They say the wolf on the hill is never as hungry as the wolf climbing it, but the way Harris Andrews has started his 2025 season indicates that after years of being hailed as the best big defender in the league, he is a long way from ceding that place to Sam Taylor.
Not without a fight. You don’t get to the top of the hill by not knowing how to fight.
But Taylor is climbing. There can be no doubt, he is steadily climbing.
The real question is, can he knock Andrews off the top of the hill?
Whilst fans of Jeremy McGovern would argue to the contrary, there is a widespread belief that Andrews and Taylor are numbers 1 and 1A in the AFL’s defensive pecking order.
Andrews has been operating at a high level for years, and with two All-Australian selections to his name, is probably a victim of his own lofty standards. Several players have been rewarded for one good season that have not quite measured up to the consistent brilliance of the Brisbane defender. Nowadays, recording 12 intercepts or 12 one-percenters in a game is expected for the big Lion, whilst the same result from a lesser light of the league receives rave reviews.
However, Taylor is now at the point where he is falling into the same basket. When you watch the GWS star defender play, the comparisons to the Brisbane co-captain are unavoidable. In many ways, it is like hitting rewind, switching jumpers and seeing a younger version of Andrews attack the contest in a GWS guernsey.
Both don’t just breakeven in contests – they destroy them.
Both have the ability to control the game from their position in the defensive fifty.
Both are capable of closing down the best forwards in the game.
And both make those around them better players, often making the save after they zone off their own opponent, and crash the pack.
If you were selecting two defenders to build a premiership team around right now, they’d both be right at the top of the list.
But only one has been in that position, away from hypotheticals. And such was his influence, that in the 2023 Grand Final, Collingwood chose to play a defensive forward on him to limit his dominance.
Fast forward 12 months, and it was Andrews, captaining his team alongside Lachie Neale, raising the premiership cup.
This is the last level Sam Taylor needs to reach to match Andrews. He needs a flag – yes, his club has been on the cusp for the better part of a decade, but he also requires that same level of fear from the opposition. He needs to become the man that coaches have to actively plan around in order to achieve.
Can he get there in 2025?
Taylor has just the one All-Australian selection to his name – back in 2022. However, since then, Taylor has been a victim of injury, and at times, his own recklessness in attacking the footy. On his day, he is absolutely in the same class as Andrews, but in both 2023 and 2024, he was unable to play 20+ games. No matter how well you play, making the AA team with just 15-16 home and away games is borderline impossible.
This is where Andrews has been so good. As it stands, the big Lion has two and a half years on Taylor, but his durability has been incredible. The crap Covid-season of 2020 aside, Andrews not played less than 17 games in a season, with 99 games coming across 2021-2024. In comparison, Taylor has 78 games over that period. It makes a big difference.
The matter of All-Australian selection may end up being a sore point for Andrews when the matter of his legacy is discussed. It is not often a player of his stature would enter the final years of his prime (I expect he has three years remaining at his best) with just two selections, but 2022 was the last time he made the team. This, despite picking up our own Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2023. He was clearly, in my view, the best key defender in the game that season, but the selectors opted for Cal Wilkie. A very good player, but not in Andrews’ league.
Not then
Not now.
The only player legitimately capable of having the same impact on a game as Andrews is Taylor. And the great thing about his position, is that he has a running mate that is almost as important as he is.
Whilst Andrews has been forced to work with a bit of a revolving door of defensive partners (Darcy Gardiner, Josh Walker, Marcus Adams, and now Jack Payne), Taylor has the luxury of having a dependable second in charge alongside him, in Jack Buckley.
Buckley’s presence may be pivotal in permitting Taylor the freedom he needs to not only claim a second AA blazer, but to reach that consistent Harris Andrews-level. He might be the part of the pack that pushed Taylor to the top of the hill.
As part of our Defensive Player of the Year column, I chart the games where a player records 10+ one-percenters, and 10+ intercepts in a game – the Defensive Double-Double.
Alex Rance is the all-time leader, with 19. Andrews is second, with 17. Sam Taylor has equalled Jeremy McGovern with 12.
Life in the AFL is cyclical for great players. The debut, the rise, the peak, the decline.
Andrews is now at his peak.
Is Taylor? Or is his star still on the rise?
Does 2025 see a new wolf sit atop the hill, or has the big man from Brisbane not finished with his time as the number one big man in the AFL?
If you were picking one to build a defence around to make an assault on the 2025 Flag, who would you choose?
The question might end up being more important than you think.
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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