The phrase "an early defender" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to refer to someone who supported or advocated for a particular idea, cause, or individual at an early stage.
Example: "As an early defender of environmental policies, she played a crucial role in raising awareness about climate change."
Alternatives: "a pioneer supporter" or "a primary advocate".
She was an early defender of Trump's willingness to say things "no one else is saying".
He entertained us with juggling, swam almost a mile a day in the Pacific Ocean, walked miles to and from work whenever he could and was an early defender of the environment and loved his garden.
Even though the Ameghinean hypothesis fell into discredit, he was an early defender and promoter of the (by this epoch, controversial) Darwinian ideas among the community of Latin American paleontologists, anthropologists, and archeologists.
He is instead an early defender, avant la lettre, of the idea of a meritocracy whose members are drawn from all classes and walks of life.
An early defender of the Amazon rain forest, Burle Marx revolutionized Brazilian gardens not only with his use of tropical flora, but with his modernist designs that played with abstract art.
Harold Ford, an earlier defender of Bain, is an executive with Morgan Stanley.
(An earlier defender of such a view is Gregory Currie (1989), who argues that artworks are types of action, rather than the particular actions with which Davies identifies them).
Bristol City are forced into an early change - defender Nathan Baker has a leg injury, it looked like a hamstring problem, so Joe Bryan is introduced for Steve Cotterill's side.
A few moments earlier, defender Nemanja Vidic had a header cleared off the line by Daniel Potts, while West Ham's Alou Diarra saw his headed effort cleared from danger by a well-positioned Paul Scholes.
Early defenders saw protecting the unborn as an extension of society's responsibility to shield the poor, weak and otherwise defenseless.
Among the movement's early defenders was Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate — and now the Democratic mayoral candidate.
