The much anticipated Official AFL Player Ratings, brought to you by Vero, were released by afl.com.au on Thursday.

The Player Ratings are a result of the most sophisticated, detailed and wide-ranging statistical system ever devised for AFL footy, and are designed to see where more than 650 listed players rank against each other.

Final rankings are determined by a complicated points-based formula that is applied to the previous 40 games.

Find out more about how the AFL Player Ratings are determined

Gold Coast Captain Gary Ablett not surprisingly sits atop the current rankings with 746 points, while Sydney’s Josh Kennedy (624) and Geelong skipper Joel Selwood (623) round out the top three.

Daniel Rich has early bragging rights at the Club as the highest placed Lions player ranked at No.27 with a total of 498 points, 39 points clear of Tom Rockliff (459) who sneaks into the Top 50 at No.41.

Jack Redden (No.53 with 449 points), Pearce Hanley (No.75 with 422), Brent Moloney (No.85 with 413 points), and Simon Black (No.88, with 407 points) are the only other Lions to appear inside the Top 100.

Given the ratings are based over a period of time (40 matches), they reward not only consistency of high performance, but also durability.

Brent Staker, for instance, has played in only a handful of the Lions’ past 40 matches due to injury, so is ranked down at No.533 with just 48 points.

Matthew Leuenberger is also probably ranked well below his overall output after missing most of last season with an Achilles strain.

Leuenberger is ranked No.251 overall (274 points), and is just the 17th highest placed ruckman.

Check out the full Brisbane Lions player ratings

Afl.com.au will update the Official AFL Player Ratings each week, so fans can keep tabs on their favourite players’ rankings.

With Rich sidelined for at least another six weeks, it will be interesting to see which, if any, of his teammates can potentially take the crown as the ‘highest rated’ player at the Club.