Forwards win memberships and defenders win Premierships, the old adage goes.
The men at the back are not only integral in keeping opposition scores down, they also provide the first line of attack.
In the AFL era, 1990 until the present day, plenty of players have called the defensive fifty home. Many of this aforementioned group have also retired champions of the game, or at least look set to.
With the off-season slowly creeping to a close, we here at Zero Hanger have attempted to create a list of every club's best three defenders that never played together.
However, there are four rules to this exercise.
1. Three players must be selected from each club.
2. Even if they have played for multiple clubs, no player can be selected on the list of two teams.
3. All players must have played at least a portion of their careers from 1990 onwards.
4. As mentioned, no player can have played an in-season match with any of their colleagues.
For example, should Glenn Archer be selected for North Melbourne, then all of his backline buddies between 1992 and 2007 become ineligible.
With that in mind, here is our best stab.
Let us know how we have gone and which clubs you feel have fared best.
North Melbourne
Glenn Archer โ 1992-2007 (311 games)
With his selection foreshadowed, none of you should be surprised to see the Shinboner of the century named in North's defensive trio.
Across his sixteen seasons in blue and white stripes, Archer amassed not only a bevy of honours, but also the respect and fear of some of the game's greatest spearheads.
Of these aforementioned awards, the highlights included two Premiership medallions, three All-Australian nods, a Norm Smith in '96 and a starting position in North Melbourne's star-studded team of the century.
As tough as a chargrilled chuck steak, Archer was the kind of gung-ho competitor you would be happy to share a trench with, much less a backline slot.
His record six Robert Rose Awards for the league's most courageous player are testament to this.
Gavin Urquhart โ 2008-2012 (41 games)
Like multiple other names across this lengthy list, Gavin Urquhart has earnt selection due to the longevity of other names picked.
With his failure to surpass the six-foot mark on the measuring tape, Urquhart was never going to be his coach's first choice to line up on the opposition's gorilla.
Following his sophomore season in which he played 18 games, the Queenslander fell out of favour with the selectors and played just nine more games before ultimately being delisted at the end of 2012.
The highlight of his brief career came in just his ninth game, when he collected 22 possessions and a Rising Star nomination.
Luke McDonald โ 2014-Present (126 games)
As the reigning club Best and Fairest, electing Luke McDonald to round out North Melbourne's trio required little thought.
After being chosen with a top 10 pick in the 2013 Draft, the father-son selection's debut season saw him finish behind only Lewis Taylor and Marcus Bontempelli for the 2014 Rising Star award.
Following this, McDonald's, and his team's, form stagnated. However, after an ameliorated 2020 season as a clingy defender, the formerly bearded Roo was rightfully awarded his first Syd Barker medal.
