Essendon champion Tim Watson and former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon have selected their top midfielders of 2019 during their SEN Breakfast show.

The pair struggled to come to a consensus All-Australian midfield, with both agreeing that statistics don't tell the whole story.

โ€œTheyโ€™ll all have 30 possessions,โ€ Lyon said onย SEN Breakfast.

โ€œI want to know what they do with them.

โ€œItโ€™s a hard thing because as a midfielder, youโ€™ve got to go back and support in the back half as well.

โ€œThereโ€™s no definitive template to say if you tick all these boxes, you will be an All-Australian midfielder,โ€ Lyon said.

Watson said he chose players who can impact the game in a variety of ways instead of just pure accumulators.

โ€œSome of these guys influence a game more than others that may have the stats,โ€ he said.

Watson's top six midfielders of 2019 (in no order)

Patrick Dangerfield
Nat Fyfe
Patrick Cripps
Lachie Neale
Marcus Bontempelli
Tim Kelly.

Lyon could only lock in three names: Neale, Bontempelli and Cripps.

The All-Australian team will be announced at the end of the home-and-away season and selectors will have a hard task separating the league's top midfielders.