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KICK Rating · Current · defenders

Current 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. 142 defenders in the pool, top 100 shown. Active players (current-season appearance), rolling 40-game average.

See how positional KICK works.

# Player Team GP KICK-D R40 Raw KICK-D career KICK
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1 Callum Wilkie 2019-2026 St Kilda 172 97 68 87 45
2 James Sicily 2015-2026 Hawthorn 196 93 65 99 53
3 Tom Stewart 2017-2026 Geelong 198 92 64 100 53
4 Jordan Ridley 2018-2026 Essendon 103 91 63 92 47
5 Luke Ryan 2017-2026 Fremantle 196 88 61 97 52
6 Harris Andrews 2015-2026 Brisbane Lions 253 87 61 87 41
7 Josh Worrell 2021-2026 Adelaide 71 87 61 84 46
8 Mason Redman 2016-2026 Essendon 151 86 60 80 45
9 Bodhi Uwland 2023-2026 Gold Coast 66 82 58 78 43
10 Jeremy Howe 2011-2026 Collingwood 275 80 57 88 48
11 Jake Bowey 2021-2026 Melbourne 92 80 57 70 43
12 Jacob Weitering 2016-2026 Carlton 211 80 57 83 41
13 Connor Idun 2019-2026 Greater Western Sydney 135 80 56 72 40
14 Miles Bergman 2021-2026 Port Adelaide 110 80 56 71 42
15 Tom McDonald 2011-2026 Melbourne 251 79 56 82 45
16 Josh Battle 2017-2026 Hawthorn 159 79 56 74 41
17 Harry Himmelberg 2016-2026 Greater Western Sydney 218 79 56 74 43
18 Nick Vlastuin 2013-2026 Richmond 265 78 56 84 45
19 Sam Taylor 2018-2026 Greater Western Sydney 135 78 55 83 40
20 Nick Haynes 2012-2026 Carlton 237 77 55 83 43
21 Mark Keane 2020-2026 Adelaide 61 75 54 76 37
22 Aliir Aliir 2016-2026 Port Adelaide 194 75 54 80 40
23 Mac Andrew 2022-2026 Gold Coast 82 75 54 73 38
24 Keidean Coleman 2020-2026 Brisbane Lions 73 75 53 64 40
25 Tom McCartin 2018-2026 Sydney 165 74 53 64 34
26 Jack Silvagni 2016-2026 St Kilda 140 74 53 59 39
27 Josh Weddle 2023-2026 Hawthorn 75 73 53 70 41
28 Sam Collins 2016-2026 Gold Coast 167 71 52 78 37
29 Wil Powell 2018-2026 Gold Coast 143 71 51 74 42
30 Jayden Laverde 2015-2026 Greater Western Sydney 156 71 51 63 37
31 Darcy Moore 2015-2026 Collingwood 188 70 51 79 40
32 Ben Miller 2021-2026 Richmond 84 70 51 66 36
33 Jake Lever 2015-2026 Melbourne 200 70 51 78 38
34 Jack Scrimshaw 2017-2026 Hawthorn 119 70 51 76 41
35 Blake Hardwick 2016-2026 Hawthorn 215 69 50 73 42
36 Connor OSullivan 2024-2026 Geelong 44 69 50 70 38
37 Zach Guthrie 2017-2026 Geelong 143 68 50 69 40
38 Jack Buckley 2020-2026 Greater Western Sydney 92 68 50 74 38
39 Ryan Lester 2011-2026 Brisbane Lions 239 67 49 65 39
40 Mason Wood 2014-2026 St Kilda 168 67 49 68 44
41 Daniel Turner 2023-2026 Melbourne 49 67 49 62 37
42 Lachie Ash 2020-2026 Greater Western Sydney 143 66 60 48 46
43 Jack Henry 2018-2026 Geelong 173 66 49 63 35
44 Kade Chandler 2019-2026 Melbourne 94 66 49 52 38
45 Daniel Curtin 2024-2026 Adelaide 39 65 48 67 43
46 Isaac Quaynor 2019-2026 Collingwood 149 65 48 66 38
47 Reuben Ginbey 2023-2026 West Coast 74 64 48 62 38
48 Mitch McGovern 2016-2026 Carlton 160 63 47 64 40
49 Logan Evans 2024-2026 Port Adelaide 39 63 47 64 39
50 Lachlan Cowan 2023-2026 Carlton 52 62 47 57 36
51 Charlie Comben 2021-2026 North Melbourne 63 62 46 67 35
