It’s a tough room, and the Hammers fill two-thirds of it.
When the Canadian Premier League announced the three finalists for Defender of the Year on Wednesday, Forge FC’s Daniel Nimick and Antoine Batisse joined two-time former winner Daan Klomp of rival Cavalry FC in the non-holy trinity.
Here’s how good this group of backliners has been for the CPL’s two dominant teams this season: all of them went the entire regular season without committing a mistake that led to an opponent’s goal, while Batisse and Klomp did not make an error which led to even a single shot on goal. And those two combined to play 4420 minutes. That’s not protection, it’s a quarantine.
“I’m proud, but the most important thing is the team,” said the 31-year-old Batisse, the native of Versailles, France, who’s in his first year in Spark Orange. “Our defence has been great and a guy like Daniel Nimick is very important. But our whole backline is really good...the second-fewest goals in the league.”
The Forge had negotiated with Batisse, a soccer legend in southwest France, last season but weren’t able to close the deal until January 2026, and he and his wife Susan and their two young daughters arrived in Hamilton “for an adventure and to experience another culture” just before Champions Cup.
With his excellent play against CF Montréal in the Canadian Championship, Batisse has helped the Hammers earn another Cup berth. It was the first trophy of his senior career, and now he wants to hoist another one as Forge tries to chase down a fifth CPL playoff title. They tied Atlético Ottawa 2-2 in Ottawa on Sunday, and whoever wins the second leg Saturday at Hamilton Stadium (1 p.m. OneSoccer and TSN) advances to the single-game final Nov. 21 against the winner of Klomp’s Cavalry FC and expansion side Supra du Québec.
In Hamilton, Batisse has played both as a rugged, high-leaping centre back and as a No. 6 (holding midfielder), where he’ll likely start Saturday right in front of the centre backs, dropping back to help disrupt the midfield choreography of the tricky Atlético offence and sometimes advancing quickly to launch his size and continental heading ability into the offence.
He tied for the CPL lead among all defenders with seven goal contributions—four goals and three assists—completed 152 passes into the final third of the pitch and won 30 aerial battles, a testament to his upward acceleration and sense of timing. And he’s physical.
“I’ll play anywhere I can to help the team,” he said.
It’s the third nomination for Nimick, who was up for top defender with HFX Wanderers in 2023, then won it last year, his first season in Hamilton. Like Batisse, he had four goals and three assists and is renowned for his penalty-kick prowess—including one of Forge’s four successful tries in the title game shootout vs CF Montréal—as well as delivering accurate passes deep into the offensive zone (third in the league) and carrying the ball forward (fifth). He also had an 82 percent rate of successful tackles, blocked 17 shots or passes and made 90 clearances.
“I feel like it’s well-earned for the group to have two of us up for the award, and we’ve been really strong defensively this year,” said Nimick with a nod toward other defenders like Rezart Rama, Marko Jevremović, Daniel Krutzen, and Manjrekar James.
“Antoine has been amazing to play with, whether that’s in the 6 or as a centre-back partner. I think he definitely earned it, and I think it’s great for me as well to get that recognition. Antoine is like a Swiss Army knife; we were really lucky to bring him in, and he’s the kind of player Forge really likes. We had Alex (Achinioti-Jönsson, the 2022 winner) who could do both roles, and now we have Antoine who has been able to step in to both roles as well. It gives you a nice safety blanket to play with him.”
Nimick was born in Goose Bay, where his father was stationed with the Royal Air Force, making him the first CPL player from Newfoundland and Labrador, but his family left The Rock for England when he was only a year old, and he grew up in Harrogate. He played youth soccer for Harrogate Town and Leeds United before earning a scholarship to Western Michigan University and being selected by Vancouver Whitecaps in the 2nd round of the 2023 MLS Super Draft. When the Caps wanted him to play for their second team, he opted instead for Halifax and the CPL and signed with the Hammers in January 2025.
“I’m just really grateful,” he said of his third Defender of the Year nomination. “I think the record here speaks for itself. Obviously, we’ve let a few goals go in recently that we would like back, but I think we’ve still been strong defensively. Forge is a team that prides itself on its defending, and that’s shown throughout the year. Having a guy like Dimitry Bertaud between the sticks gives us a lot of confidence across the back four.”
By twice scoring goals eight minutes after Forge had taken a lead, Ottawa earned their 2-2 draw in the opening leg and will try to build on the confidence they gained from the quick recovery.
And Nimick feels those two goals serve up some valuable lessons for Forge to absorb.
“I think there’s a lot to learn,” he said. “We watched them back, and they’re goals that we shouldn’t be giving up. And to come right after we’ve scored as well is frustrating. But the good news is that they’re easily fixable with our shape and the other things we do. I’m hoping we can defend a little bit better than we did over there.
“But we’ve been pretty good at defending all year.”
As the slate of defensive nominees would clearly indicate.