A poll, which gathered more than 500 votes, found Jake Richardson as the league's best defender of the past five seasons.

The reliable full-back narrowly grabbed 21.04 per cent of the vote, narrowly defeating Nirranda's Luke Weel who clocked 20.8 per cent overall.

Old Collegians backman Daryl Beechey was third overall, while Panmure's Daniel Meade, a 300-game veteran, was among the most popular in fourth.

Richardson told The Standard he suspected the Power's contingent of players and supporters were behind his triumph.

"If you match up the stats - the disposals, the intercept marks, I think Weely has me pretty easy," he laughed.

"We have a group chat and I think some of the boys were keen to get in there and have their say." Kolora-Noorat coach Ben Walsh said Richardson's competitiveness was among his greatest traits.

"He hates getting beaten," Walsh said.

"He's really developed into a confident full-back, too. He doesn't over-complicate things, and he does his homework.

"He'll be asking early in the week who he'll be playing on if it isn't obvious. Over the last three or four years he's taken that key forward regularly.

"He's a great leader and that's why he's captain."

Walsh said he wasn't surprised Weel also polled well.

"Luke is clearly another standout player," he said.

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"He's an outstanding defender. Ben Fraser, one of our key forwards, has had a lot of battles with Luke and rates him very highly.

"They always seem to have really good battles and match-ups together. Luke is just an outstanding athlete."

South Rovers' Julian Claridge was fifth overall, accruing 35 votes, while Nirranda gun Mathew Lloyd came in sixth with 28. Luke Duncan, Jack Gleeson, Ben Kenna and Paul Campbell rounded out the top 10.

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