Masterstroke! let the bloke he blanketed in the previous encounter off the chain and get confident straight away.
Player Watch Pick #33 (2016) - Willem Drew
- Thread starter Macca19
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Ollie is 29 and has looked cooked physically for 2 seasons now.
Even if he miraculously got back to his best how long would we expect that for
Ollie has also been more of a running spread mid than an inside beast lately anyway.
I would have preferred Drew signed for 4 than 5, but eh, that’s the player dominant era of afl we are in.
It's easy to forget that Willem is only 24 and played 81 games... he's still got a lot of room to grow so this contract is taking into account his expected improvement.
Im happy to have Drew on the list. I’m not sure he’s a starter in a premiership side though
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On the negative side of things, there's no player in the team that I have less faith in when it comes to set shot goal kicking - and that's an extremely competitive field of terrible set shot kickers.
Well done to Drew , he’s done well and will still improve a little .
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Drew probably said something nice about Ken once...
Why not?
A) do you think that jhf rozee butters and drew as on-ballers is not good enough to win a grand final?
B) who on our list is a better fit to play on ball next to the first 3 players?
C) do you think we want butters or rozee playing more inside / accountable football instead of drew?
Another point…. once rozee , butters and Jhf are all on their new contracts that’s probably going to be something like $2.8m - $3.5m tied up in the centre square just there alone. That’s more than a qtr of the cap for our 40man list.
I think it’s entirely realistic to have a role player who fits what we need likely on decent role player but not extravagant money.
Schulzenfest
TheBrownDog
There are only 3 starting midfield spots across 18 teams in the AFL. I think to have a guaranteed week in week out role at AFL level, you need to either be one of the top 54 midfielders in the AFL or you need to have the flexibility to play effectively somewhere else. I'm not sure Willem fits either category.
Plenty of good but not great midfielders who are talented enough to win state league medals in their sleep as pure midfielders have found themselves out of the league or struggling to impact at AFL level because they're not quite in their team's top few mids and they can't play anywhere else. I mentioned Luke Dunstan before. Matt Crouch. Trent Dumont. Jarryd Lyons is a permasub at Brisbane now. Brayden Fiorini is a bit part player.
Drew's one saving grace is that he's much better defensively than those guys, so that does give him a point of difference. But is that enough? Let's say Ollie gets back to his Brownlow best or thereabouts in the middle next year, and Rozee/Butters/JHF continue their good form. Where are you fitting Willem in? If you're giving, say, 80% CBA's to Butters and Rozee which is on par with what other elite mids getting, and giving another 50-60% CBA's to Ollie and JHF, that only leaves about 20-30% CBA time to go around between the rest of the team put together.
I like the bloke but he's not the sort of player I'm comfortable giving five years too. His usefulness is dependent on him getting a role which he isn't guaranteed to always get.
Nelso
Brownlow Medallist
Thoroughly deserved for the Red Rattler.
I can see both Bergmann and Jones being capable of playing a more dynamic midfield type role in the future if given the opportunity.
I would also play SPP over Drew 8 days a week as a mid. He is manic defensively and more damaging offensively. However he has made himself indispensable up forward and I can't see anybody slotting in that would leave SPP free to play as a mid.
Drew is a good run with player. I don't think anyone else could do that role better, but I am not sure he does it that well that he is worth a 4 year contract. No doubt retaining him has not broken the bank though so I am pretty happy with it overall. He can at least be depended on to give his all every game.
Marshall is our best performed tall forward over the last two seasons, hip injury and all. It would be lunacy to let him go with the uncertainty surrounding our other tall forwards. In what has to be Dixon's last season his fitness will be a constant concern. Who knows how Lord will develop or what post-ACL Mitch will look like. Finlayson had a roller coaster year which largely understandable. Sadly it is difficult to predict his form in the future.
Only an idiot would take any negativity from this news.
Must of left the dunny seat up before Sam Hayes’s morning smoko
DaTBird187
What D Farke?
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He once shared an Uber with Jed McEntee.
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Na, it's a long deal. These bite us on the ass regularly. All it takes is for something minor to change and he's playing 3 years of his deal in the SANFL. It could well be another DBJ or Clurey deal. I hope it won't be, but being concerned about the risk we've taken here is a totally fair position to be in.
If Bergman has a run on ball next year, absolutely stars, or maybe SPP just clicks on ball in a game or two, or maybe Hugh Jackson has an insane preseason and works his way in for an out of form Drew and performs? The point is who knows? Things can change incredibly quickly for fringe players like Drew and someone could pop up and bump him out of the centre in a heartbeat. And if Drew isn't in the centre square he's virtually useless.
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Just wanted to mention that Drew's shutdown roles won us games last year.
Last year, he also played half back flank both back and forward.
Can shut down off the half back flank.
Last year, he also played half back flank both back and forward.
Can shut down off the half back flank.
In terms of AFL Player Ratings (an imperfect measure, but best of a bad bunch), Big Willy ranks in the same bracket as:
Was our fourth highest rated player last year behind Butters, Rozee & Houston. That's not bad company. Being undersold a tad, I reckon.
- Angus Brayshaw
- Josh Daicos
- Hugh McCluggage
- Callum Mills
Was our fourth highest rated player last year behind Butters, Rozee & Houston. That's not bad company. Being undersold a tad, I reckon.
I don’t dislike Drew. But that just proves how useless player ratings are
When we played the Bulldogs last year, Bont had maybe 10 clearances to half time and Drew went to him after the break and clamped him down like a carpenter's dream.
When Nick Daicos was on fire, IIRC, Collingwood who had put Naicos into the midfield, started Nick from half back worried that Drew would tag the young star out of the game. Drew followed down back and Naicos was good but not the best player in the comp. IIRC, he went to De Goey in the last quarter and I think Naicos played an excellent last quarter.
Drew obviously brings a defensive game which allows our other midfielders to play with their natural flair and complements all three well in this regard. He can win a game by tagging the best players out of the game. He also plays with a lot of intangibles with blocking and shepherding and those little things that allow others to shine. And his kicking especially into the forwards was a good, upward trend last year.
When Nick Daicos was on fire, IIRC, Collingwood who had put Naicos into the midfield, started Nick from half back worried that Drew would tag the young star out of the game. Drew followed down back and Naicos was good but not the best player in the comp. IIRC, he went to De Goey in the last quarter and I think Naicos played an excellent last quarter.
Drew obviously brings a defensive game which allows our other midfielders to play with their natural flair and complements all three well in this regard. He can win a game by tagging the best players out of the game. He also plays with a lot of intangibles with blocking and shepherding and those little things that allow others to shine. And his kicking especially into the forwards was a good, upward trend last year.
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Fück .. didn't Hinkley wear 29?
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These guys seem to want to stick with Ken. Good luck to Willem though, glad he has committed for a few more years.
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