Player Watch #29: Will Phillips

[shinboner magic]

Jay Clark was also upset that we didn't tank for pick 1 last year.

Imagine that happened - with our draw to start the season.

Footy is about winning not draft picks.

 

[Dan]

Hard fitting Lazarro, Powell & Phillips in the side.

Gotta go with preseason form.

Still plenty of time for Phillips feature strongly this season.

 

[R00StaR]

Hard fitting Lazarro, Powell & Phillips in the side.

Gotta go with preseason form.

Still plenty of time for Phillips feature strongly this season.

Injuries, form and rotations. Theres enough room on the list.

 

[Sphynx]

Hard fitting Lazarro, Powell & Phillips in the side.

Gotta go with preseason form.

Still plenty of time for Phillips feature strongly this season.

It isn't really when you have Tucker and Shiels (along with Howe etc) playing plenty of football in 2023 and then starting the year in the Rnd 1 side.

This club doesn't help itself at times, people can defend the "experience" angle, but the same excuses were trotted out for Brad Scott when he didn't play Nick Larkey and Ben McKay enough, when Noble played LDU out of position etc.

LDU and Simpkin are men now in the prime of their careers. Xerri is a developed body now.

Phillips, Powell and Laz are fourth year players, they are not babies. They are pretty much at their final player weight +/- 3-4kgs. There's other players from their draft class who are key players for their side at the moment.

Sydney aren't hiding Errol Gulden....


We have invested some of the largest draft capital in history in our midfield, why are we still using journeyman then?

We have finished on the bottom for the best part of 4 years, we are pretty much at rock bottom. Whats there to lose at this point actually trying to develop our picks?

 

[Snowy off the Tram]

this would be an enormous mistake from the club

Why? He's the very definition of vanilla - not especially skilful, clever, courageous or fast. I get that we all feel a sense of loyalty to the players on our list but he's clearly the fifth or sixth best midfielder we have, so let's cut our losses and see what we can get for him.

 

[Sphynx]

Why? He's the very definition of vanilla - not especially skilful, clever, courageous or fast. I get that we all feel a sense of loyalty to the players on our list but he's clearly the fifth or sixth best midfielder we have, so let's cut our losses and see what we can get for him.

Respectfully disagree.

He's definitely got toe, he's definitely skillful and he's definitely courageous.

He outperformed Powell in pretty much every way possible last year, but people don't have the same axe to grind with Tom as they do Will for some reason.

 

[Snowy off the Tram]

Respectfully disagree.

He's definitely got toe, he's definitely skillful and he's definitely courageous.

He outperformed Powell in pretty much every way possible last year, but people don't have the same axe to grind with Tom as they do Will for some reason.

Fair enough. You're seeing attributes that I just haven't seen in any of his 32 appearances (where he's averaging 14 disposals a game). He's had a disrupted run at it, I know, but if you reckon he's quick, skilful and courageous, one of us needs to go to Specsavers. (I'd put Powell in the same basket, btw. Both shown the odd glimpse but nothing to indicate, as Jay Clark predicts, that they'll play 150 games. On exposed form, I'd say 50 or 60, tops.)

 

[LuvtheKangas]

It isn't really when you have Tucker and Shiels (along with Howe etc) playing plenty of football in 2023 and then starting the year in the Rnd 1 side.

This club doesn't help itself at times, people can defend the "experience" angle, but the same excuses were trotted out for Brad Scott when he didn't play Nick Larkey and Ben McKay enough, when Noble played LDU out of position etc.

LDU and Simpkin are men now in the prime of their careers. Xerri is a developed body now.

Phillips, Powell and Laz are fourth year players, they are not babies. They are pretty much at their final player weight +/- 3-4kgs. There's other players from their draft class who are key players for their side at the moment.

Sydney aren't hiding Errol Gulden....


We have invested some of the largest draft capital in history in our midfield, why are we still using journeyman then?

We have finished on the bottom for the best part of 4 years, we are pretty much at rock bottom. Whats there to lose at this point actually trying to develop our picks?

One of those experienced players adds value, the other adds nothing.

For clarity, get rid of Tucker. Shiels is a significantly better contributor.

 

[Shinboner1]

heard a rumour he's looking for a new club.

 

[Dan]

It isn't really when you have Tucker and Shiels (along with Howe etc) playing plenty of football in 2023 and then starting the year in the Rnd 1 side.

This club doesn't help itself at times, people can defend the "experience" angle, but the same excuses were trotted out for Brad Scott when he didn't play Nick Larkey and Ben McKay enough, when Noble played LDU out of position etc.

LDU and Simpkin are men now in the prime of their careers. Xerri is a developed body now.

Phillips, Powell and Laz are fourth year players, they are not babies. They are pretty much at their final player weight +/- 3-4kgs. There's other players from their draft class who are key players for their side at the moment.

Sydney aren't hiding Errol Gulden....


We have invested some of the largest draft capital in history in our midfield, why are we still using journeyman then?

We have finished on the bottom for the best part of 4 years, we are pretty much at rock bottom. Whats there to lose at this point actually trying to develop our picks?

