Player Watch #29: Will Phillips - tags N.Daicos vs Collingwood - subbed off at 3/4 time??

[the big lebowski]

Players spirits are up despite the loss. They know they we were missing a few in LDU and Zurhaar and Thomas in the VFL. Sydney was there for the taking and we couldnt close. Young sides do that.

But the belief is there now. Need to keep that momentum going into next week. Pressure is on Collingwood to get the job done. But this is our turf and so far at Marvel we have proven hard to beat.

I cant describe whats its like when you come off the field and everyone put in a shift in an unfair loss. No one can be blamed for that. Maybe Drury, Stevo and Shiels had quiet games but the rest all contributed.

WP knows he still needs to get fitter but hes happy that hes got the opportunity to play inside mid and hes doesnt mind being asked to play the inside bull and get his hands dirty. Sometimes you just give the kids the task and let them tackle it head on. Doesnt phase him one bit. Happy that he disposed of it well overall and that he kept turnovers to a minimal.

Kid is always gonna be team first. Does not care for the accolades or for the fancy stuff so long as the team wins. Leave him in the middle.

Love it.

When you say he knows he’s got to get fitter, that’s obvious and true for many of his team mates as well.

How far off does he think he is from his running ceiling? I’ve said flippantly 25%~30%.

 

[tazaa]

Love it.

When you say he knows he’s got to get fitter, that’s obvious and true for many of his team mates as well.

How far off does he think he is from his running ceiling? I’ve said flippantly 25%~30%.

Time is all it is. Hes only going to get fitter with experience. He's 3 preseasons into his career and played 22 games. Reality is hes never cracked 20 disposals just yet but that will come. Hed rather get it 16, 17 times and use it well the majority of the time then get it 25 plus and turn it over 10 times.
He knows he brings something different to Sheezel, and to Wardlaw and to Zurhaar. Same with Thomas and Stephenson. All of them have unique attributes.

 

[hurricane]

Daniel Harris ran a 2.93 as well. He doesn't play with speed, particularly post clearance.

Moti like me you’ve been here forever (Daniel Harris inspired my user name!) and I love your posts but you’ve been blindly beating the speed drum the whole time. We could play Usain Bolt on the wing and you’d complain that he doesn’t look that quick!

Some players have real speed but need to develop a season or so to show it. Atley was a case in point - super wheels but we hardly saw them until his second year when he had more strength and confidence.

Other players have decent pace but because they lock in close and don’t look for the ball on the outside we don’t see it much. A team of Jack Petruccelles will look like lightning but won’t win many games.

I also think that we’re taken by the speedy highlights from opposition players, but because we don’t watch them much we don’t see all the other times that they might look more sluggish.

What I remember from Will’s junior highlights was a player that crashed into contests, used quick hands and motored out the other side with a decent amount of toe. I’m pretty confident that that’s the player we’ll end up with once he gets his body to AFL level.

 

[justroyal]

Our man

 

[Moti]

Moti like me you’ve been here forever (Daniel Harris inspired my user name!) and I love your posts but you’ve been blindly beating the speed drum the whole time. We could play Usain Bolt on the wing and you’d complain that he doesn’t look that quick!

Some players have real speed but need to develop a season or so to show it. Atley was a case in point - super wheels but we hardly saw them until his second year when he had more strength and confidence.

Other players have decent pace but because they lock in close and don’t look for the ball on the outside we don’t see it much. A team of Jack Petruccelles will look like lightning but won’t win many games.

I also think that we’re taken by the speedy highlights from opposition players, but because we don’t watch them much we don’t see all the other times that they might look more sluggish.

What I remember from Will’s junior highlights was a player that crashed into contests, used quick hands and motored out the other side with a decent amount of toe. I’m pretty confident that that’s the player we’ll end up with once he gets his body to AFL level.

Agree love my speed and feel we need more of it.

However, my comments on WP and speed was specific in that I disagreed he played like Butters as he didn’t have the speed of Butters or play at speed like him.


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[ferball]

What I remember from Will’s junior highlights was a player that crashed into contests, used quick hands and motored out the other side with a decent amount of toe. I’m pretty confident that that’s the player we’ll end up with once he gets his body to AFL level.

I reckon he does this now, at AFL level. Not all the time but often enough that you san see him doing it more and more as time goes on and then one day he'll be getting 25-30 touches a game, 20 contested and dominating around the ball and we'll go "of course..."

That's how LDU did it, with a different playing style and body type obviously.

 

[HBFlanker]

Ive got a bit of a concern around Will.

