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KICK Rating · All-time · defenders

All-time defenders — kick rating leaderboard

The top defenders right now, ranked by rolling 40-game KICK-D. KICK-D lifts intercept marks, one-percenters and rebounds to what their real impact justifies, then calibrates so the 95th-percentile defender sits at 76 regardless of the raw volume gap with mids and rucks. Raw formula value + overall KICK shown for transparency. 266 defenders in the pool, top 100 shown. Career average, players with 100+ games.

See how positional KICK works.

A caveat on pre-2000 defenders

AFL Tables stopped tracking rebound-50s, contested marks, one-percenters and some hit-out data progressively through the 1990s. Defenders whose careers finished before ~2000 have thinner raw stat lines than modern defenders — the formula gives them fair credit for what was tracked, but they're structurally underweighted here. The era normaliser lifts 1965–99 scores, but it can't invent missing data. If you want a truer read of older eras, the decade leaderboards control for era and may surface names this list buries.

# Player Team GP KICK-D career Raw KICK-D R40 KICK
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1 Tom Stewart 2017-2026 Geelong 188 100 69 96 53
2 James Sicily 2015-2026 Hawthorn 185 99 68 97 53
3 Luke Ryan 2017-2026 Fremantle 184 97 67 91 52
4 Jeremy McGovern 2014-25 West Coast 190 95 65 100 47
5 Heath Shaw 2005-20 Greater Western Sydney 322 93 64 77 52
6 Alex Rance 2009-19 Richmond 199 90 62 88 45
7 Steven May 2011-25 Melbourne 245 89 61 95 44
8 Jeremy Howe 2011-2026 Collingwood 265 88 61 80 48
9 Harris Andrews 2015-2026 Brisbane Lions 241 88 60 86 41
10 Michael Hurley 2009-22 Essendon 191 86 60 82 48
11 Callum Wilkie 2019-2026 St Kilda 161 86 59 96 44
12 Nick Vlastuin 2013-2026 Richmond 253 85 59 83 45
13 Sam Fisher 2004-16 St Kilda 224 85 58 78 49
14 Darren Milburn 1997-2011 Geelong 288 84 58 84 50
15 Nick Haynes 2012-2026 Carlton 225 84 58 81 43
16 Jacob Weitering 2016-2026 Carlton 206 83 57 82 41
17 Tom McDonald 2011-2026 Melbourne 249 82 57 78 46
18 Josh Gibson 2006-17 Hawthorn 224 80 56 84 44
19 Cale Hooker 2008-21 Essendon 214 80 56 64 44
20 Aliir Aliir 2016-2026 Port Adelaide 182 80 55 78 40
21 Scott Thompson 2008-19 North Melbourne 239 80 55 78 43
22 Darcy Moore 2015-2026 Collingwood 187 79 55 71 40
23 Tom Barrass 2015-2026 Hawthorn 181 79 55 64 37
24 Michael Hibberd 2011-23 Melbourne 192 79 55 53 44
25 Harry Taylor 2008-20 Geelong 277 79 55 55 43
26 Jake Lever 2015-2026 Melbourne 189 78 54 71 38
27 Sam Collins 2016-2026 Gold Coast 155 78 54 74 37
28 Michael Johnson 2005-18 Fremantle 239 77 54 69 45
29 Brian Lake 2002-15 Hawthorn 249 76 53 79 42
30 Garrick Ibbotson 2007-17 Fremantle 171 75 52 71 44
31 Dane Rampe 2013-2026 Sydney 274 75 52 53 40
32 Phil Davis 2010-22 Greater Western Sydney 182 74 52 65 37
33 Sam Gilbert 2006-18 St Kilda 205 73 52 61 45
34 Blake Hardwick 2016-2026 Hawthorn 203 73 52 72 42
35 Harry Himmelberg 2016-2026 Greater Western Sydney 206 73 52 83 44
36 David Wirrpanda 1996-2009 West Coast 224 72 51 77 44
37 Heath Grundy 2006-19 Sydney 256 72 51 74 40
38 Adam McPhee 2001-12 Fremantle 220 72 51 61 46
39 Graham Johncock 2002-13 Adelaide 220 72 51 66 45
40 Mark Johnson 1999-2008 Fremantle 207 71 51 53 45
41 Lachie Henderson 2008-21 Geelong 205 71 50 71 41
42 Troy Chaplin 2005-16 Richmond 212 71 50 67 40
43 Trent McKenzie 2011-23 Port Adelaide 159 71 50 63 40
44 Robbie Tarrant 2010-22 Richmond 193 71 50 58 38
45 Andrew Welsh 2002-11 Essendon 152 70 50 72 45
46 Tom Jonas 2011-23 Port Adelaide 213 69 50 60 36
