Here at The Mongrel, we have a flair for the extravagant. Soon, we will publish our fifth annual forwards awards – The Pluggies, for the best offensive efforts of the season, but far from being entirely swayed by those who kick bags of goals, we’re looking to be an equal-opportunity award giver.
Then, we’ll move onto the Swannies – awards designed specifically for the midfielders… as if they don’t receive enough already, right?
But first, we’re looking at the defenders.
Not to step on the toes of the late Danny Frawley’s Golden Fist Award, we’d like to drill down a bit further, into the ins and outs of being a defender in the modern game. It’s now so much more than just beating your man, and there are stats to track how well a defender performs.
How many one-percenters is a player notching? How many times are they the one that exits defensive 50? What about the interceptors? Or the guys gaining valuable metres for their teams?
We’ll be drilling down into each category to come up with the winners in each distinct category, but what should we call these awards? Something that does the prestigious awards justice…
The Alex Rance Awards? Settle down, Tiger-haters… I wouldn’t name it after someone who has so recently departed the game.
The Matty Scarlett Awards? The Dustin Fletchers? The Prestis? The Denchies?
The Bruce Doull Awards?
Ahhhh, now we’re getting somewhere. In honour of the Flying Doormat, maybe we could shorten the name. It’s not the Oscars, not the Logies, and it certainly fits right in with the Pluggies.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the 2022 Doullies.
THE BRUCE DOULL AWARD for the best overall defensive performance.
And the nominees are…
Tom Stewart
James Sicily
Harris Andrews
Luke Ryan
Sam Taylor
Nick Blakey
AND THE WINNER IS… HARRIS ANDREWS
Can you believe this bloke didn’t make the All-Australian team this season? I reckon the selectors have just become used to seeing Harris Andrews play at such a high level that they took it for granted.
He was the number one man for one-percenters and slotted in at fifth for intercepts as he anchored a Brisbane defence that was supposed to be its Achilles Heel this year.
And when push came to shove, only one bloke was tagged in the Grand Final. The big Lion, Harris Andrews.
He is the best big defender in the game, and it is an atrocious oversight that his name was not read out as part of the AA team.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Dylan Grimes
2020 – Luke Ryan
2021 – Jacob Weitering
2022 – James Sicily
THE “DENNIS RODMAN I CAN’T REALLY SCORE BUT BY GOD, I CAN REBOUND” AWARD for the best Rebound 50 performance
And the nominees are…
Tom Stewart
Luke Ryan
Steven May
James Sicily
AND THE WINNER IS… LUKE RYAN
After handing over to Jordan Dawson last season, Luke Ryan was back in business, becoming just the second man to secure three of the same awards in Douliie history. It’s a pretty storied history, damn it… let’s make a big deal out of it.
Whilst he had some pretty stiff competition, Ryan has been a pillar of strength for Freo for years, now, and he doesn’t look like slowing down. Third in the Dockers’ Best and Fairest this year, Ryan plays the unique role of being an elite rebounder AND a fantastic one-on-one defender. Believe me, there are only a handful of defenders that can do both at a high level.
Tom Stewart may be justified in feeling a little hard done by, as he had another brilliant year, but Luke Ryan remains the R50 king and will be looking to go four from five in 2024.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Dylan Grimes
2020 – Luke Ryan
2021 – Luke Ryan
2022 – Jordan Dawson
THE FORMER DYLAN GRIMES AWARD – Best performance by a defender in a supporting role
Right, before I get you all complaining, to qualify for this award I can’t have a player ranked as a top two defender at a club. If there is a CLEAR two players thought of as better, then you’re in with a show.
On with the nominees…
MItch Hinge
Conor Idun
Ed Richards
Isaac Quaynor
AND THE WINNER IS… MITCH HINGE
I’m not sure people realise how much was riding on Mitch Hinge becoming a reliable half-back flank at the Crows. However, if you were paying attention, you would have seen a bloke named Jordan Dawson working in the middle of the park.
Without Hinge excelling in the role afforded him, Dawson likely does not get that opportunity.
Watching Hinge go from being a borderline best-22 player to an integral part of the Adelaide line up was a joy in 2023, and the longer the season progressed, the better he seemed to get. Over the last ten games of the year, Hinge averaged 23.2 disposals, 9.4 intercepts, and 6.6 R50s. Those are elite numbers.
If he’d done that over the course of the season, he’d be third in intercepts, and sixth in Rebound 50s in the league. We see what is possible with him. I reckon Crows supporters do, as well.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Brad Sheppard
2020 – Trent McKenzie
2021 – Isaac Cumming
2022 – Harry Himmelberg
THE FORREST GUMP “AND I JUST KEPT RUNNING” AWARD for the most meaningful metres gained
And the nominees are…
Luke Ryan
Jayden Short
Tom Stewart
Jordan Dawson
Brodie Smith
AND THE WINNER IS… BRODIE SMITH
The Jayden Short stranglehold has been broken, but he was right around the mark again this year.
Alas, it is the year of Brodie Smith, who gave the Crows enormous drive from half-back as his hard running and long kicking set opposition defenders into a panic.
Whilst there is a strong argument that Short should have been named for a fourth time (he had more inside 50s, metres gained, and score involvements than Smith), I dug the way Smith pushed back hard into defence to assist his teammates. That’s what put him over the top for me.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Daniel Rich
2020 – Jayden Short
2021 – Jayden Short
2022 – Jayden Short
THE RODNEY DANGERFIELD “NO RESPECT” AWARD for the player consistently playing great defensive footy and getting very little credit.
Before I begin – to qualify, you must have NEVER been an All-Australian.
