Universal Love Willem "big willy style" Drew

[Chrizzt]

He's been instructed to play as a tagger. He had a game earlier when he got 32 possessions. Still plays limited TOG.

Just needs to find a better balance between defence and attack.

Yeah I am pretty certain Drew's lack of possessions are because of his time on ground rather than inability to find the ball

He's only had 4 matches with 25+ touches this year, and 17 matches with under 20 touches. That's not good enough, regardless of whether you are "defensive" or not. If you only rack up 8 touches as a tagger, and "limit" your opponent to 20, you are still -12 touches as a matchup. That's a loss, and why AFL clubs are moving away from dedicated taggers.

I do agree our TOG% for midfielders is strangely low compared to other clubs, but his possessions per minute is below that required of an AFL midfielder.

 

[agmsy]

But I also have serious doubts as to whether he's good enough. His hands are super quick and clean but he has very limited hurt factor outside of stoppage, is slow, can't kick, and doesn't look like he'll ever be an accumulator.

Sure his tackling is great, too - had 8 last night. But Treloar had 9 - along with 23 touches and 1.2. Dunkley also had 8 tackles to go with 22 touches.
Macrae only slightly behind on 6 tackles to go with his 36 touches.

He's only had 4 matches with 25+ touches this year, and 17 matches with under 20 touches. That's not good enough, regardless of whether you are "defensive" or not. If you only rack up 8 touches as a tagger, and "limit" your opponent to 20, you are still -12 touches as a matchup. That's a loss, and why AFL clubs are moving away from dedicated taggers.

I do agree our TOG% for midfielders is strangely low compared to other clubs, but his possessions per minute is below that required of an AFL midfielder.

Who knows what Drew will end up being? Between TOG%, and the amount of possessions Boak and Wines accumulate, I'm not sure there's that much space for a third inside midfielder to rack up 25+ every week.

I also think looking at possession differential can oversimplify things; it's about position and quality as much as quantity.

Drew just made it through his first full season of AFL football, and he showed a bit. Maybe he could have showed more, and maybe he'll still wind up on the lower end of whatever trajectory this year has him on, but this year was a decent foundation to build on.

Sure, his numbers last night don't compare favourably to Treloar and Macrae, but I reckon most here could point to 10-15+ bigger fu**-ups last night, including much bigger fu**-ups by much more experienced, senior players.

 

[philthy05]

One of the best defensive players in the league

This year was a great building year for him.

However, if we carry a player in the midfield just for his awesome defensive work we will suffer. We already are lacking in the midfield area, we can’t be one person down offensively. Especially as boak and grays Superhuman efforts become a thing of the past.

he’s going to need to become at least a 18+d 5+ clearance (but heading towards eventually 22+d and 7clrs) winner every week as well as the defensive game he brings. Find balance, or else someone in our midfield will always need to bring 150% to make up for a one way midfielder.

The good news is he’s got it in him. He’s had several high number games this year.

The focus on his preseason has to be on his gut running so he can be involved in more contests and his clearance work cause we need him to become our number 1 inside guy cause he doesn’t have massive outside hurt factor.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

He's only had 4 matches with 25+ touches this year, and 17 matches with under 20 touches. That's not good enough, regardless of whether you are "defensive" or not. If you only rack up 8 touches as a tagger, and "limit" your opponent to 20, you are still -12 touches as a matchup. That's a loss, and why AFL clubs are moving away from dedicated taggers.

I do agree our TOG% for midfielders is strangely low compared to other clubs, but his possessions per minute is below that required of an AFL midfielder.

I will take Drew getting 8 if he keeps a 35+ possession game average Macrae to 20 and those 20 are under high pressure and he produces a few clangers and a few ineffective kicks. Raw numbers are a bit meaningless.

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

Ken saying we've started Drew on the bench all year...

...oh, was there ever a time when we seemed to give up huge scores to the opposition early before having to claw our way back? There's no way that would have even happened the last time we played played Bulldogs, surely?

Bye Kenlicia.

 

[Sleezy]

i don't get the Drew criticism one bit. That bulldogs midfield has 3 of the best 6 mids in the comp in it (Oliver, Petracca & Wines the other 3) Drew has played 30 odd games and had a ding dong battle with Libba, who he's beaten in the past, but got him this time, not helped by the fact Libba's most impactful period of the game was while Drew was on the bench!

This loss isn't on Drew. It's on:
- The coaches for starting Robbie Gray

9

Robbie Gray

Age

36

Ht

183cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.9

5star

K

9.8

4star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.2

5star

G

1.4

5star

D

13.3

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

7.3

4star

M

2.4

3star

T

2.6

4star

G

0.6

4star

D

10.4

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

1.4

4star

G

1.4

5star

in the center. He's the break glass in case of emergency mid for when we're getting pantsed and need to mix it up, not the first choice in a hot final against a fast breaking midfield. It was a hail mary.
- Boak, Amon & Duursma for being unable/unwilling to nullify McRae, Hunter & Smith. They are our three best runners and they got burned both ways.
- Lycett for being unable to do more than break even with the ghost of Stefan Martin

8

Stefan Martin

Age

37

Ht

198cm

Wt

99kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.4

4star

K

8.4

3star

HB

8.0

5star

CL

4.0

5star

HO

23.5

5star

D

6.4

1star

K

4.2

2star

HB

2.2

2star

CL

2.6

4star

HO

18.4

5star

D

11.6

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

5.6

4star

HO

1.0

4star

The problem is, Libba has insane hands in traffic. Just insane. It takes more than a tag to clamp him, you also have to limit the outlets, and we just completely failed to do that.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

This year was a huge development year for Drew to establish himself in the 22 and more importantly building confidence in himself and his body.

