The midfield is arguably the most important positional group in footy, as they're tasked with being present at most contests and all stoppages while serving as the link between their defence and offence.
Without a strong ensemble of onballers, teams are destined to fall apart as middling play in this area results in catastrophic consequences to the outcome of a contest on a given day.
Not all midfields are alike, as some prioritise a physical ball-winning style, while others emphasise a run-and-gun outside game, while there are sides that prefer a healthy balance of the two.
Each club has its own formula for constructing the ideal midfield but every side's engine room can perform at the highest level.
With this in mind, let's have a look at the league's best midfield groups heading into 2022, starting from 18-13.
2. (17) Collingwood
Collingwood's engine room is currently made up of unproven commodities, rotating players from their half-forward/back lines and Taylor Adams.
The Pies midfield isn't the juggernaut it was several years ago but does have the assets to once again boast an elite on-balling group pending the development of their current crop (apparently this Nick Daicos bloke is a star).
Given the pedigree of established talent tasked with rolling through the middle (Patrick Lipinski, Jack Crisp, Brayden Maynard, Jamie Elliot and Jordan De Goey), in conjunction with Craig McRae's new gameplan revamping their decade-old system, Collingwood has tremendous upside moving into 2022 and beyond.
Despite this constant sprinkling of veterans in the centre, Collingwood's midfield remains very average as they need to pump games into their assortment of recent draftees, given they need to stamp their experience card at the AFL level before any serious progressions can be made.
Similar to Hawthorn, the Magpies were ranked first in uncontested possessions per game but 18th for inside 50s, which highlights their inability to effectively transition the ball forward. Compounding these areas of concern was that they also ranked 17th in total clearances, which is extremely worrying since they boast one of the league's premier ruckmen in Brodie Grundy.
Ruck
Hitouts
Marks
Disposals
The Pies may rank higher on this list in a year from now but it's difficult to currently place them above any side that has their best midfield set in stone.
