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KICK Rating · Coaches' eye lens

Midfielders — Coaches' eye leaderboard

AFL midfielders ranked by coaches' votes per game. AFLCA Champion-Player votes (5-4-3-2-1 from each coach after every match), scaled 0-100 within the midfielder pool. Coaches reward inside-mid grunt and stoppage dominance, so this list looks closer to KICK-M than other positions do — Bontempelli, Daicos, Petracca, Cripps, Neale tend to top both. 300 players in the pool, top 100 shown. Data: AFLCA Champion-Player votes 2003–2025.

A parallel lens to KICK Rating — not a replacement. See how the Coaches' eye is computed and the main KICK leaderboard for the box-score view.

# Player Team GP voted/total Coaches' eye Votes/game Votes KICK r40 Δ
1 Nick Daicos Collingwood 95/103 100 3.60 342 76 +24
2 Marcus Bontempelli Western Bulldogs 257/266 97 3.22 828 81 +16
3 Gary Ablett Geelong 341/353 95 2.92 997 54 +41
4 Nat Fyfe Fremantle 233/233 92 2.79 650 41 +51
5 Caleb Serong Fremantle 127/136 92 2.79 354 72 +20
6 Patrick Cripps Carlton 227/236 91 2.72 618 68 +23
7 Chris Judd Carlton 254/276 90 2.65 673 60 +30
8 Patrick Dangerfield Geelong 353/358 89 2.62 925 50 +39
9 Lachie Neale Brisbane Lions 286/295 89 2.60 744 71 +18
10 Matt Rowell Gold Coast 108/112 88 2.58 279 71 +17
11 Zach Merrett Essendon 245/254 88 2.57 629 69 +19
12 Sam Walsh Carlton 132/141 87 2.52 332 64 +23
13 Dustin Martin Richmond 299/299 86 2.48 741 53 +33
14 Noah Anderson Gold Coast 129/137 86 2.47 319 71 +15
15 Clayton Oliver Greater Western Sydney 205/214 85 2.42 497 60 +25
16 Zak Butters Port Adelaide 137/146 84 2.35 322 71 +13
17 Sam Mitchell West Coast 314/323 83 2.31 724 62 +21
18 Joel Selwood Geelong 351/351 82 2.28 801 59 +23
19 Christian Petracca Gold Coast 211/218 82 2.25 474 66 +16
20 Dane Swan Collingwood 249/249 81 2.20 549 71 +10
21 Jai Newcombe Hawthorn 100/109 81 2.20 220 67 +14
22 Scott Pendlebury Collingwood 413/419 80 2.18 900 58 +22
23 Dayne Beams Collingwood 176/176 80 2.18 383 70 +10
24 Connor Rozee Port Adelaide 150/152 80 2.17 326 62 +18
25 Simon Goodwin Adelaide 151/268 80 2.17 327 55 +25
26 Chad Warner Sydney 108/117 79 2.12 229 60 +19
27 Errol Gulden Sydney 103/105 79 2.12 218 70 +9
28 Scott West Western Bulldogs 113/323 79 2.10 237 67 +12
29 Tim Kelly West Coast 162/170 77 1.99 322 50 +27
30 Trent Cotchin Richmond 302/302 76 1.97 594 50 +26
31 Jordan Dawson Adelaide 156/162 76 1.94 303 71 +5
32 Josh Kennedy Sydney 285/285 75 1.93 550 52 +23
33 Andrew Brayshaw Fremantle 169/178 75 1.92 325 68 +7
34 Rory Sloane Adelaide 247/247 74 1.87 462 56 +18
35 Daniel Kerr West Coast 175/217 74 1.87 327 57 +17
36 Hugh McCluggage Brisbane Lions 208/213 74 1.84 382 69 +5
37 Touk Miller Gold Coast 212/221 73 1.83 387 64 +9
38 Jason Horne-Francis Port Adelaide 79/88 73 1.82 144 63 +10
39 James Hird Essendon 78/246 73 1.82 142 63 +10
40 Dan Hannebery St Kilda 221/221 73 1.81 401 47 +26
41 Scott Thompson Adelaide 286/300 73 1.81 518 65 +8
42 Tom Mitchell Collingwood 203/203 73 1.80 365 61 +12
43 Luke Hodge Brisbane Lions 329/344 73 1.79 590 43 +30
44 Luke Shuey West Coast 242/242 73 1.79 433 57 +16
45 Adam Treloar Western Bulldogs 255/256 73 1.79 456 70 +3
46 Tom Green Greater Western Sydney 114/114 73 1.78 203 73 0
47 Luke Parker North Melbourne 303/312 72 1.78 538 54 +18
48 Jobe Watson Essendon 213/213 72 1.77 377 61 +11
49 Matthew Boyd Western Bulldogs 284/284 72 1.76 500 56 +16
50 Max Holmes Geelong 101/110 72 1.75 177 68 +4
51 Bailey Smith Geelong 125/134 72 1.74 218 71 +1
52 Simon Black Brisbane Lions 218/318 72 1.74 380 61 +11
53 Lenny Hayes St Kilda 224/295 72 1.74 389 63 +9