And the nominees are
Nic Newman
Jacob Weitering
Nick Blakey
Jack Buckley
AND THE WINNER IS – JACOB WEITERING
Is there a more unsung player in the game than Jacob Weitering?
Maybe Nick Vlastuin?
There isn’t too many that would d their job as effectively as Weitering does his and get such little external credit for it.
He was our 2021 Defensive Player of the Year and he continues to do the job for the Blues each and every week with no fuss.
To illustrate how good he was this season, he punctuated his 2023 season with a rare Defensive Triple-Double against the Lions in the prelim. He had 11 Rebound 50s, 10 one-percenters, and 10 intercepts, to become just the sixth man to ever record that stat-line, and the first to ever do it in finals.
Time to put some respect on the man’s name – he is compiling a brilliant career.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Robbie Tarrant
2020 – Steven May
2021 – Harrison Petty
2022 – Tom Barrass
THE IVAN DRAGO “YOU DON’T WANNA BE ON THE END OF ONE OF THOSE FISTS” AWARD for contest killing
And the nominees are…
Sam Collins
Harris Andrews
Darcy Moore
Jack Buckley
Tom McCartin
AND THE WINNER IS… HARRIS ANDREWS
I’ve already sung the praises of Harris Andrews, above, but given this is a specified area of excellence, we can drill down a little.
Andrews owned the air in 2023. If there was a ball coming inside the Lions’ defensive fifty and it had just a little too much carry on it, Andrews would kill it.
That’s it – end of story.
He had double figures in one-percenters in 16 of his 26 games in 2023, including a streak of nine-straight games to end the season.
Andrews may have started out a little slowly when it came to destroying contests – he was averaging 8.6 one-percenters per game after Round Seven, but from that point n, he was all business.
As a comparison, the next best spoiler in the game, Jack Buckley, had ten or more one-percenters in a game n ten occasions. Andrews had him covered by a fairly decent margin
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Harris Andrews
2020 – Liam Jones
2021 – Harris Andrews
2022 – Lewis Young
THE “YOU CERTAINLY DON’T LOOK OLD ENOUGH BUT I’LL TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT” AWARD for the best young defender in the game.
Must be 22 years of age or younger.
And the nominees are
Miles Bergman
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera
Max Michalanney
Mac Andrew
Darcy Wilmot
Harry Sheezel
Lachie Ash
Hayden Young
Dylan Williams
Sam De Koning
AND THE WINNER IS… HARRY SHEEZEL
We’ve had some good players come through in defence in recent years, but the season Harry Sheezel just put together at Arden Street was something special.
He was touted as a mid/forward prior to the draft, but he looked like such a natural off half-back. He turned 19 just a couple of weeks ago, but with 27 disposals per game, he looked like a veteran out there.
What Alastair Clarkson does with him going forward remains to be seen, but in terms of easing him into the game and allowing him t grow and develop, Sheezel was given every opportunity to go at his own pace this season. It just so happens that his pace is pretty bloody quick.
He’ll be a star for the next 10-12 years/
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Not awarded
2020 – Noah Balta
2021 – Tom McCartin
2022 – Sam De Koning
THE DUSTIN FLETCHER “SNEAK FORWARD AND HURT THEM ON THE SCOREBOARD” AWARD
AND THE WINNER IS – HARRY HIMMELBERG
RUNNER UP – DAN HOUSTON
The fifth winner in as many years, this is a role that players find difficult to sustain, and that would be because coaches see exactly what we see, and it pisses them right off.
When you have a forward that refuses to follow his man down the ground, and that man is able to punch through a goal, I don’t know how coaches deal with it. Seriously, I’d go close to killing a forward if his defender was providing more offence than he was.
Himmelberg has long been a versatile player, but his 12 goals whilst playing primarily as a defender was another step in the right direction for both him and the Giants.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Jed Bews
2020 – Heath Shaw
2021 – Zach Tuohy
2022 – Daniel Rioli
THE KOBE BRYANT “GOING OUT WITH A BANG” AWARD for best performance in his last game
And hey, this award was created before his death, so it is in reference to his 60-point final game… not the fact he died in helicopter accident. Important to note that. I’m a bum, but not a completely classless bum.
AND THE WINNER IS – SHANNON HURN
It was fitting that the former captain returned for one last game as he said goodbye to the team he has done so much for over the years.
Hurn is a warrior – a champion of the game and and a premiership captain. He really should have been named as All-Australian captain in 2018, as well, but the ass-kissing of Lance Franklin had commenced by that stage and despite being the most qualified to be named captain of the team of the year, he wasn’t.
And I won’t let it go.
Hurn had 22 touches in the final round of the year, and hit the mark with 21 of them, as he once again displayed why his kicking was such a potent weapon for so long.
Rest those tree-trunks you call legs, Bunga. You’ve earned it.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Luke Hodge
2020 – Harry Taylor
2021 – David Astbury
2022 – Michael Hurley
THE LEO BARRY “COMING UP BIG WHEN IT COUNTS” AWARD for the best defensive performance of the finals
AND THE WINNER IS – KEIDEAN COLEMAN
We were a half of footy away from it being Keidean Coleman’s September to remember, but after a blistering first half in the Grand Final, things changed abruptly, with the half-back runner restricted to just four touches after the main break.
Still, Coleman was the player to put his defensive stamp on the 2023 finals series, and but for one kick, we may have been singing his praises as one of the most important pieces of any defence in the league.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2019 – Bachar Houli
2020 – Lachie Henderson
2021 – Christian Salem
2022 – Jack Henry
And there we go; our fifth instalment of ‘The Doullies’.
Hopefully, it is taken in the tone it is intended, but you just can never tell with some people… they get so fired up.
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