We've reached the third and final instalment of our AFL midfield rankings ahead of Round 1, with the top six midfield groups revealed to round out our rankings.
Here we identify the best midfield packs from 6th to 1st heading into the 2023 season following the first two parts of our rankings series.
SEE: PART I AND PART II OF OUR MIDFIELD RANKINGS
1. Melbourne
The Demons are home to two of the competition's five best midfielders and have been for the past three years.
Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca form a midfield partnership that is unmatched in the AFL, with the former's past two seasons perhaps unlucky to not warrant a Brownlow Medal, having polled 56 votes in that period.
Petracca has 67 votes to his name since the start of the 2020 season, but with a Norm Smith Medal to his name the Demons bull is sure to have no complaints.
The damaging duo headline a midfield group that has layers and layers of versatile and impactful talent, with hard-nosed onballer Jack Viney the third prong at centre bounces.
Viney has been a constant servant for Simon Goodwin across their dominant spree of recent seasons, often putting his head over the ball to give his teammates first use of the footy.
Working closely with Viney, young midfielder Tom Sparrow is seen as a prospect that could step into a leading role within the Demons' midfield contingent as he continues to cut his teeth at AFL level.
While destructive on the inside, plenty of Melbourne's midfield firepower comes from the wings, with Ed Langdon emerging as one of the premier outside midfielders last season.
He'll gain support from Bulldogs-turned-Demon Lachie Hunter this year, while James Jordon is a valuable third option for the wing spot.
Angus Brayshaw looks likely to continue a role through the backline after a successful positional switch, but the rebounding Demon could find himself up on the wing or in the middle if push comes to shove.
Melbourne will have James Harmes to call on should that be the case, while gun small forward Kysaiah Pickett is in the mix for more action in midfield.
The Demons' string of stars won't stop with just their roving ranks either, with the two greatest ruckmen of the past decade teaming up ahead of the 2023 season.
Max Gawn, having lost Luke Jackson to Fremantle, has found a new ruck partner in Brodie Grundy, with the duo coming together after rivalling one another as the premier rucks of the AFL.
How the combination will work remains to be seen, but the Demons have managed to plug the void should one of their All-Australian talls require a reinforcement.