52 Lewis Young 2017-2026 Carlton 86 62 46 70 36
53 Jaxon Prior 2021-2026 Essendon 76 62 46 50 33
54 Sam De Koning 2021-2026 Geelong 100 61 46 64 36
55 Karl Worner 2023-2026 Fremantle 44 61 46 61 37
56 Dougal Howard 2016-2026 St Kilda 141 61 46 71 35
57 Joe Richards 2024-2026 Port Adelaide 47 61 46 61 43
58 Chayce Jones 2019-2026 Adelaide 91 60 45 48 33
59 Nathan Broad 2016-2026 Richmond 187 60 45 64 35
60 Charlie Ballard 2018-2026 Gold Coast 139 60 45 68 34
61 Noah Balta 2019-2026 Richmond 131 60 45 68 37
62 Corey Wagner 2016-2026 Fremantle 65 59 45 54 38
63 Ryan Maric 2023-2026 West Coast 56 59 45 52 36
64 Nick Murray 2021-2026 Adelaide 75 59 45 53 29
65 Zach Reid 2021-2026 Essendon 36 58 44 59 35
66 Tylar Young 2023-2026 West Coast 52 58 44 57 31
67 Jack Lukosius 2019-2026 Port Adelaide 129 57 44 66 41
68 Brennan Cox 2017-2026 Fremantle 149 57 44 68 37
69 Brandon Zerk-Thatcher 2019-2026 Port Adelaide 92 57 44 57 31
70 Griffin Logue 2017-2026 North Melbourne 106 57 43 59 32
71 Tom Brown 2023-2026 Richmond 53 56 43 56 34
72 Brodie Kemp 2021-2026 Carlton 67 56 43 64 38
73 Tom Cole 2016-2026 West Coast 141 56 43 54 34
74 Tom Barrass 2015-2026 Hawthorn 188 56 43 78 37
75 Ryan Byrnes 2020-2026 St Kilda 87 55 43 49 35
76 Noah Answerth 2019-2026 Brisbane Lions 91 55 42 53 34
77 Heath Chapman 2021-2026 Fremantle 82 55 42 60 37
78 Billy Frampton 2018-2026 Collingwood 92 55 42 55 31
79 Sam Clohesy 2024-2026 Gold Coast 43 55 42 58 39
80 Nick Coffield 2018-2026 Western Bulldogs 71 55 42 57 34
81 Ryan Gardner 2019-2026 Western Bulldogs 54 54 42 50 26
82 Aidan Corr 2013-2026 North Melbourne 181 54 42 54 31
83 Callum Ah Chee 2016-2026 Adelaide 164 54 42 49 35
84 Jake Kolodjashnij 2015-2026 Geelong 205 54 42 54 32
85 Mark OConnor 2017-2026 Geelong 154 54 42 55 35
86 Changkuoth Jiath 2019-2026 Melbourne 81 53 42 61 37
87 Luke Nankervis 2023-2026 Adelaide 40 53 42 54 36
88 Harry Petty 2018-2026 Melbourne 112 53 41 52 32
89 James ODonnell 2023-2026 Western Bulldogs 59 53 41 52 29
90 Ben McKay 2017-2026 Essendon 116 53 41 58 30
91 Koltyn Tholstrup 2024-2026 Melbourne 33 52 41 53 37
92 Max Michalanney 2023-2026 Adelaide 83 52 41 56 35
93 Ryan Angwin 2023-2026 Greater Western Sydney 41 52 41 53 37
94 Dane Rampe 2013-2026 Sydney 280 52 41 74 40
95 Anthony Caminiti 2023-2026 St Kilda 69 52 41 49 32
96 Matthew Cottrell 2020-2026 Carlton 78 52 41 50 36
97 Jeremy Sharp 2020-2026 Fremantle 58 51 41 52 37
98 Ben Ainsworth 2017-2026 Carlton 174 51 40 57 41
99 James Trezise 2023-2026 Richmond 33 51 40 52 35
100 Joel Hamling 2015-2026 Sydney 109 51 40 63 32

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. Positional KICK applies role-aware weight multipliers (intercept marks ×5 for defenders, marks-inside-50 ×2.5 for forwards, hit-outs ×1.4 for rucks) plus a per-position percentile rescale on top of the base formula, so "elite at this position" reads similarly across all four buckets. Every multiplier and anchor is on the positional methodology page — the point isn't "no guesswork", it's transparent guesswork.

Read the validation story →