THERE'S a real art to delivering the ball inside 50.

Some players can put it at the right height, others can get the ball across their bodies perfectly, but what makes one footballer stand above all others in nailing the last kick in the chain?

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Darren Jarman was the only player that had the Sherrin "magnetised" to where key forwards wanted the ball, according to Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd.

Lloyd had brilliant delivery over his career from some all-time greats in Mark Mecuri and James Hird, but said the triple AFL premiership winner was on another level.

"As good as all my Essendon teammates were, if I could have one player kicking the ball to me from any team over any era I would have Darren Jarman kicking the ball to me," Lloyd said in AFL.com.au's series Lloydy's List.

Lloyd would attend Hawthorn matches with his best friend growing up and recalls being mesmerised at what Jarman could do on the field.

"It wasn't at his toes, it was just at the perfect height where you could get it there," he explained.

"The full-back could try as hard as they could to punch but they just couldn't get to the ball because Jarman had weighted it out in front.

"Often he was running that way and could swing the ball that way – it was like he had the ball magnetised with how he could deliver it to the key forwards."

Michael Long was Lloyd's favourite teammate at Essendon when it came to that last kick into the forward line, but the 1993 Norm Smith medallist only cracked third spot on the list.

Who else made the top five? You'll have to watch the full episode of Lloydy's List to find out.