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KICK Rating · Coaches' eye lens

Defenders — Coaches' eye leaderboard

AFL defenders ranked by coaches' votes per game. AFLCA Champion-Player votes (5-4-3-2-1 from each coach after every match), scaled 0-100 within the defender pool. This is where coaches and the stat sheet diverge most — Sicily, Stewart, Andrews, May, McGovern lead here, even though the box-score-driven KICK rating reads them as 'average'. 343 players in the pool, top 100 shown. Data: AFLCA Champion-Player votes 2003–2025.

A parallel lens to KICK Rating — not a replacement. See how the Coaches' eye is computed and the main KICK leaderboard for the box-score view.

# Player Team GP voted/total Coaches' eye Votes/game Votes KICK r40 Δ
1 James Sicily Hawthorn 179/187 100 1.71 306 53 +47
2 Tom Stewart Geelong 182/191 99 1.54 281 54 +45
3 Alex Rance Richmond 199/199 96 1.25 249 43 +53
4 Michael Hurley Essendon 191/191 95 1.15 219 43 +52
5 Dustin Fletcher Essendon 202/392 93 1.08 219 41 +52
6 Sam Taylor Greater Western Sydney 128/128 92 1.05 135 40 +52
7 Josh Gibson Hawthorn 224/224 92 1.04 233 47 +45
8 Jeremy McGovern West Coast 190/190 92 1.04 197 50 +42
9 Steven May Melbourne 245/245 91 1.01 247 48 +43
10 Luke McPharlin Fremantle 228/251 90 0.99 225 40 +50
11 Graham Johncock Adelaide 195/220 89 0.95 186 42 +47
12 Matthew Scarlett Geelong 213/282 89 0.95 203 42 +47
13 Harris Andrews Brisbane Lions 238/244 88 0.90 215 42 +46
14 Callum Wilkie St Kilda 155/163 88 0.90 140 54 +34
15 Jordan Ridley Essendon 98/99 87 0.87 85 50 +37
16 Luke Ryan Fremantle 179/187 86 0.84 150 51 +35
17 Nick Vlastuin Richmond 248/256 85 0.81 202 46 +39
18 Tom McDonald Melbourne 246/249 85 0.80 197 40 +45
19 Jacob Weitering Carlton 201/209 85 0.80 160 41 +44
20 Darcy Moore Collingwood 186/188 84 0.77 143 33 +51
21 Harry Taylor Geelong 277/277 83 0.75 209 32 +51
22 James Clement Collingwood 101/230 83 0.74 75 45 +38
23 Mason Redman Essendon 141/143 82 0.73 103 50 +32
24 Jake Lever Melbourne 183/192 82 0.72 132 38 +44
25 Darren Milburn Geelong 188/288 81 0.71 134 52 +29
26 Trent Croad Hawthorn 112/217 81 0.70 78 31 +50
27 David Wirrpanda West Coast 138/224 80 0.69 95 50 +30
28 Brian Lake Hawthorn 248/249 80 0.67 166 41 +39
29 Heath Shaw Greater Western Sydney 322/322 79 0.66 213 43 +36
30 Jeremy Howe Collingwood 261/267 79 0.66 172 42 +37
31 Aliir Aliir Port Adelaide 176/185 79 0.65 115 40 +39
32 Sam Fisher St Kilda 224/224 79 0.65 145 43 +36
33 Noah Balta Richmond 114/122 78 0.64 73 38 +40
34 Chris Yarran Carlton 111/111 78 0.63 70 45 +33
35 Tadhg Kennelly Sydney 165/193 78 0.63 104 39 +39
36 Greg Broughton Gold Coast 108/108 77 0.61 66 41 +36
37 Mark McVeigh Essendon 174/231 77 0.61 106 38 +39
38 Scott Thompson North Melbourne 239/239 77 0.61 145 41 +36
39 Max Hudghton St Kilda 108/227 77 0.60 65 29 +48
40 Nick Haynes Carlton 223/228 77 0.60 134 44 +33
41 Cale Hooker Essendon 214/214 77 0.60 128 39 +38
42 Nathan Bassett Adelaide 119/204 76 0.58 69 46 +30
43 Tom Barrass Hawthorn 175/183 76 0.57 100 31 +45
44 Michael Hibberd Melbourne 192/192 74 0.54 103 32 +42
45 Dane Rampe Sydney 269/277 74 0.54 144 33 +41
46 Leo Barry Sydney 139/237 74 0.53 74 36 +38
47 Heritier Lumumba Melbourne 219/219 74 0.53 116 40 +34
48 Adam Hunter West Coast 121/148 74 0.53 64 45 +29
49 Alex Keath Western Bulldogs 106/106 74 0.53 56 32 +42
50 Jack Watts Port Adelaide 171/171 74 0.53 90 42 +32
51 Adam McPhee Fremantle 195/220 73 0.51 100 40 +33
52 Beau Waters West Coast 116/116 73 0.51 59 53 +20
53 Jack Grimes Melbourne 95/95 73 0.51 48 46 +27
