Well, well… look who’s learnt from is mistake from this time last year!
You’ll be pleased to know that this time around, I managed to save the formula and spreadsheet to calculate the top 20 defenders of the last five years on a hard drive, on the CPU I’m working on, and in google sheets so as not to be in the same stupid predicament I was in last year… having to work things out from scratch again.
Well done, me!
For the past six seasons, we’ve been compiling the best defenders in the league as part of our annual Defensive Player of the Year Award.
The annual winners are as follows
2020 – Luke Ryan
2021 – Jacob Weitering
2022 – James Sicily
2023 – Harris Andrews
2024 – Sam Collins/Lachie Whitfield
2025 – Harris Andrews
It got me to thinking… who were the best-performed defenders over that entire period? Who would you back?
But rather than make it six years, which is just dumb, I’ve decided to cap it at five – it gives a great indication as to which players have excelled in a half a decade-span.
Is it the consistent, unobtrusive defence of the Blues’ Weitering? Is it the intercepting and rebounding of Luke Ryan at Freo? Or are the contest-killing exploits of Harris Andrews enough to carry him to be the number one defender of the past five years?
Or perhaps it could be one of the blokes who hasn’t taken home a DPOY Award thus far? Tom Stewart has been incredibly consistent, Sam Taylor has emerged as a wonderful key position player, and new players are constantly making an impact.
I am writing this section before crunching the numbers, so it’ll be a surprise for both of us. Let’s jump in.
Righto, so the formula is simple. So simple that it’s not even a formula. It’s basic addition and yet, I still managed to struggle with it, as outlined above – haha.
Anyway, it is just compiling the total scores from the previous five seasons of our Defensive Player of the Year Award. Cheap, I know… hopefully effective, as well.
For those unaware, the way we award points for the DPOY Award is stats-based, with a mixture of coaches and our own votes thrown into the mix. Of the defensive stats we include, spoiling remains the stat with the highest weighting – it is the most basic principle of defending. We also factor in intercepts, rebounds, metres gained, disposals combined with disposal efficiency, and tackles. After I factor all those in, as well as the votes, players are ranked each week and their scores are fed into our spreadsheet to give us weekly leaders and an overall winner. Below is the culmination of the last five years worth of this system.
Anyway, on with it.
Total points in bold – previous rank in parentheses
20 – JAYDEN SHORT – 1129 (14)
=18 – TOM MCCARTIN – 1161 (NA)
=18 – LIAM JONES – 1161 (13)
17 – ALIIR ALIIR – 1200 (NA)
16 – DAN HOUSTON – 1264 (16)
15 – CALLUM WILKIE – 1305 (NA)
14 – LACHIE WHITFIELD – 1351 (NA)
13 – TOM BARRASS – 1411 (10)
12 – STEVEN MAY – 1540 (6)
11 – NICK BLAKEY – 1577 (18)
10 – JACOB WEITERING – 1766.5 (7)
9 – JACK SINCLAIR – 1854 (12)
8 – SAM COLLINS – 1866 (8)
7 – BAILEY DALE – 1883 (11)
6 – SAM TAYLOR – 1920 (9)
5 – JAMES SICILY – 1940 (4)
4 – TOM STEWART – 1971 (3)
3 – LUKE RYAN – 2003 (2)
2 – DARCY MOORE – 2023 (5)
1 – HARRIS ANDREWS – 2635 (1)
BREAKDOWN
Okey doke… the Big Dog of the key defenders retains his number one spot, with two overall wins in the DPOY award propelling him to a convincing lead over Darcy Moore, who, despite never winning, has been consistently placing in the top ten.
I’m getting a bit sick of writing about Andrews this season, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. He has been our DPOY winner. He has been the Finals Best Defensive Player, and damn it, I thought he was the Norm Smith Medallist, such was his control of the back 50 in the decider.
What a year for Harris – a career-best season, and a premiership captain.
Bailey Dale and Jack Sinclair both move into the overall top ten based more on consistency than any one huge season, with both having consistent high scores for the past four or five seasons (four in Sinclair’s case).
Both James Sicily and Tom Stewart ad ordinary seasons by their own standards, with each recording their lowest output in several years. In Sicily’s case, his 2021 season resulted in zero points, due to injury, but Stewart’s 132 points is a couple of hundred below his next-best score, and a third of his best overall season.
Nick Blakey slithers his way into 11th, but it should be noted he is doing this on the basis of just four seasons in defence, as he only really commenced picking up points in 2022.
Steven May was another who fell down pretty badly this season, with injury and suspension saw him accrue just 102 points, his lowest total by a significant amount.
Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera was at 21st, which is remarkable, considering he started racking up points in 2023, and spent the last third of 2025 playing as a midfielder.
And what you’ll notice, here, as opposed to some of the annual DPOY scores (if you’re a member) is that there is a great proliferation of “big” defenders being recognised in this system. There is a reason for that – we get running half-backs chopping and changing roles quite often. Look at Bailey Dale – he was a forward earlier on, and Jack Sinclair did not start as a defender, either. Now, he moves through the midfield. Whitfield has played both on-ball and wing over the past five years, with the last three seasons really seeing him settle in defence.
That is not the case with the big guys.
Andrews, Moore, Taylor, May, Collins… they’re just about career defenders. Moore was switched into defence early in his career, and has remained there, whilst the others have made a living killing contests.
The five-year DPOY award rewards the players who play well over a long period, and as of right now, it is Harris Andrews who reigns supreme.
Again.
And before I finish up, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Here are the top ten scores by season in our DPOY Award. Agree with them, or think I am full of it?
1 – James Sicily 2022 (828 PTS)
2 – Harris Andrews 2023 (750 PTS)
3 – Tom Stewart 2023 (665 PTS)
4 – Harris Andrews 2025 (662) PTS)
=5 – Sam Collins 2024 (648 PTS)
=5 – Lachie Whitfield 2024 (648 PTS)
7 – Darcy Moore 2023 (587 PTS)
8 – Luke Ryan 2023 (550 PTS)
9 – Jack Sinclair 2023 (549 PTS)
10 – Jacob Weitering 2021 (548 PTS)
Only one representative from the 2025 season – Andrews.
Also, nobody from the 2020 season, as expected with a reduced number of games.
If there is anyone you’re wondering about, fire me a message, or leave a comment and I can let you know where they are on the list.
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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