Does Richmond premiership defender Nick Vlastuin deserve to be mentioned in the same conversation as Tom Stewart, Jeremy McGovern, Darcy Moore and some of the other top tier intercept marking defenders of the last decade?
Champion Data’s Daniel Hoyne certainly thinks so, revealing Vlastuin is the 25th best player of the last seven years, according to their ratings system.
The 29-year-old has had an outstanding start to 2024, highlighted by his 29-disposal, 13-mark game in the win over Sydney.
Hoyne believes it’s time to start celebrating Vlastuin as a player on the same level as Geelong champion Stewart.
“His performance against Sydney on Sunday was unbelievable. It just got me thinking, I don’t think this guy has made All-Australian, but the impact he has had on the competition and the impact he has had on Richmond over the last seven or eight years, I think it’s up there with what Tom Stewart has done,” Hoyne told SEN’s Sportsday.
“Tom Stewart is an absolute superstar of the competition, five-time All-Australian and been absolutely phenomenal.
“But in terms of what Vlastuin has done, over the last seven years off our rating he’s the 25th best player in the competition.
“To put that into context, Tom Stewart is around 50th to 55th in the competition (over that time).
“In this period, and we talk about the intercept game and that being king, over a seven-year period he’s one the seventh most intercepts of any player in the competition. He’s won the fourth most intercept marks of any player in the competition, which is unbelievable given the size of the bloke.
“In terms of what he’s been able to get on the scoreboard for his intercepts, he’s generated the second most points of any player in the competition off his intercept work over a seven-year period.
“Having the bigger picture conversation and the celebration of this guy in terms of his career and the impact he’s had, I think others like McGovern and Stewart and Moore and Lever and May, they get the recognition that they deserve, Vlastuin needs his recognition elevated a bit more.”
Vlastuin and the Tigers take on St Kilda in Gather Round, hoping to catapult off their Round 3 win over Sydney.
