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KICK Rating · Coaches' eye lens

Rucks — Coaches' eye leaderboard

AFL ruckmen 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 ruck pool. The smallest pool — coaches tend to single out only the standout ruck of any given game, so even the elite cluster relatively low. 72 players in the pool, top 72 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 Max Gawn Melbourne 244/253 100 2.43 592 78 +22
2 Nic Naitanui West Coast 210/210 87 1.70 358 61 +26
3 Brodie Grundy Sydney 240/249 87 1.70 409 71 +16
4 Peter Everitt Sydney 96/276 85 1.53 147 46 +39
5 Tristan Xerri North Melbourne 75/81 83 1.45 109 82 +1
6 Aaron Sandilands Fremantle 257/257 83 1.42 366 56 +27
7 Dean Cox West Coast 247/283 81 1.36 335 61 +20
8 Luke Jackson Fremantle 119/128 79 1.27 151 64 +15
9 Rowan Marshall St Kilda 155/163 79 1.26 195 70 +9
10 Todd Goldstein Essendon 336/336 74 1.03 345 47 +27
11 Brendon Lade Port Adelaide 144/225 73 1.00 144 44 +29
12 Kurt Tippett Sydney 170/170 73 0.97 165 58 +15
13 Sean Darcy Fremantle 120/122 72 0.93 112 56 +16
14 Darcy Cameron Collingwood 117/126 71 0.90 105 65 +6
15 Sam Jacobs Greater Western Sydney 204/204 70 0.86 175 53 +17
16 Tim English Western Bulldogs 154/160 69 0.84 130 70 -1
17 Jarrod Witts Gold Coast 205/212 69 0.84 173 64 +5
18 Tom De Koning St Kilda 99/108 68 0.82 81 57 +11
19 Stefan Martin Western Bulldogs 200/200 66 0.80 159 48 +18
20 Matthew Kreuzer Carlton 181/181 65 0.77 140 68 -3
21 Mitch Clark Geelong 101/101 65 0.76 77 48 +17
22 Shane Mumford Greater Western Sydney 204/204 64 0.76 155 44 +20
23 Paddy Ryder St Kilda 271/271 64 0.76 205 44 +20
24 Toby Nankervis Richmond 175/177 62 0.72 126 64 -2
25 Jeff White Melbourne 121/266 62 0.71 86 54 +8
26 Rory Lobb Western Bulldogs 198/204 58 0.65 129 41 +17
27 Josh Fraser Gold Coast 148/215 57 0.63 93 47 +10
28 David Hille Essendon 164/189 54 0.59 96 55 -1
29 Troy Simmonds Richmond 135/195 54 0.58 78 44 +10
30 Oscar McInerney Brisbane Lions 161/161 54 0.58 93 60 -6
31 Dean Brogan Greater Western Sydney 175/183 54 0.57 100 51 +3
32 Sam Draper Brisbane Lions 78/86 52 0.54 42 49 +3
33 Darren Jolly Collingwood 197/219 51 0.53 105 54 -3
34 Ivan Maric Richmond 144/144 51 0.53 76 56 -5
35 Tom Hickey Sydney 147/147 51 0.52 77 52 -1
36 Ben McEvoy Hawthorn 241/241 50 0.51 123 49 +1
37 Callum Sinclair Sydney 116/116 50 0.51 59 51 -1
38 Lloyd Meek Hawthorn 73/80 50 0.51 37 59 -9
39 Brad Ottens Geelong 142/241 49 0.50 71 51 -2
40 Scott Lycett Port Adelaide 142/142 49 0.50 71 52 -3
41 Matthew Leuenberger Essendon 123/123 47 0.48 59 45 +2
42 Ben Hudson Collingwood 152/152 46 0.47 72 52 -6
43 Tom Bellchambers Essendon 128/128 41 0.42 54 49 -8
44 David Hale Hawthorn 223/223 40 0.41 91 42 -2
45 Luke Darcy Western Bulldogs 70/225 39 0.40 28 48 -9
46 Shaun McKernan St Kilda 87/87 38 0.39 34 41 -3
47 Mark Jamar Essendon 126/126 38 0.39 49 45 -7
48 Jonathon Griffin Fremantle 81/81 36 0.37 30 45 -9
49 Barnaby French Carlton 58/120 34 0.34 20 42 -8
50 Jamie Charman Brisbane Lions 92/114 32 0.33 30 45 -13
51 Marc Pittonet Carlton 76/84 31 0.32 24 47 -16
52 Jonathon Ceglar Geelong 109/109 31 0.31 34 48 -17
53 Zac Smith Gold Coast 121/121 28 0.29 35 49 -21
54 Hamish McIntosh Geelong 117/117 24 0.25 29 54 -30
55 Matthew Clarke St Kilda 58/238 24 0.24 14 33 -9
56 Mason Cox Fremantle 133/135 24 0.24 32 35 -11
57 Will Minson Western Bulldogs 183/183 24 0.24 44 57 -33
58 Rhys Stanley Geelong 218/219 23 0.23 51 47 -24
59 Mark Seaby Sydney 98/98 21 0.21 21 40 -19
60 Rhett Biglands Adelaide 54/105 18 0.19 10 37 -19
61 Michael Gardiner St Kilda 73/166 17 0.18 13 37 -20
62 Zac Clarke Essendon 108/108 17 0.18 19 37 -20
63 Robert Campbell Hawthorn 89/96 17 0.17 15 34 -17
64 Jason Ball Sydney 46/178 15 0.15 7 43 -28
65 Shaun Hampson Richmond 89/89 12 0.12 11 42 -30
66 Matthew Lobbe Carlton 98/98 9 0.09 9 50 -41
67 Steven King St Kilda 90/214 8 0.08 7 37 -29
68 Mike Pyke Sydney 97/97 4 0.04 4 42 -38
69 Mark Blake Geelong 83/83 2 0.02 2 31 -29
70 Greg Stafford Richmond 53/199 2 0.02 1 33 -31
71 Reilly OBrien Adelaide 146/146 0 0.00 0 59 -59
72 Bailey Williams West Coast 88/93 0 0.00 0 43 -43

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 ruckmen' votes per voted-era game and scales them 0-100 within the ruckmen pool — so an elite ruckme 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 ruckmen.