Will Phillips isn’t Errol Gulden though is he?

 

[shinboner magic]

heard a rumour he's looking for a new club.

Yeah it was on a previous page and would be BS this early in the season.

 

[Amicalola]

Hes a quiet achiever. Our midfield always looks better when he's there - something about his play just clearly helps unlock LDU, Wardlaw, et al.

Would be gutted but not surprised if he was looking for a different club. He is inexplicably wasting away in the twos for us, while he would clearly get a game in some other teams midfield.

 

[Sphynx]

Fair enough. You're seeing attributes that I just haven't seen in any of his 32 appearances (where he's averaging 14 disposals a game). He's had a disrupted run at it, I know, but if you reckon he's quick, skilful and courageous, one of us needs to go to Specsavers. (I'd put Powell in the same basket, btw. Both shown the odd glimpse but nothing to indicate, as Jay Clark predicts, that they'll play 150 games. On exposed form, I'd say 50 or 60, tops.)

Some people just see what they want to see sometimes.

He's not LDU, but Phillips is definitely a lot quicker than Powell over the ground and around the contest.

Now Powell also just had statistically the best game of his career against GWS, which has flown under the radar somewhat.

Career highs in disposals, disposal eff %, contested possessions, clearances, center bounces attended player rating etc. So I'm expecting a big spike in his averages.

 

[Warlord69]

Some people just see what they want to see sometimes.

He's not LDU, but Phillips is definitely a lot quicker than Powell over the ground and around the contest.

Now Powell also just had statistically the best game of his career against GWS.

Career highs in disposals, disposal eff %, contested possessions, clearances, center bounces attended player rating etc. So I'm expecting a big spike in his averages.

Powell is certainly quick enough for the modern game. Able to run and carry on the outside.

Phillips just can’t go. Not able to break out of a brisk jog.

 

[justroyal]

I’m just not willing to buy a story about a player who didn’t play round 1 after a large time out in his development years due to chronic fatigue.

 

[zoomba23]

Some people just see what they want to see sometimes.

He's not LDU, but Phillips is definitely a lot quicker than Powell over the ground and around the contest.

Now Powell also just had statistically the best game of his career against GWS, which has flown under the radar somewhat.

Career highs in disposals, disposal eff %, contested possessions, clearances, center bounces attended player rating etc. So I'm expecting a big spike in his averages.

Phillips isn't quicker than Powell

 

[Moti]

Respectfully disagree.

He's definitely got toe, he's definitely skillful and he's definitely courageous.

He outperformed Powell in pretty much every way possible last year, but people don't have the same axe to grind with Tom as they do Will for some reason.

To be fair to Powell, they played in every position expect the middle. Philips certainly had the coaching support last year as he was put in the middle constantly.

 

[Sphynx]

To be fair to Powell, they played in every position expect the middle. Philips certainly had the coaching support last year as he was put in the middle constantly.

And performed well.

But people completely underestimate his 2023

 

[Moti]

Powell is certainly quick enough for the modern game. Able to run and carry on the outside.

Phillips just can’t go. Not able to break out of a brisk jog.

Philips is at least as quick as Powell, and I would say has better acceleration. Having said that, both would be in the bottom 50% in mids in the comp and that is probably being kind. I keep hearing that Philips has speed but he has not shown any of it on the outside, but has shown he has enough acceleration to get out of trouble.

 

[pupstar]

And performed well.

But people completely underestimate his 2023

You are spot on with everything you say about Will in my opinion. Shame posters cant just hope the best for them both Tom and Will instead of bagging one or the other. I hope they both can play a large part for our inevitable premiership.

 

[archereleven]

Jay Clark is also a massive flog......Desperate for ANY headline. The bloke is a dickh*ad IMO, can't stand him.

Tbh, I can't think of an journalist that isn't a massive w***er these days...

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[archereleven]

Will has definitely got the attributes to make it on the inside, and that's where he should be played.

If he was drafted to play outside or on a flank, that's on North Melbourne, not Will. Our pick 3 will turn into pick 43 if we don't give him a decent go at it...



On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[northbergs]

heard a rumour he's looking for a new club.

If that’s the case, they should play him every week. If we plays well and becomes an integral part of our midfield, he becomes a valuable commodity - for keeping or trading. It’s a win, win.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Psicosis]

It’s a pretty random one to pull out of left field, so assume Jay has heard it somewhere. Whether it’s true or not is another story.

I would expect with Wills personality that he would be committed to try and break into the midfield rather then looking elsewhere already. He’s just that type of person.

Only possible way I could see there being truth to this is - the club has offered him less then his manager thinks he’s worth (due to current output) and as a result he’s testing market. Dunno if he’s gonna find a club willing to pay him much $$ though given he can’t break into 17ths midfield.

 

[king of the road]

The article was mostly nonsense, but the Dow comparison is fair.
Small, relatively unskilled relative to draft position and not capable of playing another spot.

Not really.

After Dow you had LDU, Cerra and a number of high quality players picked straight after.

Slim pickings after Phillips.

Logan was/is a flight risk. He’d have looked very average in our forward line.