It was mentioned on here/twitter recently that we are probably already a bit heavy in terms of midfielders. Sheezel also showed on the weekend he can go through, which is a massive bonus for the club.

Lets paint a picture here, including wingers:

Top Liners - LDU, Simpkin, Sheezel
Next tier - Cunnington, Powell, Phillips, Wardlaw, Scott, Tucker, Greenwood, Shiels

for the purpose of this exercise i'm not including the three wildcards of Zurhaar, Thomas and Stephenson.

At the moment, moving forward, I'd like to see a starting midfield of LDU, Simpkin, Wardlaw, with Powell and Phillips as the rotations. This leaves Phillips in a very precarious situation, due to him being the one keeping Cunners and Greenwood (potentially) out of the side. Cunners will be back in at some point.

Ive named 11 players here, with three of them genuine wingers (Scott, Tucker, Shiels), so lets say 8 mids. I would rank him 5th or 6th at the moment.

To summarise my ramble. If Sheezel ends up playing in the middle, theres no way Phillips fits in. And if we somehow draft Harley Reid, he would be very very nervous.

 

[DesertRoo]

Ive got a bit of a concern around Will.

It was mentioned on here/twitter recently that we are probably already a bit heavy in terms of midfielders. Sheezel also showed on the weekend he can go through, which is a massive bonus for the club.

Lets paint a picture here, including wingers:

Top Liners - LDU, Simpkin, Sheezel
Next tier - Cunnington, Powell, Phillips, Wardlaw, Scott, Tucker, Greenwood, Shiels

for the purpose of this exercise i'm not including the three wildcards of Zurhaar, Thomas and Stephenson.

At the moment, moving forward, I'd like to see a starting midfield of LDU, Simpkin, Wardlaw, with Powell and Phillips as the rotations. This leaves Phillips in a very precarious situation, due to him being the one keeping Cunners and Greenwood (potentially) out of the side. Cunners will be back in at some point.

Ive named 11 players here, with three of them genuine wingers (Scott, Tucker, Shiels), so lets say 8 mids. I would rank him 5th or 6th at the moment.

To summarise my ramble. If Sheezel ends up playing in the middle, theres no way Phillips fits in. And if we somehow draft Harley Reid, he would be very very nervous.

I’m the opposite, most of the really good premiership teams have about ten players capable of running through the midfield.
You get that many capable and you’ll find that can share the workload, so players will be fresher towards the end of games and aiming for the end of season. You also have flexibility during games if one piece goes down, you can have plan A, plan B or plan C fluid movement, as all players know the gameplan and role they have to play.
Something we’ve seriously missed for years.
It’s also impossible to defend against, I mean what happens if they start tagging Sheez in the back half and he moves to the midfield, TT takes his place, do they tag TT or Sheez?

 

[HBFlanker]

I’m the opposite, most of the really good premiership teams have about ten players capable of running through the midfield.
You get that many capable and you’ll find that can share the workload, so players will be fresher towards the end of games and aiming for the end of season. You also have flexibility during games if one piece goes down, you can have plan A, plan B or plan C fluid movement, as all players know the gameplan and role they have to play.
Something we’ve seriously missed for years.
It’s also impossible to defend against, I mean what happens if they start tagging Sheez in the back half and he moves to the midfield, TT takes his place, do they tag TT or Sheez?

Understand that point but you simply cant fit them all in to a 22. Especially when Clarko has already shown he likes to play Zurhaar through their too, and even Curtis started a game through the middle.

I think Richmond changed that approach too when they won their flags. They had 6 at most that would actually go through the middle.

 

[Moti]

Ive got a bit of a concern around Will.

It was mentioned on here/twitter recently that we are probably already a bit heavy in terms of midfielders. Sheezel also showed on the weekend he can go through, which is a massive bonus for the club.

Lets paint a picture here, including wingers:

Top Liners - LDU, Simpkin, Sheezel
Next tier - Cunnington, Powell, Phillips, Wardlaw, Scott, Tucker, Greenwood, Shiels

for the purpose of this exercise i'm not including the three wildcards of Zurhaar, Thomas and Stephenson.

At the moment, moving forward, I'd like to see a starting midfield of LDU, Simpkin, Wardlaw, with Powell and Phillips as the rotations. This leaves Phillips in a very precarious situation, due to him being the one keeping Cunners and Greenwood (potentially) out of the side. Cunners will be back in at some point.

Ive named 11 players here, with three of them genuine wingers (Scott, Tucker, Shiels), so lets say 8 mids. I would rank him 5th or 6th at the moment.

To summarise my ramble. If Sheezel ends up playing in the middle, theres no way Phillips fits in. And if we somehow draft Harley Reid, he would be very very nervous.

