Saturday afternoon, I sat down and did the final calculations to determine our 2024 Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year, and it got me to thinking – what constitutes a great defender in the modern game?
Things have changed dramatically in the last ten years. If I was asking this question back in 2014, the names Alex Rance and Josh Gibson would likely be on your list – key position players. And, in a case of things being then almost exactly as they are now, the names of Jeremy McGovern and Steven May would also factor in.
Again, key defenders.
However, over the last ten years, the rise of the attacking half-back has altered the defensive landscape. It has given rise to the position that commentators largely call the “quarterback” role… and it’s the phrase that makes plenty of you recoil, I know.
Anyway, it is not an entirely recent development. Blokes like Bluey McKenna were doing it for years. Luke Hodge was guiding his team from defence through the Hawthorn glory years, whilst players like Corey Enright and Heath Shaw took great delight in dissecting an opposition as they controlled the footy.
It could very well end up that the best defensive players in the game, or those considered defenders, don’t end up playing a hell of a lot of defence.
The times we live in…
At a glance, you can see it at North Melbourne, as they used Harry Sheezel in the role in 2023, only to move him into the guts and place Colby McKercher across half-back to find his feet in the competition. Karl Amon does it at Hawthorn. And Jake Lloyd cruised to two Bob Skilton Medals playing that role for the Swans. Do these blokes ever lockdown on an opponent?
Do they have to?
And yet, there remains a place for the kill-the-contest-first/ask-questions-later defenders who are more old school than their running counterparts.
In the 2024 Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year Awards, we had two players battling it out at the top over the final fortnight of the season – one, a gorilla-defender, using his bulk and power to out-position opponents and split contests. The other, a finesse-style of player, built for speed and breaking lines.
And so it was at the conclusion of Round 24 that we found our winner.
Two winners, in fact, tied after 25 weeks of footy, both playing a great, but vastly different defensive roles for their respective teams.
This season marks our first ever tie in the award, with Gold Coast’s Sam Collins, and GWS’ Lachie Whitfield locked together at the top of the table after the home and away season.
Collins looked like he’d done enough, but with an inspired final round, Whitfield picked up one coaches’ vote, which was enough to push him into a draw with Collins after all the statistical data had been processed.
However, before we celebrate the co-winners of the award, it is important to look at how the scoring is structured.
The Mongrel Punt DPOY fills a hole in the AFL landscape.
With so much attention lavished on the midfielders and forwards, I found that outside of the All-Australian team, there was no real recognition for the best defenders in the game. It was the same for wingmen, and we now cover those players in our Robbie Flower Wingman of the Year Award.
The Defensive Player of the Year does not have the name of a great player attached to it (yet) but what it does have is five years of data analysing the best defenders in the game, ranking them on a weekly basis, and compiling that data into a leaderboard for each season.
We started this in 2020, with Fremantle’s interceptor/defender making the most of the shortened season to win the inaugural award. This accompanied his initial All-Australian selection, however, since then only none of our DPOY selections have worn the blazer – how they missed out is genuinely concerning when you look at who did make it in those seasons.
Previous winners listed below.
2020 – LUKE RYAN
2021 – JACOB WEITERING
2022 – JAMES SICILY
2023 – HARRIS ANDREWS
How does it work?
Each week, defenders are ranked in a range of categories pertinent to their roles as defenders. These include disposals combined with efficiency, one-percenters, intercepts, rebound 50s, metres gained, tackles, as well as votes from a range of sources.
There is particular focus on the purest of the defensive art – the spoils, and players who excel in that area tend to score consistently throughout the season, as evidenced by Andrews and Weitering winning the award.
That said, before moving into the midfield in 2023, Nick Daicos was the runaway leader, so as that, and this week’s rankings indicate, there is a definite possibility for a running, rebounding defender to take it home.
Now, we can move onto the overall top ten for the season.
