Guardians (9)
I believe the answer is:
defenders
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">guardians</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">('defender' can be a synonym of 'guardian')</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for defenders that I've seen before include "Guardians, protectors" , "They support" .)