Bulldogs
(Backline ranking: third; Midfield ranking: third; Forward line ranking: seventh)
Realistically, the Bulldogs probably should've earned a top-six selection in all lines of the field, but, the Bulldogs also realistically should be greater premiership contenders given their list, and last season their goalkicking inaccuracy was detrimental to greater success.
However, on this list we are ranking purely off the squad the Bulldogs have, and it is nothing short of glamorous.
The Bulldogs are stacked in every line - they have the potential to own the greatest forward line in the competition with the pure talent Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Sam Darcy, Aaron Naughton and Cody Weightman possess, the midfield has arguably the greatest player in the league with Marcus Bontempelli, plus All-Australian Adam Treloar to boot, and a healthy Bulldogs defence is the stingiest in the league, conceding the least amount of points in 2024.
From a list perspective, it's arguably the greatest. Any coach would be ecstatic with the talent supplied to them on this list.
But, from an overall point of view, the Bulldogs' potential remains just that. We've yet to see the team make a top-four spot under Luke Beveridge, and despite growing their stocks of young talent in front of jealous opposing teams, they haven't won a final since 2021.
Questions may continue to cloud the Bulldogs campaign again in 2025, with Liam Jones out for months with a hamstring injury, and Ugle-Hagan's indefinite absence. But, if the Dogs can finally sort out their kicking woes and continue their brick-wall-defence without Jones, we may finally see their breadth of talent come to fruition.