EQUAL WINNERS – SAM COLLINS (GOLD COAST) AND LACHIE WHITFIELD (GWS)
3 – JEREMY MCGOVERN (WEST COAST)
4 – DARCY MOORE (COLLINGWOOD)
5 – NICK BLAKEY (SYDNEY)
6 – LUKE RYAN (FREMANTLE)
7 – DAYNE ZORKO (BRISBANE)
8 – BAILEY DALE (WESTERN BULLDOGS)
9 – LIAM JONES (WESTERN BULLDOGS)
10 – NASIAH WANGANEEN-MILERA (ST KILDA)
I was initially worried that this award was going to be dominated by the running half-backs this season. There were just so many of them playing well. Just outside the top ten are Nic Martin and Jordan Clark, and at one state those two were also in the top ten. Things do have a way of working themselves out, however, and by the end of the year, they had fallen away slightly. Clark was probably very unlucky, as he was still posting scores on close to a weekly basis, but they were all low ones. He needed a big week to break back in, but it just never came.
Many criticised Darcy Moore’s year, and I know why, too. He lacked something, didn’t he? The intercepting was there, as was the spoiling, and aside from Sam Collins, he was the only player to rank in the top five in both those categories, but his decision-making was in the toilet this year, and he looked quite uncertain of himself.
Probably the same way he does at bed time.
Okay, no more sleeping arrangement cheap shots… hope he has his nightlight charged.
I have to admit, I was barracking for an old school defender to win it, so I am not disappointed to see Collins finish equal first, but the one I really wanted to win it was Liam Jones at the Dogs. Far out, I love the way this bloke attacks the contest. He is now 33, but was in the top ten in both one-percenters and intercepts this season. Had he not missed a few games, who knows how high he could have climbed?
The same goes for Jeremy McGovern, whose injuries were the result of him being too damn courageous for his own good.
In a game that is being catered toward those who err on the side of self-preservation, Gov put many of them to shame as he stood under the long, high ball, took hits all season, and kept getting back up. I’ll come clean – I was worried he was cooked 18 months ago. It looked like his body just was not going to let him continue playing at the level we’d become accustomed to, but he sure as hell proved me wrong, and his 2024 All-Australian selection was an apt reward for his efforts in a team that was under the pump more often than not.
So, the winners…
Lachie Whitfield made the All-Australian team, and truthfully, it would have been a crime for him to miss out. Leading the league in effective disposals, and was in the top five for uncontested touches, as well as total Rebound 50 disposals.
Earlier this season, I wrote an article focusing on the “orange tsunami” and how it begins. The answer now, is the same as it was before – it begins with Whitfield!
He takes the kick in, chips 25-30 metres, runs to receive a handball and then hits the next kick, as well. Suddenly, the Giants are 80 metres away from their defensive goal square and are looking to start rolling.
Stop Whitfield – stop the tsunami.
Others will state that the Giants have other options – Lachie Ash, Harry Perryman. They’re right, too. But those blokes just are not Whitfield, and if I were coaching against them, I’d want them to prove they could hurt the opposition the way Whitfield does.
And what of Sam Collins?
All season, he has been toiling away in the Suns’ defence and when push came to shove, he was bumped for Jacob Weitering.
I’m putting it out there – Weitering was picked on three years worth of excellent defence. He was banged up, missed a couple of games, and though he is a warrior, has had better seasons than this one.
On the whole, Collins was better.
But Collins plays in a small market team. No wonder players have left to gain more recognition.
As mentioned, Collins was one of two players to finish in the top five in both one-percenters and intercepts for the season. As a matter of fact, he led the competition in intercepts, and was second in intercepts, whilst always taking the opposition’s best forward.
He becomes the fourth player to win this award who did NOT make the All-Australian team in that year. Weitering in 2021, Sicily in 2022, and Andrews in 2023, are the others. If there is good news, it is that all three of those guys now have AA Blazers; maybe one is in the future of Collins, as well.
When I started to put together the formula for this award, what I envisioned was something that would take into account ALL aspects of modern defensive player, and despite my fears that one day, a defender who isn’t actually a great individual defender (like Whitfield) would win it, the concept was meant to reward those who were excelling in the defensive role they were allocated.
I don’t think you could dispute that either of these players have done exactly that in 2024.
Congratulations to Sam Collins and Lachie Whitfield – worthy winners in year five of The Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work throughout the season. It is a labour of love for me, and having you guys as members of the site basically keeps me going, and keeps the site viable. So sincerely… thank you – HB
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