From the most porous to the AFL's equivalent of Fort Knox, ahead of the bounce of the ball on Thursday night, we've ranked the league's best backlines.
We've already seen the back sixes that forwards across the competition dine out on. We've also seen the units that are making strides towards greatness. Now, we present the backlines that are primed to push for premiership success, the Crรจme de la crรจme, if you will.
RELATED: Every AFL club's backline ranked: Part I
SEE ALSO: Every AFL club's backline ranked: Part II
These are the teams with premiership-level defences, units with essentially no holes when healthy. Their key men can stop most opposing threats and their medium-small backs can prevent chaos and hit targets.
Many of these teams also benefit from a deep overall list and plenty of capable midfielders finding a role through the half-back line.
A couple of the sides may appear to suffer from a lack of star power, but the structure and organisation of the gameplan allow their role-players to utilise their strengths to the maximum; see Robbie Fox for Sydney or Jake Kolodjashnij for Geelong.
These are the elite backlines entering the 2023 AFL season, the teams ranked 6-1.
4. 4. Collingwood
The cleanliness and ability to handle chaos make Collingwood one of the most attractive teams to watch in the AFL, and allow their defence to thrive while launching scary fast attacks through the middle of the ground.
Darcy Moore is the perfect focal point in this back six with his aerial dominance one on one and ability to keep his feet and control the game at ground level.
By his side, Jeremy Howe and Brayden Maynard make up a contender for the best medium-sized defender duo in the competition.
The former is now 32 but will still require a strong challenger to replace him at back-pocket, hopefully, he can still dazzle the audience with some big-time hangers in 2023.
The latter, Brayden Maynard continues to bleed black & white, setting the competitive standard for his teammates to follow while shutting down opposing bigs or smalls and winning the ball himself.
Billy Frampton may be tasked with the secondary key-defender role after a positive preseason at his new club, his value is a wait in progress but we know that Nathan Murphy can easily step in if required.
At ground level, Nick Daicos will likely return to the half-back flank to start the year and provide elite ball use and decision-making out of defensive 50 until his time as a full-time mid arises.
After a stunning first season, Daicos will have the eyes of every footy fan out there in 2023, with some notable figures touting him to become the next Scott Pendlebury or better.
Speaking of, the former captain himself will also enjoy winning the footy through the backline as he gets a midfield chop out from recruit Tom Mitchellย and Jack Crisp, who will continue to play a predominant midfield role after his time in the Magpies' rearguard.
Perhaps the other starting back flanker with Daicos, Isaac Quaynor provides similar ball use with a better defensive presence and a dashing goal-kicking threat. Entering the season at 23 years old, Quaynor could be in for a breakout year as he reaches the 60+ game mark.
