Player Watch Rupert Wills (Delisted 2020)

[The Dawes]

Doing everything right to retain his spot and prolong his career

 

[Markfs]

perfectly suited to this game...

 

[nahnah]

The ‘rupe rupe rupe rupe’ every time he gets the ball or nails someone in a tackle and sounds like a barking dog is hilarious

 

[Soups]

Absolute battering ram. He took and makes some bike crunching hit tonight.

 

[jonbe54]

Without Rupe tonight we were toast, clogged up their contested game and wore down their mids.

 

[Mooresome]

I confess ,i didn't think he would amount to much but after tonight he has my vote for a contract extension ,played a beauty.

 

[regpies]

Outstanding grunt work tonight. A bit like Adams where tight finals and wet weather games suit him perfectly.

Better defensively better than Sier

 

[Kappa]

Impressive, but his kicking is seriously a big issue.

 

[Scritchyscroony]

Important player for us at the moment. Make no mistake.
13 effective tackles! That's huge.

 

[DinoSoar]

Without Rupe tonight we were toast, clogged up their contested game and wore down their mids.

Your boy did well tonight jonbe54, chose the right game to step up.

 

[jonbe54]

Your boy did well tonight jonbe54, chose the right game to step up.

He is building - will never get brownlow votes or best ons - but getting the match committees votes is more important. Match committees are interested in more than flashy runs and soaring marks. He would be among the first considered at present because in finals pressure and intimidation are king.

At Collingwood nobody does it better - or as good - as Rupe.

He performs his very specific role perfectly - kill the contest and bruise the opposition.

I don't understand what more any supporter could ask of an in and under mid??????????

 

[DRIZZT]

Impressive, but his kicking is seriously a big issue.

Not like you to find a negative

 

[sirlothie]

Rupe.

 

[Get Gaffed]

I don't pretend to have much if any knowledge of American football (so forgive me if my terminology is wrong) but in some way I can't help but feel the demented wombat is filling a similar role to that of a defensive lineman or linebacker in slowing up the opposition by sticking tackles or using his large frame to create time and space for our more polished midfielders to win clean possession.

The Big Rupe reminds me most of ice hockeys "Enforcer" . Gotta love Big Rupe the Enforcer !!!

Impressive, but his kicking is seriously a big issue.

Had a few stab kicks when should of went long down the line but you get that in a high intensity game, especially one of his experience. Also you have to consider Rupe was a real late comer to this game, only started a couple years ago and he only played a handful of vfl games before we picked him up so he will make better decisions moving forward as he picks up his game sense. Just needs to play within his limitations and keep it simple, play percentage footy.

Another underated aspect to Rupe is that he's been one of the only players to rock the headband with any form of style or have it suit him. Bit of a brucey Doull about it without the birds nest going on. Most of all he reminds me of vulcan, one half of the bash bros in mighty ducks who also happened to be an "Enforcer"

 

[sirlothie]

Rupe has been around a while.. played Collingwood VFL in 2015 and then drafted onto the list that year. He's just played stuff all AFL games, he's doubled his career tally this year for a grand total of 13 games in 4 years. He's had to earn every single game he's played the hard way.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Playing like a veteran. Scares the beJesus out of opposition midfielders

 

[Prestigerrycomo]

Outstanding grunt work tonight. A bit like Adams where tight finals and wet weather games suit him perfectly.

Better defensively better than Sier

And mentally and matured

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Hes careful to not give away frees when tackling in the contests. I have noticed he sometimes just sort of tackles "chest first" and knocks his opponent off balance. And then only clamps the arms around after he's sure his opponent has possession of the ball.

 

[Vicky Park]

The Data Game: 13-gamer looms as finals X-factor

Champion Data's Daniel Hoyne reveals what was behind Collingwood's recent form lift and explains who could be the 'point of difference'

www.afl.com.au

Stats telling us what our eyes are seeing. The hairband still looks a little lost when he's out on his own with the ball, but that's not his natural habitat. He's king of the inside contested domain. Cant recall another beast with such a baby face. Very intimidating and scary - for the opposition.

 

[ThePhantom777]

He doesn't let the opposition get the ball away from the contest easily or at all. In finals this is gold.

 

[jonbe54]

He doesn't let the opposition get the ball away from the contest easily or at all. In finals this is gold.

His game is custom made for finals, we drop him at our peril.

 

[Saintly Viewed]

Earned his way in.

Tough, uncompromising.
Tackling beast.
Never backwards in any steps.

People have mentioned Wills v Sier.

In many ways Wills is in the desired Sier role.

This season Wills has earned it far and above Sier.

The better player overall, at their better play BS 2018 v RW 2019 then it’s not that close for me, with Brayden superior as far better vision and a far better driver in heavy traffic.

But!!!!!
Wills has done it, worked super hard, does the business and nicely ahead this season. Kudos to him.

Rapped for Rupert the Bull.

It’s a terrific situation of having players put pressure on other players.

Last point with Levi out now (looks that way ) nice having Wills as a hard nut in there.

 

[Ulahoopski]

Does Wills hold his spot in the 22 come finals?

I reckon he's been an excellent foil on the inside since coming back into the team. His defensive pressure and tackling inside the contest is excellent. It is complimenting Adams and allowing Treloar to be more outside. He even managed to provide an outlet kick a few times tonight on the outside.

Still I have misgivings about him in the heat of finals. He has poor spatial awareness when disposing of the ball and he loses his feet in the contest and when tackling often which could be exploited against better quicker midfields.

Can we risk that? If dropped who replaces him on-ball?

I'm prepared to forgive your misgivings but you were already wrong about his awareness and his ability tp actually stand in tackles and give it off.

 

[The Plowking]

Earned his way in.

Tough, uncompromising.
Tackling beast.
Never backwards in any steps.

People have mentioned Wills v Sier.

In many ways Wills is in the desired Sier role.

This season Wills has earned it far and above Sier.

The better player overall, at their better play BS 2018 v RW 2019 then it’s not that close for me, with Brayden superior as far better vision and a far better driver in heavy traffic.

But!!!!!
Wills has done it, worked super hard, does the business and nicely ahead this season. Kudos to him.

Rapped for Rupert the Bull.

It’s a terrific situation of having players put pressure on other players.

Last point with Levi out now (looks that way ) nice having Wills as a hard nut in there.

Hopefully room for both in the future

 

[Scritchyscroony]

He doesn't let the opposition get the ball away from the contest easily or at all. In finals this is gold.

Yep. This is what he does. 13 effective tackles from Rupe is 13 times he has stopped an opposition clearance. Gets a few himself too. That is actually a VERY big contribution. Some don’t see it though.