47 Chris Mayne 2008-21 Collingwood 246 69 49 67 46
48 Jack Martin 2014-2026 Geelong 157 69 49 51 45
49 Brad Sheppard 2010-21 West Coast 210 69 49 71 41
50 Chris Scott 1994-2007 Brisbane Lions 212 69 49 54 39
51 Dustin Fletcher 1993-2015 Essendon 392 69 49 74 37
52 Nick Maxwell 2004-14 Collingwood 203 69 49 75 41
53 Luke McPharlin 2000-15 Fremantle 251 68 49 75 41
54 Chris Newman 2002-15 Richmond 264 68 49 51 43
55 Lynden Dunn 2006-20 Collingwood 192 68 49 61 41
56 Mason Wood 2014-2026 St Kilda 157 68 49 70 44
57 Brodie Holland 1998-2008 Collingwood 153 66 48 78 43
58 Jack Watts 2009-19 Port Adelaide 171 66 48 59 43
59 Tyson Stenglein 1999-2009 West Coast 208 66 48 62 44
60 Liam Jones 2010-25 Western Bulldogs 201 66 48 70 35
61 Andrew Kellaway 1998-2006 Richmond 169 65 47 69 40
62 Daniel Talia 2011-20 Adelaide 196 65 47 62 34
63 Brett Montgomery 1997-2006 Western Bulldogs 201 65 47 58 39
64 Byron Pickett 1997-2007 Melbourne 200 65 47 51 40
65 Chad Morrison 1996-2006 Collingwood 168 65 47 60 38
66 James Frawley 2007-21 St Kilda 235 65 47 50 38
67 Jared Rivers 2004-15 Geelong 188 65 47 68 37
68 Adam Tomlinson 2012-24 Melbourne 182 65 47 58 39
69 Simon Beaumont 1995-2005 Hawthorn 177 65 47 63 39
70 Easton Wood 2009-21 Western Bulldogs 182 65 47 54 36
71 Ryan Lester 2011-2026 Brisbane Lions 231 65 47 66 39
72 Taylor Duryea 2013-25 Western Bulldogs 211 64 47 51 39
73 Nathan Broad 2016-2026 Richmond 175 64 47 66 35
74 Jack Henry 2018-2026 Geelong 164 64 47 71 35
75 Ryan Hargrave 2002-12 Western Bulldogs 198 64 47 71 40
76 Michael Firrito 2003-16 North Melbourne 271 64 47 60 39
77 Heritier Lumumba 2005-16 Melbourne 219 63 46 60 40
78 Ted Richards 2002-16 Sydney 251 63 46 64 36
79 Matthew Nicks 1996-2005 Sydney 172 63 46 49 37
80 Jarryn Geary 2008-21 St Kilda 197 63 46 52 39
81 Martin Mattner 2002-13 Sydney 220 63 46 58 40
82 David Astbury 2010-21 Richmond 154 63 46 64 35
83 Dean Solomon 1998-2009 Fremantle 209 62 46 71 40
84 Tom McCartin 2018-2026 Sydney 156 62 46 70 33
85 James Clement 1996-2007 Collingwood 230 62 46 75 36
86 Nathan Wilson 2012-23 Fremantle 150 62 46 59 37
87 Campbell Brown 2002-13 Gold Coast 202 62 46 59 40
88 Sean Dempster 2005-16 St Kilda 217 62 45 78 36
89 Nick Smith 2008-18 Sydney 209 62 45 60 37
90 Matt Maguire 2002-15 Brisbane Lions 154 61 45 78 36
91 Mitch Hahn 2000-10 Western Bulldogs 177 61 45 69 42
92 Josh Hunt 2001-14 Greater Western Sydney 207 60 45 68 38
93 Jimmy Webster 2013-25 St Kilda 169 60 45 52 37
94 Adrian Hickmott 1992-2003 Carlton 181 60 45 69 37
95 Justin Leppitsch 1993-2006 Brisbane Lions 224 60 45 66 34
96 Matt de Boer 2009-22 Greater Western Sydney 212 60 45 41 42
97 Dale Morris 2005-19 Western Bulldogs 250 60 45 59 35
98 Matthew Scarlett 1998-2012 Geelong 282 60 45 68 37
99 Tim Notting 1998-2009 Brisbane Lions 201 60 44 64 40
100 Damien Hardwick 1994-2004 Port Adelaide 192 60 44 49 35

Why a separate defenders leaderboard?

KICK Rating's overall leaderboard is award-aligned — Brownlow votes, All-Australian squads, and AFLCA Champion Player selections all heavily favour midfielders, and KICK tracks them. That's the right number when you want "who does everyone agree is the best player going around?".

But if you're looking for the best defenders, that mid-heavy bias is the wrong lens. Filtering by position strips it out. Defenders here are ranked against each other, by the same formula, over the same data since 1897. No re-weighting, no Champion Data licences, no guesswork — just the subset of the same leaderboard that played in the same role.

Read the validation story →