Player Watch #29: Will Phillips

[Colby Cheer Squad]

Is that a bad thing? Midfield depth?

Yep. The reality is that we only begin to rise up off the bottom and become a decent team when we have serious competition for spots. Honestly, I think a few people on here are suffering PTSD from the past 4 years and they assume we will delist every single player who isn't best 22 in round 1.

 

[bennymate]

Watching Logan.. we might've ****ed up here boys

 

[Sillygit]

i mean, it is helpful to see which posters will look at a single game and make a decision on a whole career. sorry, the game's still going, LESS than a whole game.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Perfect. That’s exactly what premiership midfields need - solid B Graders. Please. Give me a spell.

You never have A graders batting 5-6-7 players deep in any midfield.

For every Judd-Kerr-Cousins there is a Chad Fletcher or Tyson Steinglein type.

For every Black-Voss-Lappin there is a Marcus Ashcroft or Shaun Hart type.

 

[Souup]

Logan McDonald looking good

You watching the game or just reading the stat sheet? 3/4 goals were joe the gooses from the goal square and he's received silver service otherwise.

1 contested mark.

Huge

 

[Moti]

I agree with people saying his style is of a Lachie Neale. His best game is buzzing around the contest giving it energy in offense and applying pressure in defence and it definitely stacks up as AFL worthy.

My concern is that he doesn't have the endurance to play that style because you do need to have that Lachie Neale level of fitness to play it. We have put it down to glandular etc. thus far but it remains to be seen whether he can reach that standard of fitness.

I would still offer another decent contract irrespective of games played this year.

I must watch a different Lachie Neale. He is constantly running and looking for handball receives. If Will can add that to his natural clearance ability, then he will be a player. But I haven't seen a hint of it.

 

[RossHenshaw]

You watching the game or just reading the stat sheet? 3/4 goals were joe the gooses from the goal square and he's received silver service otherwise.

1 contested mark.

Huge

At this stage Logan > WillPhil
You must admit

 

[RossHenshaw]

At this stage Logan > WillPhil
You must admit

And getting an interview after the game ! LMac

 

[Souup]

At this stage Logan > WillPhil
You must admit

No I don't admit. Logan is a legitimate bust on exposed form and I've made several posts in the past explaining exactly why so I won't repeat them. He's the most overhyped player in the comp by a mile.

Jury is out on Will Phil but he's at least got his excuses since he was drafted. I want to see him take a step forward this year with an uninterrupted run at things.

 

[RossHenshaw]

People here still believing that we did better picking WillPhil over Logan McDonald….

 

[Chewy Chewman]

McDonald had a good game no doubt about that but that’s irrelevant.

Phillips is our player. Will be apart of our next premiership.

 

[My Left Foote]

Who the hell is Jones?

Callum Coleman

 

[ChairmanZia]

Watching Logan.. we might've ****ed up here boys

So define f***ed up? As i have said in some previous post, every team needs workhorses. To win flags, we need the best workhorses first to get us to a top 4 and then those superstars shine to take us another step fwd.

 

[czero]

Check up on david hale, he didn't get into top form until he got to hawthorn, i.e. 10+ years. Jone's job is to provide a chop out for Xerri, that's it.

I don't see a degrading of his performances across his first 4 years in the system like we do with CCJ.

Like I said, I have no desire to write him off, but you asked what he should show and I say he should show improvement. There isn't a role going where all you do is chop out the main ruck, but I really hope he has a good year.

 

[LuvtheKangas]

I love North Melbourne FC. Always have.

But jeez, some of my fellow NMFC supporters are total f***wits.

 

[amaz199]

I reckon he's tracking nicely. I think his inside work is criminally underrated. In fact, I'd go as far as saying it's pretty disappointing that this thread is filled with posters putting a line through him instead of giving him a chance.

He was going pretty well in 2021 and would definitely be playing 1s weekly if it weren't for the glandular fever setbacks and COVID. We can't wave a magic wand. It's tough to overcome that.

He's doing fine and I genuinely believe he's in for a big year. Not only because the young players will get more opportunities, but because he's really quick on the inside and with our aggressive ball movement, it means he can extract the footy to dangerous spots quicker. It suits his distribution quality to get the ball out quick and direct.

