The AFL’s most dominant centre square players in 2025

The centre bounce will be dead from 2026 and beyond, figuratively speaking. Of course, play will still resume from the centre square at the beginning of each quarter and following every goal, but the traditional bounce will be replaced by a toss-up of the Sherrin.

The bounce provided a flair of unpredictability to centre bounces, particularly for midfielders who aimed to rove their ruck partners' hitouts to elite effect. It will be an intriguing watch to see how teams and star midfielders adapt to the more predictable throw of the ball and aim to take the change to their advantage.

It could be a boost for a number of players who already excel at winning clearances via the 6-6-6 set-up.

In 2025, 51 listed midfielders attended at least 50% of their team's centre bounces (minimum 15 games played).

Here are the players who won centre clearances for their side most often, with their regularity in the centre square accounted for...

At the top of the list - and truly in a class of his own - is Fremantle superstar Caleb Serong. He wins a centre clearance 17.2% of the time when in the centre square, which is a rate over two per cent higher than the second-ranked Tom Liberatore.

What makes this rate more impressive is his volume of centre bounces attended. Only seven midfielders attended more than Serong's 22.3 centre bounces per game in 2025, and only Noah Anderson had a higher rate of attendance.

Yet, that doesn't see a regression in Serong's dominance around the footy in the middle, with his centre clearance win rate of 17.2% well exceeding Anderson's 12.6%. Richmond's Tim Taranto, who similarly attended 81.4% of centre bounces this season, won a centre clearance just 7.8% of the time.

An interesting player to crack the top 10 is back-to-back Norm Smith Medal winner Will Ashcroft. With Brisbane's stacked midfield group, Ashcroft plays a versatile role across the ground and attends the fewest percentage of centre bounces per game in the top 10, just 52.4 per cent.

However, there's plenty of proof he could dominate in a full-time role there, winning a centre clearance 14.1% of the time he lines up around the centre circle.

Gold Coast were one of the better clearance-winning teams this season, unsurprising considering the bulls they have in the middle, such as Matthew Rowell and Touk Miller, who rank equal-second in this metric, and Noah Anderson (=12th).

The revelation of Christian Petracca's desire to be traded to Gold Coast for 2026 and beyond then becomes an unbelievably exciting proposition for their midfield, because he ranked fifth for the rate of centre clearances won in 2025 with a clinical percentage of 14.4%.

That number was a career-high, despite Petracca attending just two-thirds of Melbourne's centre bounces as the club entered a transitional period. It suggests that Gold Coast could go from strength to strength following the club's historic 2025 campaign, should the blockbuster trade take place.

Below: The AFL's top 10 players for percentage of centre clearances won from centre bounces attended (minimum 50% CBA).