The AFL’s most effective rovers revealed

There's an art form to the clearance work for the ruck rover or follower position in AFL football. These players rely on instinct and anticipation to read a ruckman's tap in order to best position themselves to best to win the football, and require clean usage once in possession to win clearances from congested areas.

One way a player's effectiveness as a ruck rover can be inferred is looking at first possession statistics. A "first possession" refers to the moment a player first collects the ball after a ruck contest, either at a stoppage or centre bounce. A player's ability to convert these first possessions into a clearance is vital for maintaining or gaining attacking momentum.

While the first possession to clearance rate is not a be-all and end-all statistic, it does indicate strongly which players are able to work in tandem with their ruckmen and create attacking opportunities. So, which players have been best at this in 2025?

Kysaiah Pickett's move to midfield has worked wonders for the Demons, establishing himself as one of the club's most important players. Attending 71.1% of centre bounces, up from just 33.0% in 2024, Pickett has the best conversion rate of first possessions into clearances this season among the 88 qualified players, going at 92%.

While it might be easy to conclude that this rate comes as a benefit of the elite ruck work of the legendary Max Gawn, Melbourne actually rank 16th in the AFL for first possession to clearance rate (73.3%). In fact, two of the AFL's least effective first-possession getters are Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney, who convert first possessions into clearances just 64.9% and 65.3% of the time. Among the 88 players who average at least two first possessions per game, Oliver and Viney ranked 87th and 86th respectively.

One team that has been above average in this area is the Western Bulldogs, and it's easy to see why, being one of two teams with two players in the top 10. Star recruit Matthew Kennedy is one of the most proficient first possession getters, collecting 77 already in 2025 and creating 67 clearances from those disposals.

Marcus Bontempelli, while having a slightly lower volume, is converting at a similar rate, with 87.1% of his first possessions at stoppages returning a clearance for the Dogs. The Bulldogs comfortably rank first in the AFL from scores from stoppages (48.7 points) and with these two roving at this level, it's clear why they damage the scoreboard so frequently from that area of the game.

Arguably the most impressive rate of clearances from first possession comes from Matthew Rowell. His rate of 85% ranks ninth in the league, but his volume is outstanding, winning 120 first possessions already in 2025. Only four players average more first possessions per game; Tom Green (10.6), Jack Macrae (9.4), Caleb Serong (8.3) and Patrick Cripps (8.3).

However, none of those four convert those possessions into clearances as effectively as Rowell, with Green, Macrae, Serong and Cripps ranking 68th, 31st, 17th and 45th respectively.

The other team with two players inside the top 10 is North Melbourne, with stars Tom Powell and Harry Sheezel converting first possessions into clearances at a rate of 89% and 86% respectively. However, captain Jy Simpkin is not far behind, ranking 11th with 83.9% of his 3.9 first clearances per game converting into clearances. Their clean use of the football in traffic, paired with the superstar rucking abilities of Tristan Xerri, explains why the Kangaroos rank fourth in scores from stoppage this season (37.5 points) despite being 15th in points for.

The following list includes the top 10 midfielders for first possessions, ranked by first possession to clearance rate (minimum 2 first possessions per game).