54 Matt Priddis West Coast 235/235 71 1.71 403 69 +2
55 Robbie Gray Port Adelaide 265/265 71 1.71 453 45 +26
56 Ben Cousins Richmond 124/269 71 1.68 208 52 +19
57 Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera St Kilda 86/94 70 1.66 143 66 +4
58 Ollie Wines Port Adelaide 269/275 70 1.66 447 59 +11
59 Jack Macrae St Kilda 260/264 70 1.65 430 56 +14
60 Josh Kelly Greater Western Sydney 221/221 70 1.65 364 57 +13
61 Marc Murphy Carlton 290/290 70 1.64 475 49 +21
62 Nic Martin Essendon 82/82 70 1.63 134 62 +8
63 Dayne Zorko Brisbane Lions 297/303 69 1.63 484 61 +8
64 Tom Liberatore Western Bulldogs 251/254 69 1.61 403 68 +1
65 Jack Steele Melbourne 200/209 69 1.60 320 67 +2
66 Rory Laird Adelaide 268/275 69 1.60 428 57 +12
67 Josh Dunkley Brisbane Lions 194/203 68 1.59 309 66 +2
68 Jordan de Goey Collingwood 176/183 68 1.59 280 51 +17
69 Travis Boak Port Adelaide 377/377 68 1.57 591 47 +21
70 Ben Cunnington North Melbourne 233/233 68 1.57 365 60 +8
71 Paul Chapman Essendon 241/270 67 1.54 371 56 +11
72 Jack Steven Geelong 191/191 67 1.53 293 58 +9
73 Mark Ricciuto Adelaide 95/311 66 1.51 143 49 +17
74 Brett Deledio Greater Western Sydney 272/272 66 1.50 408 50 +16
75 Elliot Yeo West Coast 206/212 66 1.50 309 60 +6
76 Stephen Coniglio Greater Western Sydney 216/223 66 1.50 323 54 +12
77 Dion Prestia Richmond 228/234 65 1.49 340 52 +13
78 Tim Taranto Richmond 172/178 65 1.49 256 68 -3
79 Matt Crouch Adelaide 154/154 65 1.48 228 61 +4
80 Nick Dal Santo North Melbourne 303/321 65 1.48 447 56 +9
81 Jack Viney Melbourne 233/233 64 1.46 340 59 +5
82 Jimmy Bartel Geelong 285/296 64 1.45 412 58 +6
83 Leigh Montagna St Kilda 279/280 64 1.44 402 58 +6
84 Bryce Gibbs Adelaide 266/266 64 1.44 382 60 +4
85 Andrew McLeod Adelaide 171/340 64 1.43 245 47 +17
86 Tom Rockliff Port Adelaide 203/203 63 1.42 289 60 +3
87 Andrew Gaff West Coast 273/273 63 1.42 388 44 +19
88 Ryan Griffen Greater Western Sydney 251/251 63 1.40 352 49 +14
89 David Mundy Fremantle 372/372 63 1.39 518 56 +7
90 Brett Kirk Sydney 192/241 62 1.39 267 51 +11
91 Finn Callaghan Greater Western Sydney 71/80 62 1.38 98 62 +0
92 Andrew Swallow North Melbourne 216/216 61 1.36 293 59 +2
93 Adam Cooney Essendon 242/242 61 1.35 326 53 +8
94 Taylor Adams Sydney 220/220 61 1.33 293 47 +14
95 Steele Sidebottom Collingwood 351/359 61 1.33 466 51 +10
96 Luke Davies-Uniacke North Melbourne 128/137 60 1.32 169 67 -7
97 Dylan Shiel Essendon 224/224 60 1.30 292 56 +4
98 Brent Harvey North Melbourne 300/429 60 1.30 389 56 +4
99 Kane Cornes Port Adelaide 275/297 59 1.27 349 55 +4
100 Kane Lambert Richmond 131/131 59 1.26 165 41 +18

What this list reads

Every match, the two senior coaches each award 5-4-3-2-1 votes through the AFL Coaches Association. The top six players from each game get votes. This list aggregates midfielders' votes per voted-era game and scales them 0-100 within the midfielders pool — so an elite midfielder reads in the 90s here regardless of how many possessions the position averages.

It's the lens that captures what coaches actually see — defensive structure, decoy running, ruck dominance not measured by hit-out volume, leadership in tight games. The KICK formula is box-score-driven and misses some of these. The two lenses agree closely on midfielders; they diverge most on defenders and key forwards. Reading both together is more honest than either alone.

Data window: 2003 (first season AFLCA published per-game votes publicly) to 2025. The 2026 votes will be backfilled at end of season; current-year rankings here use the player's rolling 2003–2025 vote share, not 2026 form. For 2026 form see the main KICK leaderboard for midfielders.