I see TT as a genuine midfield option and having him in the Top Liners section with an asterix. Cunners won't play beyond this year.

For me it depends how effective some of the Part Time mids are as well. Zurhaar was impactful when he went in there and I have a feeling Curtis will be groomed for the same as we saw in the pre-season. Wardlaw may have only have played one game, but he is unique amongst our squad and therefore I have in the Top Liner in waiting category.

Now Philips and Powell are both excellent options, they play differently but are both inside mids in the traditional sense. Will we be able to give them a lot of time in there or will one be put to the side like Powell on Saturday? I have a sneaky feeling only one will end up being a major part of the midfield and I don't see either having much to offer outside of the centre square.

Also, like Greene, perhaps Sheezel would be preferred forward and deployed in the middle only if required.

One thing is for sure, it is going to be refreshing being disappointed at a favourite missing out in the team because it is so good rather than crappy selection.

 

[DesertRoo]

Understand that point but you simply cant fit them all in to a 22. Especially when Clarko has already shown he likes to play Zurhaar through their too, and even Curtis started a game through the middle.

I think Richmond changed that approach too when they won their flags. They had 6 at most that would actually go through the middle.

Richmond changed the game certainly with pressure, I think the pies have taken that model to the next level using midfielders everywhere.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Understand that point but you simply cant fit them all in to a 22. Especially when Clarko has already shown he likes to play Zurhaar through their too, and even Curtis started a game through the middle.

I think Richmond changed that approach too when they won their flags. They had 6 at most that would actually go through the middle.

How is Tom Mitchell going to get a game at Collingwood with their midfield already stacked, De Goey getting a run there and Daicos stepping up to be more than a skilful half back? They do an important job for the team - and it’s early days but that’s the kind of ‘get the ball feed it out’ player Will looks like he could be - you find a way to play them.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Richmond changed the game certainly with pressure, I think the pies have taken that model to the next level using midfielders everywhere.

Snap.

 

[HBFlanker]

How is Tom Mitchell going to get a game at Collingwood with their midfield already stacked, De Goey getting a run there and Daicos stepping up to be more than a skilful half back? They do an important job for the team - and it’s early days but that’s the kind of ‘get the ball feed it out’ player Will looks like he could be - you find a way to play them.

Collingwoods midfield was their biggest weakness last year? Its still far from stacked now. They are beating teams purely on system.

 

[HBFlanker]

Richmond changed the game certainly with pressure, I think the pies have taken that model to the next level using midfielders everywhere.

So where does Will play if it isnt in the middle?

Is he in front of any of the following as a forward?

Thomas
Zurhaar
Stephenson
Curtis

I could see him playing the N.Daicos role absolutely off half back absolutely, but does that mean a permanent move for Sheez?

Dont get me wrong, this is a bloody good problem to have.

 

[HBFlanker]

I see TT as a genuine midfield option and having him in the Top Liners section with an asterix. Cunners won't play beyond this year.

For me it depends how effective some of the Part Time mids are as well. Zurhaar was impactful when he went in there and I have a feeling Curtis will be groomed for the same as we saw in the pre-season. Wardlaw may have only have played one game, but he is unique amongst our squad and therefore I have in the Top Liner in waiting category.

Now Philips and Powell are both excellent options, they play differently but are both inside mids in the traditional sense. Will we be able to give them a lot of time in there or will one be put to the side like Powell on Saturday? I have a sneaky feeling only one will end up being a major part of the midfield and I don't see either having much to offer outside of the centre square.

Also, like Greene, perhaps Sheezel would be preferred forward and deployed in the middle only if required.

One thing is for sure, it is going to be refreshing being disappointed at a favourite missing out in the team because it is so good rather than crappy selection.

Well said, agree with a lot of this.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Collingwoods midfield was their biggest weakness last year? Its still far from stacked now. They are beating teams purely on system.

They are playing Pendlebury and Sidebottom and Adams and other players who would get into any midfield in the league wherever they want to because they have a full-ground system running. I didn’t think Ginnivan would get back in because they weren’t going to drop Hill or McCreery as small forwards, but it’s like they just don’t care about putting players into conventional positions any more.

 

[DesertRoo]

So where does Will play if it isnt in the middle?

Is he in front of any of the following as a forward?

Thomas
Zurhaar
Stephenson
Curtis

I could see him playing the N.Daicos role absolutely off half back absolutely, but does that mean a permanent move for Sheez?

Dont get me wrong, this is a bloody good problem to have.

