Former AFL star Brendon Goddard has taken to the Herald Sun to rank each AFL side's defensive stocks from best to worst, with reigning premiers Richmond taking the honours in spite of losing star fullback Alex Rance in the opening encounter.
The 300-gamer claims that the Tigers possess "everything you want in a defence" as the likes of Dylan Grimes, Bachar Houli and Nick Vlastuin starred through their victorious campaign, with Rance's return next season following ACL surgery set to be equal to "the biggest recruit of 2020".
Fremantle and the Gold Coast Suns were analysed with less bullish results, as he finds that "there are some holes" in the Dockers' defensive roster following a tough year on the injury front while the Suns were ranked bottom having conceded more than 100 points per game on average in 2019.
The top four backlines in Goddard's list belong to the Tigers, Cats, Eagles and Magpies.
Brendon Goddard ranks AFL defences 1-18