Ah yes… the annual “best defenders of the last however-many years” article. Should be easy to put together. I’ll just grab my notes from last year and…
… maybe I saved them on the old computer?
No? Maybe in that notebook I was using at the time? You know, the one I… threw out when we moved house.
Well, maybe I’ll just start from scratch again, because I am evidently an idiot.
You’ll be pleased to know that this time, I am saving the formula on a hard drive, on the CPU I’m working on, and in google sheets so as not to be in the same predicament this time next year. That’ll work, surely.
For the past five seasons, we’ve been compiling the best defenders in the league as part of our annual Defensive Player of the Year Award.
The annual winners are as follows
2020 – Luke Ryan
2021 – Jacob Weitering
2022 – James Sicily
2023 – Harris Andrews
2024 – Sam Collins/Lachie Whitfield
It got me to thinking… who were the best-performed defenders over that entire period? Who would you back if I asked you right now?
Is it the consistent, unobtrusive defence of the Blues’ Weitering? Is it the intercepting and rebounding of Luke Ryan in Freo? Or is the contest-killing exploits of Harris Andrews enough to carry him to be the number one defender of the past four years?
Or perhaps it could be one of the blokes who haven’t taken home a DPOY Award thus far? Tom Stewart has been incredibly consistent, Sam Taylor has emerged as a wonderful key position player, and new players are constantly making an impact.
I am writing this section before crunching the numbers, so it’ll be a surprise for both of us. Let’s jump in.
Oh, what the hell? A Mongrel paywall? Yep, I believe my work is worth twenty cents per day. If you don’t, that’s fine. Standalone articles, off-season news, into season previews and pre-season game reviews, before we hit the 2024 season are all part of Mongrel Membership. You’re welcome to join or rejoin for those who jumped off after the season ended and now think it wasn’t such a great idea.
