IT SEEMS as regular as clockwork.
Whenever Geelong needs someone to step up, Joel Selwood wins the next centre clearance and boots an inspirational running goal.
But the Cats' perceived over-reliance on their clearance king is part myth.
The skipper's the main man – especially for big moments - but emerging star Mark Blicavs' work at centre bounces is also crucial to the Cats' scoring power.
Geelong is the No.1 ranked team in the AFL for scoring from centre clearances, converting 28 per cent of the time when they win possession in the middle.
And it's Blicavs who makes the biggest difference (+10 centre clearance differential) when he attends the bounce, according to Champion Data.
Geelong scores nearly one-fifth of its points (17.6 per cent) directly from the middle, only behind Adelaide (17.8), which relies heavily on star combo Sam Jacobs and Patrick Dangerfield.
The Crows are +25 for clearance differential with Jacobs in the ruck directing the ball to his teammates.
If Dangerfield (39 centre clearances) were to head back home and play for the Cats, he could form a near-unstoppable combination with Blicavs (18) and Selwood (44).
Fremantle's giant ruckman Aaron Sandilands' teamwork with superstar Nat Fyfe has propelled the Dockers to the League's best centre clearance differential (+40).
But the Dockers often fail to capitalise, ranked 17th for getting the ball inside 50 and 10th for scoring out of the middle (21.5 per cent).
Carlton has been surprisingly impressive in the middle, ranked second for clearance differential ahead of the Crows and West Coast.
Blues ruckman Cameron Wood is the main man in the centre, with the side winning the ball from the middle most often (+27) when he attends the bounce.
Unsurprisingly, Nic Naitanui (+34 differential) performs the same role for the Eagles.
However, the Blues and Eagles struggle to convert their centre clearances to scores, ranked 12th and 13th in the competition respectively.
Where the Eagles and Dockers stand up, though, is defending opponents' centre clearances. They are the best teams at preventing inside 50s and scores against from the middle.
Freo concedes an inside 50 just over half (52 per cent) of the time it loses possession from the bounce, slightly ahead of West Coast (55).
The Dockers are also the toughest side to score against from the middle – only coughing up a score from 15 per cent of lost clearances – narrowly ahead of their cross-town rivals (17).
And with the AFL's best defences overall, it's little wonder Ross Lyon and Adam Simpson's teams occupy the top-two rungs on the ladder.
