There isn't much that's glamorous about the backline in the round 14 Team of the Week, but several players came in for much-deserved recognition.
Let's start with Tom Clurey. The Port Adelaide key defender was sensational in keeping Geelong powerhouse Tom Hawkins to five disposals and no goals.
That's the first time he's gone goalless since round four last season, in a win over St Kilda. He'd come in having booted bags of four in five straight games.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin perfectly summed up Sam Frost when speaking about the athletic tall.
"We call it, (what) he turns our ball movement into, 'Frost-ball'. No-one knows what's happening, but neither does the opposition," Goodwin said.
Demons fans would be nodding their heads, and despite some early errors from Frost, he was excellent in the win over Fremantle.
At Collingwood, Jack Crisp was supposedly the 'steak knives' in the original Dayne Beams trade. Forget that. He's a jet.
The same applies to Caleb Daniel, a player many thought was too short to make it at the elite level.
Is Brad Sheppard still underrated? If he is, Orazio Fantasia would like a word.
Crisp and Daniel both racked up the football as their sides engaged in a tight tussle. Clurey was instrumental in Port beating ladder leaders Geelong. Sheppard had to be picked after putting the clamps on Fantasia while being involved offensively. Cale Hooker was one of few Bombers to perform against West Coast. Frost starred in a stirring victory over the Dockers.
Bradley Hill was outstanding early for Fremantle, but Clayton Oliver's efforts in the last quarter helped drag the Demons over the line. Nathan Buckley might have been the only person who didn't have Brodie Grundy as best afield against the Dogs. Dom Sheed continued his ball-winning ways, Luke Parker is in a rich vein of form and Ricky Henderson, as has stunningly become standard, starred, as Hawthorn lost to Sydney.
Oliver was instrumental but Tom McDonald was similarly huge late for the Dees. Lance Franklin didn't get the chance to feature in the fourth quarter, having suffered a left hamstring injury, but did enough before that to warrant selection. Charlie Cameron was unreal for Brisbane while Dayne Zorko lit it up as the Lions pulled away from St Kilda in the third term. Freo might be losing its tall forwards, with Jesse Hogan the latest to be sidelined, but Brandon Matera continued his excellent campaign to fill the void. After an underwhelming start to 2019, Robbie Gray has hit his straps.