54 Josh Battle Hawthorn 143/152 72 0.50 71 46 +26
55 Jack Martin Geelong 152/160 72 0.49 75 37 +35
56 Ken McGregor Adelaide 96/148 72 0.49 47 39 +33
57 Jack Lukosius Port Adelaide 122/126 72 0.48 59 40 +32
58 Daniel Rioli Gold Coast 201/210 72 0.48 97 45 +27
59 Chris Johnson Brisbane Lions 86/262 72 0.48 41 43 +29
60 Dean Rioli Essendon 40/94 72 0.47 19 46 +26
61 Amon Buchanan Brisbane Lions 124/130 71 0.47 58 45 +26
62 Ben Graham Geelong 43/217 71 0.47 20 50 +21
63 Alex Pearce Fremantle 136/145 71 0.46 63 31 +40
64 Troy Chaplin Richmond 212/212 71 0.46 97 38 +33
65 Liam Jones Western Bulldogs 201/201 71 0.45 91 33 +38
66 Darren Glass West Coast 232/270 70 0.45 104 37 +33
67 Clint Bizzell Melbourne 65/162 70 0.45 29 38 +32
68 Ben Reid Collingwood 147/147 70 0.44 65 43 +27
69 James Frawley St Kilda 235/235 70 0.44 103 29 +41
70 Ben Stratton Hawthorn 200/200 70 0.43 87 24 +46
71 Blake Hardwick Hawthorn 197/206 69 0.43 85 42 +27
72 Dean Solomon Fremantle 134/209 69 0.43 57 48 +21
73 Zach Guthrie Geelong 125/134 69 0.42 53 45 +24
74 Sam De Koning Geelong 83/91 68 0.42 35 38 +30
75 Chad Morrison Collingwood 48/168 68 0.42 20 41 +27
76 Harry Himmelberg Greater Western Sydney 200/209 68 0.41 83 46 +22
77 Martin Mattner Sydney 213/220 68 0.41 88 35 +33
78 Mitch Hahn Western Bulldogs 148/177 68 0.41 61 48 +20
79 Easton Wood Western Bulldogs 182/182 68 0.41 75 30 +38
80 Jake Melksham Melbourne 239/241 67 0.41 98 36 +31
81 Jake Carlisle St Kilda 149/149 67 0.41 61 38 +29
82 Tom Jonas Port Adelaide 213/213 67 0.41 87 32 +35
83 Ryan Crowley Essendon 191/191 67 0.41 78 38 +29
84 Wil Powell Gold Coast 127/136 67 0.40 51 43 +24
85 Sam Gilbert St Kilda 205/205 66 0.40 82 37 +29
86 Michael Johnson Fremantle 239/239 66 0.39 94 40 +26
87 Jake King Richmond 105/105 66 0.39 41 38 +28
88 Robbie Tarrant Richmond 193/193 65 0.39 75 32 +33
89 Shannon Byrnes Melbourne 121/121 65 0.39 47 40 +25
90 Josh Thomas Collingwood 116/116 65 0.39 45 34 +31
91 Lachlan Hansen North Melbourne 146/146 65 0.38 56 37 +28
92 Ben McKay Essendon 102/110 65 0.38 39 31 +34
93 Matt Maguire Brisbane Lions 142/154 65 0.38 54 41 +24
94 Garrick Ibbotson Fremantle 171/171 65 0.38 65 40 +25
95 Michael Wilson Port Adelaide 90/188 64 0.38 34 35 +29
96 Andrew Welsh Essendon 137/152 64 0.37 51 49 +15
97 Heath Grundy Sydney 256/256 64 0.37 95 39 +25
98 Ben Holland Melbourne 68/184 63 0.37 25 39 +24
99 Brodie Holland Collingwood 82/153 63 0.37 30 53 +10
100 Lachie Henderson Geelong 205/205 63 0.36 74 39 +24

What this list reads

Every match, the two senior coaches each award 5-4-3-2-1 votes through the AFL Coaches Association. The top six players from each game get votes. This list aggregates defenders' votes per voted-era game and scales them 0-100 within the defenders pool — so an elite defender reads in the 90s here regardless of how many possessions the position averages.

It's the lens that captures what coaches actually see — defensive structure, decoy running, ruck dominance not measured by hit-out volume, leadership in tight games. The KICK formula is box-score-driven and misses some of these. The two lenses agree closely on midfielders; they diverge most on defenders and key forwards. Reading both together is more honest than either alone.

Data window: 2003 (first season AFLCA published per-game votes publicly) to 2025. The 2026 votes will be backfilled at end of season; current-year rankings here use the player's rolling 2003–2025 vote share, not 2026 form. For 2026 form see the main KICK leaderboard for defenders.