Cal compared him to Goddard today on Gettable. Is that how you see him as well?
For me I don’t care who we take as long as they can kick the god damn ball. Bringing in Clarke, Kako, Johnson, Roberts this season has been a breath of fresh air when you have complete confidence those players will hit a target under pressure. We need way more of it.
Oliver Greeves is the man for our mid mix, I’d love to see us take him with our first pick.
If we can then snag Sam Cumming with the Dees pick I’d lose my mind
There might be some similarities… but Goddard was an elite kick of the footy which Willem is not.
I mostly remember second half of his career Goddard after he moved over to us… I’d say Willem is a much better athlete, much quicker, impacts more in the air. I know BJ would take big marks from time to time, but I reckon Willem could legitimately play as a key defender which I’m not sure BJ would have been capable of even though he was pretty tall. I used to get frustrated with BJ’s lack of attack on the contest at times. I don’t think that will be an issue for Willem.
I think the Goddard comparison is a good one, though as Noober mentioned there’s a few key differences notably in the kicking/decision making dept that seperate them from what I’ve seen.
If you mixed Goddard with Xavier Duursma (who is prone to a brain fade turnover), I see that unironically as an apt comparison for Willem.
Interesting to hear Cal say today he expects a bid for Huss around 20-30. Means it’s beneficial to move our 2nd rounders either up the order or into next year and match bid with later picks.
Geez don’t mind the look of him. Very zippy and lovely kicking action (although he missed a few targets).
Likely first round?
Yes definitely. Solid chance of going top 10.
He projects as essentially Archie Perkins as he should have been. Or Zac Bailey, something like that.
@noobermensch I’m loving your work, very insightful, thanks so much.
I caught my first WA game last week and was impressed with some of the work Williams was producing.
Have you got any thoughts on him?
I know nothing of him, he may be connected to WCE or Freo
Like the look of this kid. Cracks in hard and has great pace.
Did they get the VFL in to help with the fixturing?
I’d like to see that, if only for the uproar it would cause in the Mental Health thread.
He’s a west coast NGA unfortunately.
He wasn’t a highly rated prospect coming into the Champs. The champs games are probably the best he’s played in his junior career. Definitely going to get a bid now.
Where can we find those?
On my channel 
You click on any of the videos I link here and they’re all on my channel
Mate, I still watch channel 7, 9 and 10. I don’t understand this youtube channel stuff.
I get the ripping of Nino because he says it every second day but Cal says outright here “it’s not a very good draft”
I realise he’s not some all knowing oracle and of course there will be good players who emerge from this class once at club land but for a guy who has a fairly good lay of the land and has dealings with many industry people and club recruiters and player agents, it is a pretty categoric and damning assessment.
Obviously you’d still expect to get good footballers from at least our 2 x top 10 selections but if there are ways to even out the risk, especially if we intend on trading some guys out, I’d at least explore investing in next year’s draft in the hope that has a bit more depth and/or star quality.
Sound like he will be one that ‘surprises’ when he misses out of the draft.
It’s not an attractive list of downsides
After unfortunately missing out on representing SA at the Champs due to recovering from a broken arm, Phillipou had been overlooked a little by draft watchers. In this game he reminded us of his quality. He’s a superior athlete, a power runner on the outside with the physicality to mix it in contested situations and agility and burst of pace to get from inside to outside the contest. He’s capable of pushing forward, taking a strong grab and impacting the scoreboard. In this game some of his decision making with the ball was poor at times, and his kicking was a little untidy in near perfect conditions with very little wind.
How high do you have him @noobermensch?
I think at this stage I’m probably comfortable with us taking him with one of our firsts given they’re likely in that 5–10 range.
I think that’s a little high myself. I have a “tier 1” group of 8 or so, and then a big group of kids that are solid but more risky and I have him in that second group.
Given he missed Champs he’s going to have to play senior SANFL and do decently well to move up in my mind. Bashing up on the SANFL u18s comp isn’t enough.