Throughout the final years of the 1990s, AFL clubs across the land looked backward rather than forward, with selectors, historians and superstars converging to name their Teams of the 20th Century.

So, as we near the quarter-time mark of the 21st century, what better time to run the rule on which players are likely to feature when the selectors of tomorrow get together in several decades' time?

While every club has an array of deadset legends that can be called on, we here at Zero Hanger have employed the following rules of selection:

  • Only statistics recorded and achievements accrued since the start of the 2000 AFL season will be acknowledged.
  • Any player selected must have played at least 100 senior games for their respective club since the start of the 2000 AFL season.

Next up, we head west to decide which Dockers can be counted as the ten best of this century.

PREVIOUS TOP TENS: CROWS, LIONS, BLUES, PIES, BOMBERS

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10. Stephen Hill (2009-2020) 

218 games, 19.2 disposals per game, 36 Brownlow votes, 0.2 votes per game

While he lacked a career filled with individual achievements and his stats don't exactly jump off the page, the elder of the two Hill brothers was as reliable as his tank was large.

And though medals, blazers and flags would fail to arrive across his 12 seasons in purple, Hill can lay claim to have kicked perhaps the greatest goal in Dockers' history with a marathon run to seal the 2013 qualifying final.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 31: Stephen Hill of the Dockers looks to pss the ball during the round two AFL match between the Fremantle Dockers and the Essendon Bombers at Optus Stadium on March 31, 2018 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
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