To reiterate again, he's an excellent kick of the footy too and our forwards need to put their hand up and start working their arse off. Midfielders will only be weapons if our forwards do the work too.

He has a delicate touch when it comes to kicks inside 50 and knows where the goals are too. That's two things he can maximise to great effect along with his clearance and stoppage work.

 

[amaz199]

He very rarely panicks with the ball in hand. He's a bit like Powell where they only just try to blast it forward if they simply can't get it outside because those exits are covered.

 

[Karanicolas]

He is not one of our A-grade midfielders yet, but our centre bounce clearance work always seems to look better when he is in there (admittedly a small sample at this stage).

To me Sam Mitchell is the best comparison, but Mitchell made up for his lack of pace by being dual-sided. Maybe too late for Phillips to able to do that, but there is a player there that with some more maturity can be at coalface dishing it out to the others.

 

[Ardent Roo]

No I don't admit. Logan is a legitimate bust on exposed form and I've made several posts in the past explaining exactly why so I won't repeat them. He's the most overhyped player in the comp by a mile.

Jury is out on Will Phil but he's at least got his excuses since he was drafted. I want to see him take a step forward this year with an uninterrupted run at things.

Oh my one guy just kicked 4 in a 2-0 side playing key forward and the other isn't named in our best 25. And this is despite one of our inside mids in Simpkin being unavailable.

I am not sure what you're waiting for in terms of an uninterrupted run at things. Did he have glandular again over summer?

I'm not silly enough to think that every draft choice will hold up with 20/20 hindsight, I mean Carlton took Dow ahead of LDU so it's swings and roundabouts.

But to say Will is ahead of Logan, spare me.

 

[ChairmanZia]

Oh my one guy just kicked 4 in a 2-0 side playing key forward and the other isn't named in our best 25. And this is despite one of our inside mids in Simpkin being unavailable.

I am not sure what you're waiting for in terms of an uninterrupted run at things. Did he have glandular again over summer?

I'm not silly enough to think that every draft choice will hold up with 20/20 hindsight, I mean Carlton took Dow ahead of LDU so it's swings and roundabouts.

But to say Will is ahead of Logan, spare me.

One is a mid, another is a key fwd. Different roles.

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[koshari]

Watching Logan.. we might've ****ed up here boys

i watched Warner, now that was a monumental stuff up , to think we could have had him and Coleman


the 2nd round curse lives on

 

[koshari]

One is a mid, another is a key fwd. Different roles.

On SM-G991B using BigFooty.com mobile app

remember key forwards take time, look at CCJ for example,

 

[The acurate one]

Oh well as we darn say.

We will always be able to look back at the tenure of Luff Diver and remind ourselves of his work. And in the words of Corn Francis, it got us seven priority picks. Lol

But yes no Simpkin, no TT and still no Phillips. Don't matter which way you spin it, that isn't flash.

Doesn't mean it's over of course, just that plenty are currently well wrong with how Will is travelling.

Looks like another midfielder draft coming up. Also need to find room for George soon enough.

I don't like us having both Phillips and Powell in the same side fwiw.

 

[Passmore]

Oh well as we darn say.

We will always be able to look back at the tenure of Luff Diver and remind ourselves of his work. And in the words of Corn Francis, it got us seven priority picks. Lol

But yes no Simpkin, no TT and still no Phillips. Don't matter which way you spin it, that isn't flash.

Doesn't mean it's over of course, just that plenty are currently well wrong with how Will is travelling.

Looks like another midfielder draft coming up. Also need to find room for George soon enough.

I don't like us having both Phillips and Powell in the same side fwiw.

Old mate got any thoughts on the struggles of Will?

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[Warlord69]

We will always be able to look back at the tenure of Luff Diver and remind ourselves of his work. And in the words of Corn Francis, it got us seven priority picks. Lol

But yes no Simpkin, no TT and still no Phillips. Don't matter which way you spin it, that isn't flash.

Doesn't mean it's over of course, just that plenty are currently well wrong with how Will is travelling.

Looks like another midfielder draft coming up. Also need to find room for George soon enough.

I don't like us having both Phillips and Powell in the same side fwiw.

What I don’t get is Scott Clayton on radio saying the reason we didn’t try trade into the 2023 draft was because this coming draft was a “good midfielder draft”.
Feel like that would be the reason to trade in.