I believed fluid movement of players within the structure is going to be the new norm.
Phillips is going to have to be able to play centre, hhf, hbf or wing at any moment during the game, they all have to do the same.
As a group they’ll be able to adjust the structure according to where the ball is, rather then where the player has lined up.

 

[Moti]

I believed fluid movement of players within the structure is going to be the new norm.
Phillips is going to have to be able to play centre, hhf, hbf or wing at any moment during the game, they all have to do the same.
As a group they’ll be able to adjust the structure according to where the ball is, rather then where the player has lined up.

I agree but I see that as potentially being the difficult part for Will. He isn't tall or overly athletic so would need to be able to replicate someone like Baker or Daniel at being able to be effective at the alternative position. Haven't seen it yet, but will be interested how we goes.

 

[DuckYeah]

Understand that point but you simply cant fit them all in to a 22. Especially when Clarko has already shown he likes to play Zurhaar through their too, and even Curtis started a game through the middle.

I think Richmond changed that approach too when they won their flags. They had 6 at most that would actually go through the middle.

There could only be one reason clarko plays CZ in the middle and thats to take some body or win some contested pill. Zurhaar isnt a midfielders bum hole. Doesnt have the aerobic capacity to play on ball. Pinch hit at best.

 

[HBFlanker]

There could only be one reason clarko plays CZ in the middle and thats to take some body or win some contested pill. Zurhaar isnt a midfielders bum hole. Doesnt have the aerobic capacity to play on ball. Pinch hit at best.

26 touches playing entirely in the middle in our best win of the season says otherwise

 

[Souup]

A lot of the better clubs seem to go with a 4-player midfield rotation of 60%+ TOG each, and another who has 30-40%TOG.

I'd have LDU, Wardlaw, Simpkin, Phillips as the best 4 right now, with Powell the 5th.

Play a high half-forward as an additional midfielder at around the ground stoppages, similar to what Gold Coast have been doing with Humphrey or Sydney with Gulden - this player can be Sheezel, Curtis, Zurhaar or Thomas.

I think we can fit them all in, but we wouldn't want to add too many more pure midfielders to the list - all the more reason to grab Nick Watson and some outside run at the end of the year.

 

[Hojuman]

A lot of the better clubs seem to go with a 4-player midfield rotation of 60%+ TOG each, and another who has 30-40%TOG.

I'd have LDU, Wardlaw, Simpkin, Phillips as the best 4 right now, with Powell the 4th.

Play a high half-forward as an additional midfielder at around the ground stoppages, similar to what Gold Coast have been doing with Humphrey or Sydney with Gulden - this player can be Sheezel, Curtis, Zurhaar or Thomas.

I think we can fit them all in, but we wouldn't want to add too many more pure midfielders to the list - all the more reason to grab Nick Watson and some outside run at the end of the year.

Really hope WC take Reid. Then the decision is out of our hands.

Be peeved if he ended anywhere else though. If bloody *, Gee, Rich, Haw.end up with him through wheeling & dealing

 

[DuckYeah]

26 touches playing entirely in the middle in our best win of the season says otherwise

the reason we won that was because of LDU’s dominance. Not Zurhaars. Also, whats he done since then? He gasses out far too often. He’s a genuine HFF not a Midfielder. Sorry, not sorry.

He’s that fatigued playing on ball, he cant kick 40m and he sprays his set shots. Long term, he wont play there

 

[Colby Cheer Squad]

Ive got a bit of a concern around Will.

It was mentioned on here/twitter recently that we are probably already a bit heavy in terms of midfielders. Sheezel also showed on the weekend he can go through, which is a massive bonus for the club.

Lets paint a picture here, including wingers:

Top Liners - LDU, Simpkin, Sheezel
Next tier - Cunnington, Powell, Phillips, Wardlaw, Scott, Tucker, Greenwood, Shiels

for the purpose of this exercise i'm not including the three wildcards of Zurhaar, Thomas and Stephenson.

At the moment, moving forward, I'd like to see a starting midfield of LDU, Simpkin, Wardlaw, with Powell and Phillips as the rotations. This leaves Phillips in a very precarious situation, due to him being the one keeping Cunners and Greenwood (potentially) out of the side. Cunners will be back in at some point.

Ive named 11 players here, with three of them genuine wingers (Scott, Tucker, Shiels), so lets say 8 mids. I would rank him 5th or 6th at the moment.

To summarise my ramble. If Sheezel ends up playing in the middle, theres no way Phillips fits in. And if we somehow draft Harley Reid, he would be very very nervous.

You might need to start coming to terms with the fact that Ben Cunnington is much closer to the end of his career than he is to the start. Like, much, much closer.