I’m hopeful that history does not repeat itself.
Two years ago, I finished crunching the final numbers and proudly crowned Harris Andrews our 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. As we commenced the award in 2020, we missed a window where Andrews may have already had one or two of these honours under his belt.
Using a formula that not only looks at the stats, but also the impact of a defender’s direct opponent, and the impressions of the coaches on how that player has performed, Andrews was a clear winner on every front – hell, they don’t put forward tags on anyone in Grand Finals, right?
And yet, when the All-Australian team was named in season 2023, Andrews’ name was missing.
It was one of the great injustices of the season, and continued to tarnish the reputation of the AFL’s annual team of the year.
Back to the current day, 2025 may just right that wrong.
It is, once again, with tremendous pride that I can state that Harris Andrews is our 2025 Defensive Player of the Year.
He is the first man to do this twice, and continues to cement himself as one of the greatest big defenders of his generation.
Andrews was ranked first in one-percenters by a country mile. His 201 for the home and away season was 34 ahead of Darcy Moore. He also ranked fourth in the league for intercepts, as well.
Whilst the Adelaide pair of Mark Keane and Josh Worrell have cut defences off at the knees all season, Andrews was one of only two players to be able to double-up and have his name in the one-percenters category, as well. The other was Keane, who came home with a wet sail to finish seventh.
In addition, Andrews recorded three Defensive Double-Doubles this season, finally overtaking Alex Rance as the player with the most games with two of either 10+ one percenters, 10+ intercepts, or 10+ rebound 50s in the same game.
He has now achieved this feat twenty times over the course of his career, and looks set to establish a mark that will be very difficult to topple (a full table of the players to achieve this is listed in the body of the regular DPOY format for Inner Circle members, below)
It was an incredible year for Andrews, who has continued to hold the Brisbane defence together, despite continued challenges.
At the time he went down injured, Jack Payne was also ranked in our top ten defenders for the year. He had done so much heavy lifting for the Lions through the first half of the season that I was genuinely worried when he was ruled out for the year.
On any other team, losing a player like Payne, given the responsibility he undertook, would be close to spelling the end of their premiership chances.
Not Brisbane.
They had a man known as The Chief’ patrolling the back 50, and with Andrews controlling the movements of his defenders, the Lions were in good hands.
Of course, you won’t get the opportunity to watch this again until the first week of finals, but amid all the excitement and speed on the game in September, cast your eye into defence when the opposition has the footy against the Lions. It is there that you will see the additional value of Andrews, as he organises his troops to repel the next attack. He is consistently talking, pointing, directing. He also celebrates a teammate’s spoil as though they have just kicked a goal, and that unbridled enthusiasm for the little things in a game of footy has been contagious within the Brisbane defence.
Lots of little things amount to something big.
I had to laugh the other day when, amongst the comments on an article I wrote, someone chimed in with the observation that Harris Andrews doesn’t play on anyone.
… yep. That was their argument. That old chesnut.
Clearly unaware of how modern defences are structured to allow the best defender the opportunity to impact as many contests as possible, this fella believed that Andrews should just play on one man, and leave his fellow defenders to fend for themselves.
What a narrow view of football in 2025.
Harris Andrews is the commander in chief of the Brisbane defence. He has capable lieutenants in Dayne Zorko, Darcy Wilmot, Ryan Lester, and Brandon Starcevich, but without him, the Lions would be overrun. The line would break.
He holds everything together.
The Lions have pulled together over the second half of the year, earning the double chance and doing it with the old firm of talls in defence. Andrews leads Ryan Lester and Darcy Gardiner, whilst Brandon Starcevich can play small or tall depending on need.
When I look across the league at the best defenders, I often wonder how they’d fare without their number one man in the team.
How would Carlton travel without Jacob Weitering?
How would GWS fare without Sam Taylor?
What about the Saints without Cal Wilkie?
Would they get by, or would they leak goals?
When I look at Brisbane and ask that question of the reigning premiers, I find myself gravitating toward the latter. Harris Andrews is the player the Brisbane defence revolves around. He stands head and shoulders above other defenders because he not only accepts the responsibility of leading his defence, he openly embraces it.
Without him, I am not sure the Lions have the double chance. I am not sure they’re the reigning premiers, either.
And it is with that in mind that I make the argument that he is not only the 2025 Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year, but a genuine contender to be named the 2025 AFL Most Valuable Player.
Of course, we all know that won’t happen. Midfielders own those awards, and that is unlikely to change, but if you’re looking at impact, and not just pretty numbers, your eyes should, at the very least, rest on the form of Harris Andrews in 2025.
He is the best the league has to offer in terms of big defenders, and it is with great pride that I announce him as the 2025 Mongrel Punt Defensive Player of the Year.
Here’s to a couple more.
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 six 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
2024 – SAM COLLINS/LACHIE WHITFIELD (TIED)
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, Weitering, and Collins winning the award.
That said, the man who shared the award with Collins in 2024, Lachie Whitfield, proved that there is definitely scope for a running, rebounding defender to take the award home, too. We are as close to an equal-opportunity DPOY award as you’ll find.
Yep, that’s it for non Inner-Circle members. Sorry people – see below.
Now, I know some of you will ask – I am a member; why can’t I see this? This is for the Inner Circle Member tier – always has been. This is what these people generously pay a bit extra for, so I am more than happy to dive deep for them when it comes to this content. If you’re a Mongrel Member and you’d like to upgrade, go right ahead. If not, that’s cool, as well. But this is not a new thing – has been that way for over four years now. Wanna join?
