Player Watch #33: Ed Vickers-Willis - confirmed ACL injury vs Fremantle in Rd1 2019

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Le Grille

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Do you think Ed will play this week against the Dees? I heard he made a few mistakes on the weekend against the Swans.


If that was the benchmark for being dropped there will be 22 outs this week. Ed in my opinion was one of the better players. Many others were far worse.
 

Heaps of fun

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very composed for a guy who has played 5 games. Also defends one on one really well. Goes with the big blokes and positions himself well on the smaller guys.

Williams and EVW should be a stable back pocket/half back combination for the next 5-8 years.
Took a mark at half forward that really showed a degree of comfort at the level too. Next step is him putting it onto the boot a bit more and not wanting to make the ball someone else's problem, very handball happy at this stage.
 

archereleven

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Hes one bloke you dont worry about with ball in hand. Very composed is the VW.

Looks like a 50 gamer already imo. Will build confidence and start finding targets by foot, just hope he is a reliable kick...
 

jclei

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I love how when he gets the ball he doesnt just fire off a handball as fast as possible. Often he draws his man in to give a teammate space before he shoots off the handball and will get the handball off mid tackle. That takes real composure in your first year playing AFL.

He makes some mistakes but i love him in the side
 

Massive Unit

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Big Ed's been flying under the radar a bit for me. I then go back and watch what he does and I am so rapt for the kid.
He's just slotted in beautifully and looks as though he belongs as a permanent fixture in the backline. Will be a real beauty for us over a long time.
 

Heaps of fun

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I know many of us have been frustrated by Brad's reluctance to give the young guys senior opportunity, but this is definitely an endorsement for it. He's well and truly looked like he belongs at the level since debuting.
8 games for Dumont, 8 games from for Turner, 8 games for McDonald, 6 games for Simpkin, 4 games for EVW, 4 games for Preuss, 2 games for Durdin, 2 games for Clarke plus a game each for Wagner, Mountford and Hibberd. Doing well on that front so far. Can't have asked for much more apart from maybe a couple more for Mountford.
 

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We don't talk about him, which I think is the greatest compliment you can pay a defender whose primary job is to defend.

He has come in and done his job, hasn't made errors so glaring that we have to pay him out for them.

I wholeheartedly agree with the poster who said that he and Marley should provide a very stable back pocket pairing for the next 10 years.
 

3051

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Reads the play really well and is cool as ice. Not as slow as my first impression suggests, saw him a couple of times with dash in the center of the ground. Also has decent strength and didn't lose any contested marking situations. Really liking what I see from EVW - five games in too!
 

Roosurgence

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No fuss, just quietly goes about his business and does his job.

5 games in and I don't think he would even rate a mention at selection now, just pencil the name in which is a big testament to how consistently good he has been.

If he keeps tracking like this we have a really reliable defender with a good solid career ahead of him.
 
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