Across the first 13 minutes of the Western Bulldogs' thumping of West Coast, the Bulldogs scored four times.
None of those went through in-form forward Aaron Naughton, the direct opponent of West Coast defender Reuben Ginbey, while young star Sam Darcy had two goals on the board.
The early potency of Darcy led to Ginbey guarding him at the next two Dogs inside 50 entries – while he helped quieten Darcy, it led to Naughton scoring 1.1 during those entries.
It's a tiny sample size from a catalogue of brilliant one-on-one matchups that Ginbey has had across 2025, but it reflects how quickly the 20-year-old key defender has become such a significant piece of the Eagles' back six.
Naughton's second goal came from a mark on the goal line, which was reflective of defensive breakdowns that haunted the young Eagles' defence all day, while his third came as a result of Ginbey being forced to apply frontal pressure to Oskar Baker as the Eagles got out of the back.
That Ginbey's latest effort came under the Marvel Stadium roof in the hidden 4:40pm Sunday timeslot is a great metaphor for the way his career has panned out so far: sheltered and concealed from the bright lights of footy's proverbial Broadway.
Given a minimum of 50 games, Ginbey has the worst winning record of any player since 1934, having sung the song after just seven of his 62 AFL games.
He's had more losses by more than 10 goals than he's had victories, highlighting how well he's done to absorb an avalanche of pressure in the defensive half, usually on opposition spearheads.
“This is his first (full) season in defence and most weeks we've played him on the opposition's best forward,” coach Andrew McQualter noted.
“It doesn't happen across the league…and he's going to continue to get better because that's the way he's wired.”
McQualter answered philosophically post-match when asked about any concerns surrounding emotional scarring of young players, pointing to the turnaround of Adelaide, but Ginbey, anointed a potential future leader, is exactly the player the Eagles need to ensure is safeguarded from that plight.
Naughton finished with a further two goals on top of that first quarter snag, but alongside McQualter, Dogs coach Luke Beveridge also went out of his way to note the ‘dour' defensive application of Ginbey.
The emerging talent had 22 disposals, nine marks and an equal game-high eight intercept possessions and was sure with the footy on a day where skill errors in the back half plagued West Coast and allowed the hosts to run up the margin.
Ginbey has also had matchups on Jeremy Cameron, Riley Thilthorpe, Charlie Curnow and Josh Treacy.
“I play my better footy when I'm challenged to play on those better forwards,” the long flowing blondie said at a media appearance last month.
While the pressure and intensity further up the field were also driving factors, Ginbey's ability to quell both Cameron and Thilthorpe, both viewed as All-Australian certainties, helped West Coast challenge two premiership contenders until the last 10 minutes.
“'Reubs' didn't flinch,” McQualter said of the youngster's reaction to playing on Thilthorpe.
“If that's what he has to do for the team, he's happy to do it. He prepared himself well…and it was a solid effort.”
Thilthorpe's only three goals came in the last 10 minutes of the match, while Cameron kicked four of his five goals in the last quarter and made note in a post-match interview that Ginbey had his number.
The numbers don't always flatter Ginbey, but given how easy the West Coast has been to score against, his grit has been greatly promising.
“The challenges we've asked ‘Reubs' to do is tall, small, medium, fast, strong, all types of challenges.
“Because of his athletic profile, he's able to play on most.
“He's not going to get everything perfect, and he's a young man still growing his football game, so the expectation to get these jobs done every week is probably unrealistic, but he keeps proving that wrong and doing a good job and fighting really hard for his teammates.”
Ginbey was one of the most rounded athletes at the 2022 AFL National Draft, according to his National Combine testing.
He finished equal fourth in the standing vertical jump, equal ninth in the running vertical, seventh in the 20-metre sprint and fifth in the two-kilometre time trial, making him the only player in that year to feature in four separate top 10s.
“I think that's the modern game,” McQualter said of the benefit of Ginbey's athleticism.
“If you don't have athleticism as a key position player, it's a really difficult game to play.
“I think it's trending that way: some of the best key defenders in the game have the best endurance, so that's what Reuben ticks off as well, so I can see him having a long future there.”
The Eagles traded up to take him with Pick 9 in the 2022 AFL National Draft.
“He was certainly the preferred result, so we were relieved when that happened,” then list manager Rohan O'Brien said.
“We rated him really highly early in the year, and I think the champs performances put him up more in lights through that part of the year, and by that stage, everyone firmly had him in the front part of the draft.”
Drafted as a brawny and powerful midfielder, his traits have transferred seamlessly into the backline.
Alongside the natural defensive craft, he's grown since moving into the role last year, that athleticism denies key forwards space and makes it tremendously difficult for the increasingly athletic spearheads to overwork him, while his leap enables him to play above his size.
He's also proven he has the toe to go with smaller lead-up targets, keeping Jamie Elliott to one goal in between a stretch of 22 goals in seven outings, though he has indicated a preference to play on medium to taller targets.
At 191cm, the only caution the Eagles coaching staff will have is playing him on the extremely tall forwards, the coach indicating the height difference between Ginbey and Darcy was what led to him taking Naughton.
It highlights the importance of Sandy Brock, Harry Edwards or Rhett Bazzo kicking on, to relieve pressure off Ginbey.
While Ginbey has shown an ability to play above his size, the average height of each club's best key forward has increased from 195.4cm to 196.7cm across the past decade, opening up a bigger gulf between himself and the talls.
“We love him in our team; he is just an unbelievable competitor,” McQualter said.
While Ginbey was far from affirmative when asked about leadership aspirations last month, he's the backman the Eagles need to build around to escape their seemingly endless mire.
His responsibility has needed to be fast-tracked, given the retirements of Elliott Yeo, Liam Duggan and Shannon Hurn.
“I think I'm enjoying my role for the team down back and I think I play better footy there and I'm enjoying playing with this backline group,” Ginbey said when asked if he harboured ambitions to return to the midfield.
“Hopefully, as a young core backline group, we can start to build the club back to where it belongs.”
