It is incredible that the conversation is taking place at such an early stage, but Connor O'Sullivan is making a case to be considered as one of the best key defenders in the competition.
What makes the situation so remarkable is that the emerging Cat is only 40 games into his AFL career, in the midst of just his second season at the elite level.
Where others have taken time to adapt to the rigours of AFL football, O'Sullivan spent one year of development with the VFL Cats and then solidified his spot in Geelong's AFL team at the start last year, only missing one match from the start of 2025 until now.
It was regarded as one of the club's highest honours when the famous No. 14 guernsey was passed on from Joel Selwood and bestowed upon O'Sullivan on his draft night, when the Cats selected him with pick 11 in the 2023 draft.
But he is already living up to and not just exceeding, but obliterating expectations in his third year at the club, and there is an abundance of statistics and numbers to support the notion that he has been one of the best defenders in the competition this year.
O'Sullivan's 2026 Stats
| Statistic | O'Sullivan | AFL Rank | Geelong Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contested Defensive One-on-Ones | 54 | 1st | 1st |
| Intercept Possessions | 105 | 5th | 1st |
| Intercept Marks | 35 | 4th | 1st |
| Total Marks | 104 | 6th | 1st |
| Spoils Per Game | 5.2 | 7th | 1st |
| One Percenters Per Game | 5.8 | 6th | 1st |
On the surface, O'Sullivan is producing career-highs in a number of categories, including 16.0 disposals per game which is well up from his average of 12.6 disposals across the 2025 season.
There has been an increase in rebound 50s and score launches, all while going at a very solid 82.4% kicking efficiency which is the third highest of any Geelong player across 2026 so far.
But the key defensive indicators are where O'Sullivan's impact becomes truly recognised.
Often entrusted with the big roles on the opposition's best forward, O'Sullivan finds himself on the last line of defence more often than not, recording 54 Contested Defensive One-on-Ones, which is the most in the AFL and 25 more than any other Geelong player.
From those 54 contests, he has only lost 11 for a Contested Defensive Loss rate of 20.4%, quite an extraordinary conversion rate considering the sheer volume of numbers in that category.
To put it simply, O'Sullivan often finds himself in difficult situations and more often than not, prevails to hold down the fort for the Cats.
His ability to kill the contest is remarkable, with the star defender ranked seventh in the AFL for spoils with an average of 5.2 per game, comfortably the most of any Geelong player.
He also sits sixth in the league and first at the Cats for one percent efforts, with an average of 5.8 per game.
But O'Sullivan's defensive prowess goes far further than his ability to pressure and spoil opponents, also able to read the play and force turnovers to help set-up counterattacks for Geelong going the other way.
To this point of the 2026 season, the 21-year-old has taken 35 intercept marks which is the fourth most of any player in the AFL, taking six against Fremantle last week and five against Carlton in Round 12.
He also ranks sixth in the competition for total marks and inside the top 25 for contested marks, simply exquisite numbers that even the best defenders in AFL history would be impressed by.
All in all, O'Sullivan has totalled 105 intercept possessions this year which ranks fifth in the AFL and again, first at Geelong ahead of the likes of Tom Stewart, Sam De Koning and Zach Guthrie.
He has achieved all of this while matched up against some of the game's best forwards, such as Josh Treacy last week in Perth where he held the dominant Dockers spearhead to just nine disposals.
A week prior he squared off with Ben King in Geelong's clash with the Gold Coast, while also doing a stellar job in numerous other weeks throughout the first half of the season.
When narrowing the statistics down to key defender, AFL Stats has O'Sullivan ranked fourth for marks, fourth for intercept marks and well inside the top 10 players for rebound 50s, intercept possessions and disposals.
He was highly touted when he joined Geelong and it has taken no time to develop, with O'Sullivan certainly making a case to be regarded amongst the top echelon of defenders in 2026.