Would love to see next year him spend more time hunting the ball himself first rather that playing a defensive mindset. Obviously if the opposition are getting easy clearances he would clamp down but when he attacks the ball first more often than not he gets his hands to it first. He could be our Libba and dominate clearances for us while also getting that 25 odd disposals a game.

Would like to see him add an attacking side too his game and be our Libba/Oliver in a few years.

Great season by him though.

 

[Harlott]

This year was a huge development year for Drew to establish himself in the 22 and more importantly building confidence in himself and his body.

Would love to see next year him spend more time hunting the ball himself first rather that playing a defensive mindset. Obviously if the opposition are getting easy clearances he would clamp down but when he attacks the ball first more often than not he gets his hands to it first. He could be our Libba and dominate clearances for us while also getting that 25 odd disposals a game.

Would like to see him add an attacking side too his game and be our Libba/Oliver in a few years.

Great season by him though.

He’s not gonna be our Libba or Oliver. He’s a negator. Those guys are creators.

 

[LeoMessi]

I think he goes alright but I still don’t think him starting on the bench is the reason why we just couldn’t get to the ball at all. Our midfield in general has been relatively crap against top tier midfield. Hence why we don’t beat too 8 teams

 

[agmsy]

He’s not gonna be our Libba or Oliver. He’s a negator. Those guys are creators.

I don't think he'll ever have the burst or pace to do what Oliver does in open play or breaking away from stoppage, but he could absolutely be more than Liberatore, who is excellent at the coalface but not too much otherwise.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

He’s not gonna be our Libba or Oliver. He’s a negator. Those guys are creators.

He’s also only played 30 odd games. I don’t see any reason he couldn’t add an attacking flair to his game as well. Those two are excellent extractors and contested players which is what Drew is. He doesn’t need to be an explosive player to get to their level in the future.

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

I don't think he'll ever have the burst or pace to do what Oliver does in open play or breaking away from stoppage, but he could absolutely be more than Liberatore, who is excellent at the coalface but not too much otherwise.

I wouldn’t describe Oliver as a player who has explosive speed or breaks away from the contest like Petracca per say. He has extremely quick hands in the contest and excellent reflexes and awareness which I think are similar traits to Drew. Drew won’t be an accumulator to the level of Oliver but I think he could certainly model his inside game on him while also keeping his negator role when needed.

 

[Duckimus Prime]

I think he goes alright but I still don’t think him starting on the bench is the reason why we just couldn’t get to the ball at all. Our midfield in general has been relatively crap against top tier midfield. Hence why we don’t beat too 8 teams

We beat 5 out of 7 teams in the top 8.

 

[HotSausage69]

Should be tried in defence. Swap roles with someone like Houston

 

[powerrrrrrrrrrrr]

Should be tried in defence. Swap roles with someone like Houston

Couldn’t disagree with this more.

We have a team full of back flankers and very limited proven quality midfielders. Houston has been tested as a mid multiple times and always looks completely lost and can’t get near it. While he’s solid on a back flank.

We don’t move one of our only and most promising young midfielders to a back flank for a players whose proved many times over the years he can’t play that position.

 

[Powerade 08]

Interesting Willem Drew

28

Willem Drew

Age

25

Ht

188cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.9

4star

K

7.2

3star

HB

8.7

5star

M

2.2

2star

T

5.6

5star

CL

2.3

4star

No current season stats available

D

18.0

5star

K

9.2

4star

HB

8.8

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

4.2

5star

CL

2.8

5star

facts

In round 5 v Carlton he had 13 disposals for 11 metres gained

Round 14 v Sydney 18 disposals for 19 metres gained

I wonder what the record is for least metres gained per touch

 

[Schulzenfest]

Interesting Willem Drew facts

In round 5 v Carlton he had 13 disposals for 11 metres gained

Round 14 v Sydney 18 disposals for 19 metres gained

I wonder what the record is for least metres gained per touch

There are players who have played full games with negative metres gained, so it'd be one of them.

 

[Powerade 08]

There are players who have played full games with negative metres gained, so it'd be one of them.

Maybe there needs to be a minimum no. of touches for it to count. 18 touches for 19 metres seems v unusual. He played well too.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Maybe there needs to be a minimum no. of touches for it to count.

In that case, I have done absolutely no research into this but the answer is Matt Crouch

 

[dirty2]

Have to look at the roll he plays as well... His job is defensive midfielder/win the ball and give it to the rozee's of the team.

 

[dirty2]

In that case, I have done absolutely no research into this but the answer is Matt Crouch

Matt or brad... One of the crabs would have it.

 

[Powerade 08]

In that case, I have done absolutely no research into this but the answer is Matt Crouch

Thats the first one I looked at, but not even close.

Robbie Grays last game was -24, but only had 1 kick and 6 touches.

 

[port_adelaide_1870]

If Drew could average like 24-26 disposals a game instead of 18-19 he would be AA easily. Has such a big impact when he is around the ball

 

[HHHAMMERtime]

I reckon drew has the highest effective possession percentage for an inside mid this year. Every game he gets more contested than uncontested touches and regularly cracks the 80% effective range. Which is absolutely elite for that level of contested touches- if he gets to 25 touches a game average he will literally be top 10 players in the comp based on those figures plus his top shelf tackling (he absolutely had Rowell on toast numerous times on the weekend). I think when boak finishes up we will see drew lift his possession numbers.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

There are players who have played full games with negative metres gained, so it'd be one of them.

Most likely Matt Crouch.

EDIT: Way too slow.