Will is in terrific form. His work in the ruck is one of the reasons we are a good clearance side, and I agree with Brereton about Will being a bully, the best ruckmen are. Unfortunately, he isn't doing enough elsewhere to warrant AA selection. Macca's comments sum it up - "Ruckman are more than just hit the ball to the mids and that’s it, they need to be able to defend around the ground and create opportunities with the ball around the ground,” he said. “There’s still improvement in Will, there’s still a lot more to work on and he’s aware of that too." To be in AA contention, Will needs to develop the rest of his game, that is defend more, take more marks, especially contested, and kick/create more goals. As for captain, I have to agree with GVGjr, his copybook is forever blotted, plus his 'individuality' and sometimes contrary nature don't recommend him for the job. Much-loved and admired though he is, both within and outside the club, Will is still very much a work in progress, both as a player and a leader.
If he gets an injury, we are cactus.
You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. ― Epicurus
I agree with all this, but in Will's defence, he's really our only ruckman.
If he's supposed to contest every ball up and throw in around the ground, it doesn't leave much time to also drop into the hole in the backline and provide a scoring target in the forward line as well. We need to engineer a way for Will to become more multi faceted by providing him some ruck relief.
Rocket Science: the epitaph for the Beveridge era - whenever it ends - reading 'Here lies a team that could beat anyone on its day, but seldom did when it mattered most'. 15/7/2023