As I write this, there are 38 days remaining until the first ball is bounced in the 2025 AFL season.
Where did the off-season go, huh? I had so many plans…
Anyway, as we close in on the opener, some of you may be aware that here at The Mongrel Punt, we’ve been compiling an award for the Defensive Player of the Year over the past five years, and as such, feel we’re quite well-placed to give an indication as to which players we think will be right at the top of the rankings once the rounds start ticking by,
Before I go further, a bit of history.
Below are the top five rankings for each of the last five seasons in our DPOY award, and we use both 2024 form, and historical performances as the guide for our overall seedings.
2024
1 – SAM COLLINS/LACHIE WHITFIELD (TIED)
2 – JEREMY MCGOVERN
3 – DARCY MOORE
4 – NICK BLAKEY
5 – LUKE RYAN
2023
1 – HARRIS ANDREWS
2 – TOM STEWART
3 – DARCY MOORE
4 – LUKE RYAN
5 – JACK SINCLAIR
2022
1 – JAMES SICILY
2 – SAM TAYLOR
3 – TOM STEWART
4 – JACK SINCLAIR
5 – SAM DOCHERTY
2021
1 – JACOB WEITERING
2 – DANIEL RICH
3 – AARON HALL
4 – JAKE LEVER
5 – HARRIS ANDREWS
2020
1 – LUKE RYAN
2 – JAKE LLOYD
3 – HARRIS ANDREWS
4 – STEVEN MAY
5 – LUKE MCDONALD
Now that the history is out of the way, let’s have a look forward to the 2024 season with our seedings.
Last year’s seedings in parentheses
1 – HARRIS ANDREWS (4)
2024 finish – 8
Our 2023 winner has been a colossus in this award, owning three top-five finishes, and five top-ten finishes, overall. Basically, you just pencil him in to be in the running, year-in, and year-out. Plus, he is a regular owner of the most spoils of the round. He is the defensive general of the Brisbane Lions and is one of the very few players to have been allocated a defensive forward to quieten him down… in a Grand Final, of all games.
Now a premiership captain, Andrews can rightly lay claim to being the best key defender of the last five years…
… and yet, he has just two All-Australian selections. Crazy, huh?
He remains the standard by which all others are assessed.
2 – LUKE RYAN (5)
2024 finish – 5
That’s now three top-five finishes for Ryan in our five years of the DPOY Award. This is only bettered by the bloke ranked first overall.
With others in the Freo back six battling assorted injuries, Ryan has remained the constant in defence for the club, able to play a variety of roles, and often taking more responsibility for things than, seemingly, everyone else combined.
Has not missed a game in the past three seasons, which has aided tremendously, as he rarely puts in a bad one.
3 – TOM STEWART (1)
2024 finish – 14
Five All-Australian selections combined with two consecutive top-three finishes in the award indicate that Stewart is one of the best in the game. He has probably been unlucky to this point not to win one, as he has endured both injury and suspension at crucial times, but at times during the past three seasons, he has absolutely been the man to beat.
With the Cats once again in contention, it will be interesting to see whether Stewart continues in the role of half-back, or pushes up into the midfield again to give Geelong more grunt around the footy.
4 – SAM COLLINS (NA)
2024 finish – 1
One of our jont-2024 winners, Collins was the centrepoint of the Gold Coast defence, taking the best forward every week, and more than holding his own.
Despite not making the 2024 seedings (he was 12th), Collins had his second-straight excellent season, and would be being fawned all over if he played at one of the big clubs.
Very unlucky not to be in the AA team in 2024, he is now in the top handful of key backs in the game.
5 – JACOB WEITERING (10)
2024 finish – 22
Our 2021 winner has been a picture of consistency, and finally got league-wide recognition with his maiden All-Australian selection in 2024 (three years too late, if you ask me).
Weitering is like a cyborg in defence – cold, heartless, emotionless… a see ball, kill ball kind of defender that every team screams out for.
He has carried that Carlton defence for years, now
6 – DARCY MOORE
2024 finish – 3
It was a bit of a dirty year for Moore, by his own standards. And yet, here he is as the fourth-seeded player in the DPOY, and he finished the 2024 season ranked in the top five in this very award… makes no sense, right?
Well, it makes a little bit of sense.
Moore was torn between playing his own game, and attempting to compensate for the enormous loss of Nathan Murphy at the club.
Have the Pies actually addressed this hole?
Seriously, it does not seem that they have, which means that a heap of responsibility will likely be on Moore’s shoulders again this season. Will it negatively impact his game, or can the Pies manage to formulate a way to free him up more?
7 – SAM TAYLOR (3)
2024 finish – 29
Oh my… this seems terribly low for the bloke I rate as the second-best key defender in the game.
Here’s my reasoning.
Winning this award requires consistency. The players who are out there every week give themselves the best opportunity to score. Over the past four years, Sam Taylor has been able to play 20+ games just once. That season, he finished second.
If you’re not playing, you’re not scoring.
On his day, he is incredible, but those annual injuries are doing him no good.
8 – JEREMY MCGOVERN (NA)
2024 finish – 2
Gov sent the league a huge reminder in 2024, compiling a renaissance season that demonstrated the old fella has a bit left in the tank.
I fear he is going to need it, with Tom Barrass no longer playing the role of his partner in crime in 2025.
His body held up last season, and I’d love to see that occur again, as when he is playing his best footy, the Eagles are a much more solid team.
9 – LACHIE WHITFIELD (NA)
2024 finish – 1
Dominated off half-back for the Giants, to the point there were times I was screaming out for someone to play a run-with role on him.
It took until the Semi-Final for someone to listen. Bad timing for Lachie.
Regardless, his run and carry drove the counter-attack of the Giants all season, and his ascension to equal top spot in our DPOY award is proof of that.
Does he play the same role this season?
And why is Whitfield lower than Collins despite dual winners in 2024? Because Collins ranked higher in the 2023 standings. You think I just wing this stuff?
10 – JAMES SICILY (2)
2024 finish – 17
Will Sic play defence at all in 2025?
Many are predicting he will head forward to alleviate some of the pressure on the Hawks’ depleted tall stocks.
That is part of the possibly-harsher then required seeding.
Also coming off shoulder surgery, so that’s a worry. Look at me, trying to justify his tenth-seeding.
Why do I need to justify it? Because he is the record holder for the highest recorded DPOY score in a season (2022), that’s why. When he is allowed to play third man up, he owns defensive 50.
SMOKIES
Nick Blakey (2024 rank – 4)
When permitted to play his own game, he is incredibly damaging
Cal Wilkie (2024 rank – 13)
Ultra dependable, and STILL underrated by many
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (2024 rank – 10)
Emerging as a high-quality HBF. Classy ball user
Nic Martin (2024 rank – 12)
Has no issues getting the footy. Will do so again in 2025
Steven May (2024 rank – 15)
Still the pillar that holds the Dees’ defence together.
Dan Houston (2024 rank – 21)
Will be The Man off half-back for the Pies
If I were to pick one player I think will give it a shake this year, I reckon Sam Taylor would provide tremendous value. If he plays every game, he is an easy top-three finisher.
The Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year is a column for our Inner Circle Members. It appears at least once per fortnight, with additional columns relating to the league’s best defenders appearing throughout the season as well.
We will also continue our coverage of Defensive Double-Doubles, and the elusive Defensive Triple-Doubles as part of our Inner Circle coverage in 2024. Hit the link below to join/upgrade
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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