Player Watch Welcome to Hawthorn, James Worpel, pick #43 2017 - Peter Crimmins medalist 2019

[H00t]

He's been quite good at converting those fast centre clearances straight to a forward for goals. He was doing that a fair bit back in his PCM year too.

The clearance against freo in 2019 where he hit Lewis on the chest is one of my favourites. They are such value goals as they arrest momentum or allow us to continue to score quickly.

Interestingly enough he had 11 goal assists from 22 games in 2019. He’s already ahead this year after only 11 games.

 

[cryptor]

Rarely see him throw it on the boot around the body indiscriminately any more.

If he’s kicking it these days it tends to only be after he’s looked up to see what he’s kicking to, otherwise he’s handballing it off.

His evasive body work with Max Viney and his composure when kicking have really elevated his game to career best levels.

It would be good to see him hitting the scoreboard too. He’s quite a good kick on the run so I wouldn’t mind seeing him taking some shots when bursting out of the centre square if there isn’t a clear lead from a forward on offer.

 

[Bugs1977]

Rarely see him throw it on the boot around the body indiscriminately any more.

If he’s kicking it these days it tends to only be after he’s looked up to see what he’s kicking to, otherwise he’s handballing it off.

His evasive body work with Max Viney and his composure when kicking have really elevated his game to career best levels.

It would be good to see him hitting the scoreboard too. He’s quite a good kick on the run so I wouldn’t mind seeing him taking some shots when bursting out of the centre square if there isn’t a clear lead from a forward on offer.

Agreed. This would keep his opponent honest too because they can't then assume he's just going to get it in and under and then look for an easy handball out.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

I like that he's blazing away a lot less than in previous seasons. He's taking a split second more time, as he seemingly knows that he can fight through most contact and most tackles now. That confidence allows him to have enough time to dish off to someone as opposed to just slamming it on the boot.

He had several down weeks possession wise, but was still playing his role in and around the clearances. With Day and Moore rotating through the middle we have five players now that can win clearances, four of them are a decent size and the fifth is the most tenacious of them all. It's a great mix right now.

Edit: I imagine having confidence in his body has contributed greatly to this.

 

[eldorado]

Just bumping this...

He has been absolutely magnificent in the last eight weeks...a key part in our turn-around.

All those things we wanted...lowering the eyes, hitting targets....he's doing them every week.

For a long time, he was seen as just the 'grunt', with not much 'class'...and even as trade bait by some...but he is indispensible at the moment.

 

[TylerDurden]

Back on his home deck this week too.

 

[humid hawk]

Yes, look, it's yet another james worpel

5

James Worpel

Age

25

Ht

186cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.5

5star

K

12.2

5star

HB

11.3

5star

M

2.9

3star

T

4.5

5star

CL

5.1

5star

No current season stats available

D

15.6

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

9.4

5star

M

1.0

1star

T

3.2

5star

CL

1.8

4star

fanboy post. You knew it was coming, right?

Worps has been our most consistent performer this year. Even in the first few rounds when we were copping some beatings he was putting his head over the ball and clocking some decent numbers.

He's on a journey to get the very best out of himself and his talent. The extra work he's doing around grappling and evasion, and the stack of work he's obviously done around his delivery inside 50 is really paying dividends.

The word "ceiling" gets thrown around a lot in terms of this invisible barrier that somehow limits what a player is able to achieve - I'm not a huge fan of it, tbh. Our coach was an example of someone who was "too fat and too slow", but ended up with one of the greatest individual careers in footy history because of his absolute will to improve his game and develop his weapons. Worps evidently has a real desire to improve his game also, and he is a crucial cog in our plans for the next few years.

 

[lyger]

Just bumping this...

He has been absolutely magnificent in the last eight weeks...a key part in our turn-around.

All those things we wanted...lowering the eyes, hitting targets....he's doing them every week.

For a long time, he was seen as just the 'grunt', with not much 'class'...and even as trade bait by some...but he is indispensible at the moment.

Good bump

Of the midfield quartet that established themselves last year (Day, Newk, Nash, Worps) I think Worps was seen by many as the most susceptible in terms of maintaining their starting mid status.

As you say, credit to him for taking the next step this year and being a major factor in our progress.

 

[TylerDurden]

Reckon he'd love nothing more that to smash the Cats down there, in front of family and friends.

 

[cs61]

Just bumping this...

He has been absolutely magnificent in the last eight weeks...a key part in our turn-around.

All those things we wanted...lowering the eyes, hitting targets....he's doing them every week.

For a long time, he was seen as just the 'grunt', with not much 'class'...and even as trade bait by some...but he is indispensible at the moment.

Bursting away from stoppages, evading tackles, lace out passes that barely get over eye level the whole way. The development in him from our coach and also Burge to work on his weaknesses and actually become strengths has been incredible. Also one of the hardest trainers at the club and all that hard work is starting to pay off. Is turning into an A grade midfielder.

 

[kirbatron]

definite change from hack it forward to hold onto it, find space & hit up team mates with 20-30 worm burners

as tough as they come

 

[grumbleguts]

Bursting away from stoppages, evading tackles, lace out passes that barely get over eye level the whole way.

And all for the low low price of pick 43.

 

[TylerDurden]

One of the best games he's ever played yesterday. Love him.

 

[Sixpence]

So glad Sam backed him in and didn't trade him a couple of years ago. Would have been pissed seeing him play like this for Geelong!

 

[Simon Crawshay]

And at 25 he's just entering his absolute prime, will be plenty of awesome footy ahead from the Worpedo in the next five years

Can't get over how much better his kicking is this year, it's improved out of site along with his usual ballistic attack on the ball.

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

Seriously reliably good footballer now. Strong take-no-prisoners approach is to be admired. The best thing for him was Tom Mitchell being moved on when he was.

 

[CHUBBSS]

Consistently has found another level now, doing some seriously good things far to often now. He looks so much stronger in every contest

 

[lyger]

Consistently has found another level now, doing some seriously good things far to often now. He looks so much stronger in every contest

Speaking of ‘stronger in contest’, it seems to me that Worps is not going to ground as much as before, and this is assisting with getting off a quick handball in traffic and follow up link play.

 

[natio]

He has turned around his delivery into F50 from a weakness to a strength. Bloody amazing. Obviously did a lot of work on decision making and execution. And becoming super consistent. All credit to him. Very impressive.

 

[I got the outside word]

His grappling work looks to have given him the confidence to realise he has more time. He doesn’t need to rush dump kicks anymore because he knows that most times he will break a tackle. Genius. We don’t just have our Peter Crimmins medalist back, he’s gone up a level or more.

 

[Hawkas1988]

Love Worps. Many doubted he would come good when Mitchell left.

He has absolutely killed it these past 2 years, especially this year. His hands are so clean and his kicking has improved massively. Gun!

Sent from my SM-S916B using Tapatalk

 

[flinchfree]

His grappling work looks to have given him the confidence to realise he has more time. He doesn’t need to rush dump kicks anymore because he knows that most times he will break a tackle. Genius. We don’t just have our Peter Crimmins medalist back, he’s gone up a level or more.

It's absolutely true.
Not sure if the rest on here realize what you're describing, but the reel showing him how to break tackles by forcing the tacklers arms up from his torso to his shoulders, which he then twists and shrugs off, is now a real strength.
Everything those on BF lose their minds over when some of our players drive up the tacklers arms into high free kicks or moments of escapism.
Personally, I love it. Worps has become a monster.

 

[Cyril says]

The speed at which he dishes to Newk and Day is just phenomenal. To me he is the most important cog at the moment. Loving his work!