Finding a clean action shot of Brad Crouch is a little harder than you’d typically expect.

A sizeable share of his playing photos have him either scrummaging at the bottom of a pack, hanging off opposition midfielders midway through crunching tackles or squeezing out a handball in unfavourable positions as his rivals bear down on him.

It’s a graphic designer’s worst nightmare with limbs flailing and faces contorted, but the volume of those snaps is a fitting reflection of the way Crouch rolled up the sleeves on the inside this season just gone.

In a nutshell

The second-year Saint was a consistent accumulator across his 21 appearances – never dipping below the 20-disposal mark for the first time since 2019 – with his blue-collar extraction skills by hand amid heavy traffic crucial throughout the year.  

While an equal-fifth finish at last year’s Trevor Barker Award signed off a fair debut season in red, white and black, an improved standing is certainly within reach in 2022.

A hard-nosed attack at the coalface and uncompromising tackling presence inside remained Crouch’s defining trait in season 2022, rendering him as the club’s leading midfielder by season’s end.

The midfield bull finished the home-and-away campaign fourth in the league for total tackles (149), five times ticking over into double digits. Three of those came successively between Rounds 19-21, recording 11 tackles against Hawthorn, West Coast and Geelong.

Crouch was second only to Trevor Barker Award favourite Jack Sinclair for total disposals (571) – five times going at 30 disposals or more – and topped the club’s contested possessions count (251), but it was his clearance work which stood in a league of its own from a Saints perspective.

The former Crow unsurprisingly led St Kilda for total clearances (123) – a tally better than his Best & Fairest campaign for Adelaide in 2019 – but incredibly recorded 30 more than the second-placed Seb Ross. It was a similar situation for contested possessions (50 more than Jack Steele), while ground-ball gets (172) and pressure acts (480) again had Crouch in pole position.

While scoreboard impact from midfielders has been a persistent area for improvement, six of Crouch’s seven majors came in victories, with his conversions against Richmond and Adelaide instigating come-from-behind revivals.

In the votes

It will take something special to catch All-Australian Jack Sinclair in this year’s Trevor Barker Award, but a podium finish isn’t out of question for the No. 5.

Strong outings against Richmond, Gold Coast, GWS and Adelaide are sure to have Crouch feature in the votes, with his impact on all games crucial to the Saints’ engine room and final result. Performances against Fremantle and Geelong, although not ending in victories, were also notable in the back half of the year.

His game against Richmond was a particular highlight, with Crouch spearheading an inspiring comeback which saw the Saints ram home 10 of the last 11 goals – the first of which came off his boot.

The 28-year-old monstered his way to an impressive 29 disposals (15 contested), a game-high 11 clearances, nine tackles, nine score involvements and a tide-turning goal to receive the Ian Stewart Medal by the end of the evening in a near-unanimous polling.

Despite missing the last game of the year through suspension, his final month – which featured back-to-back 30-disposal outings and an average of 10 tackles – is likely to have him coming home with a wet sail.

Time will tell whether Crouch’s sheer weight of numbers will pip fellow contenders Callum Wilkie, Josh Battle and Rowan Marshall, but just like he did on numerous occasions throughout the year, don’t rule out him out for coming up clutch late in the piece.