AFL Position Ranks: Essendon have 14th best midfield in the competition

The Bombers struggled in the engine room last season, with only four teams ranked below them in our midfield rankings. See the full list here.

AFL midfield ranks for 2024

In modern footy, if you don’t have a powerful engine room, it is hard to win.

The midfield is where the game is most often won or lost, so when our team of experts sat down to rank the best onball brigades in the AFL, a bunch of premiership contenders sat near the top of the list.

Facing a make-it-or-break-it year, Melbourne drew top votes from four of our six experts.

But one side that didn’t even make the top eight last year found plenty of love, with the Western Bulldogs earning top marks from two of our voters.

Dogs prime movers Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

There is no doubt, Luke Beveridge faces his own crunch season and the quality in the Dogs midfield remains high, even if it underperformed last year.

All six of our experts ranked their best midfields from 1-18 ahead of the 2024 season, with those ranking then used as points.

For example, Melbourne drew the most votes on 106, made up of four lots of 18 votes and two of 17.

Unsurprisingly, West Coast was handed just one vote by five of our experts after a disastrous 2023 in the midfield.

Check out where every club ranks and have your say.

Originally published as AFL Position Ranks: Essendon have 14th best midfield in the competition