Film study: Graeme Hossack’s early DPOY case

Graeme Hossack has been the best defender in the league halfway through the regular season.

Hossack’s primary assignments in 2025 – including Jeff Teat, Brennan O’Neill, Ryder Garnsey, Asher Nolting and Rob Pannell – are averaging 0.6 goals, 0.8 assists, 2.8 turnovers and a ridiculous 8.2% shooting percentage in their matchups against him.

“Graeme is quietly, extraordinarily dominant every time he steps on the field,” Tom Schreiber said. “I think it’s funny that he’s also the guy who shoots the ball the hardest now. But, he’s also the strongest, the most physically-imposing, the best [at] positioning and makes very, very few mistakes. Graeme is as good as it gets. We’re certainly glad he’s on our side.”

The 2021 Defensive Player of the Year is back atop the conversation among the best close defenders in lacrosse following a lockdown five-game stretch to open 2025. He’s helped lead the Archers to a league-low 10.0 scores against average and a 20.8% shooting percentage against, which would rank first since 2001 if the season ended today.

Beyond his crushing physicality and newfound record-breaking shot speed, his versatility is what particularly stands out about Hossack’s success. He’s a rare specimen who can handle any matchup. Hossack can bruise with the biggest attackmen in Nolting and O’Neill, but can also match feet against shiftier attackmen as well.

“He’s a dude that covers Asher and covers Michael [Sowers],” Utah Archers head coach Chris Bates said. “Hoss has been great. He’s been good on the ground. He scored a goal. … Our defense, led by him, has really been pretty stout all year.”

Many of the best attackmen in the world routinely have their worst games versust Hossack. Opponents are for 1-for-17 on unassisted shots against him so far this year. The pressure his on-ball strength takes off the rest of the Archers defense is immense.

One-on-one, there is little attackmen can do to shake free from Hossack.

Pannell tried early in the season-opener in Albany. But Hossack, knowing Pannell loves to turn into his patented question mark when carrying upfield from X, pushed him upfield and even used a v-hold wrap check to poke at the head of Pannell’s stick and disrupt him right at five-and-five.

Pannell scored one goal, which came off-ball, and notched zero assists against Hossack and the Archers.

Against Nolting the following week, Hossack locked down the taller, stockier X attackman. Whereas Pannell wins with technique, Nolting wants to win matchups by out-muscling his opponents. Unfortunately for him, there’s not a defender on the planet with more muscle than Hossack.

Below, Nolting uses a slam pick to try to get topside, looking to lean his way to the middle of the field. When Hossack matches him with another v-hold, Nolting turns back to his right and leads with his shoulder, but Hossack practically lifts him up and knocks him off-line before following him back behind the goal and up the opposite hash.

Again, Nolting aims to win the leverage battle, rolling off Hossack twice only to be met with powerful stick checks and a rock-solid base. His unmatched core strength allows No. 81 to steadily throw those devastatingly-powerful, textbook stick checks that dislodge the ball from sticks in the blink of an eye.

The power he generates on a slap check is part of what makes him so effective when playing picks. He doesn’t over-extend himself when navigating an on-ball screen and typically elects to glide under them. He has an inept ability to pull his stick around the pick so he can get onto the hands of his matchup before they can get a shot off with their hands free.

That’s what he’s done against O’Neill time and again in their two battles dating back to Salt Lake City last summer. O’Neill is yet to score a goal against Hossack – he’s shot 0-for-23 in two games against the Archers with Hossack active.

Here, Hossack slipped under the Jesse Bernhardt pick, brought his stick through just in time to swat down on O’Neill’s hands and forced a (relatively) low-speed shot that Brett Dobson gobbled up.

If he can’t get under or over picks in time, Hossack also has the added benefit of being, well, a hoss who can bowl over pickers without noticing.

Yet there are still so many more nuances to Hossack’s game that make him such a complete defender. While him running through Dalton Young like the Kool-Aid Man goes through a wall draws the eye, his approach to O’Neill is what neutralized this action from Denver. He took three controlled steps out to O’Neill, set his feet, laid the lumber, drop-stepped, and then ran with O’Neill, absorbing his momentum and giving it back in turn via a rock-solid v-hold.

Hossack also enlists some straight-up sicko strategies to help propel his team to victories. He often puts himself between a shooter and the goal, aiming to provide a literal first line of defense to save shots before they reach Dobson in cage. Multiple times this season he’s calmly plucked the ball out of the air and sent it in the other direction.

Hossack’s matchup against Sowers on Friday night will be the first time they’ve gone head-to-head since the 2023 championship game. Sowers is leading the league in scoring and is the MVP frontrunner halfway through the year. Hossack is leading the league’s best defense, has locked down each of his matchups and projects as the DPOY frontrunner.

“That’s a can’t-miss matchup, and an important one,” Bates said. “[Sowers] is decisive and darty and fast and courageous. If that team forces slides, then it forces rotations. And that’s where Michael’s been really good, because he’s got such great vision.”

Will Sowers’ speed and change-of-direction be too much for Hossack? Can Philadelphia’s pick game generate enough switches to nullify Hossack’s presence on-ball? Or will Hossack’s lethal combination of refined technique and freakish athleticism contain Sowers and the cast of electric finishers around him?

Those questions will be answered Friday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.