Rupert Wills

Rupert Wills (born 20 May 1993) is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Rupert Wills
Wills with Collingwood in March 2017
Personal information
Full name Rupert Wills
Date of birth (1993-05-20) 20 May 1993
Place of birth New Zealand
Original team(s) Collingwood (VFL)
Draft No. 63, 2015 national draft
Debut Round 19, 2016, Collingwood vs. West Coast, at MCG
Height 192 cm (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 89 kg (196 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2016–2020 Collingwood 23 (1)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2020 season.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life and state football

Wills was born in New Zealand, but moved to Australia with his family when he was seven.[1] He was educated at Scotch College in Melbourne,[2] playing football with the third team in Year 11 and then alternating between the second and first team in Year 12.[3] After graduating, he travelled to London to work at Harrow College.[3] A year later, upon his return from England, Wills joined Old Scotch in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) in 2013.[3] In 2013, he played 5 senior games and 15 reserves games, and in 2014 played 11 senior games and a single reserve game, totalling 32 games played for the club.[2] He was named among the best in six of his senior games in 2014.[4] In 2015, Collingwood's Victorian Football League (VFL) manager, Luke Gatti, invited Wills to trial for their top-up squad.[2][5] He played six senior games for them before being drafted to their Australian Football League (AFL) side.[6] A series of injuries, including a hamstring injury, sidelined him and prevented him from making any more appearances that season.[2][5]

AFL career

Wills was drafted by the Collingwood Football Club with their third selection and sixty-third overall in the 2015 national draft.[6] He made his debut in a nineteen point victory against West Coast in the 19th round of the 2016 season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, laying 11 tackles.[7] These 11 tackles, at the time put Rupert as the VFL/AFL record-holder for most tackles laid in a game on debut.[8] After his debut, he played another four games, totalling five games played in his debut season,[9] in which he averaged 17 disposals and 8.6 tackles per game.[10] In the 2017 season, Wills made only one senior appearance, after suffering a quad muscle injury in the pre-season and a calf muscle injury in April.[3][9] Despite the lack of games, Wills signed a two-year contract extension at the end of the season.[11] In the 2018 season, Wills didn't feature at all at the senior level.[3] In the 2019 season, Wills made only three appearances in the first half of the season, before resurging with the last four games of the regular season, which were among the best games of his career, averaging 18.8 disposals, 9 contested possessions, and 6.8 tackles.[3] At the end of the season, he signed a one-year contract extension.[12] In November 2020, Wills was delisted by Collingwood.[13]

Personal life

Wills is currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws at Deakin University.[14]

Statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of the 2020 season[15]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2016 Collingwood 3351137518814430.20.27.410.217.62.88.6
2017 Collingwood 3310178152501.07.08.015.02.05.0
2018 Collingwood 330——————————————
2019 Collingwood 339014893141236700.15.310.315.72.67.4
2020 Collingwood 3380043821251038005.410.315.61.34.8
Career 23 1 3 135 234 369 49 153 0.04 0.1 5.9 10.2 16.0 2.1 6.7

References
  1. Gastin, Sam (9 December 2015). "Rupert Wills' Kiwi connection". Collingwood. Telstra.
  2. "Crackers Chronicles – VFL/AFL Former Old Scotch Players" (PDF). Old Scotch. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  3. Gabelich, Josh (5 September 2019). "Collingwood midfielder Rupert Wills has taken the long road to first final, via London". Fox Sports.
  4. "Rupert Wills". Collingwood Forever. Telstra Media. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. Clark, Jay (11 August 2016). "Rupert Wills goes from Old Scotch reserves to breaking records with Collingwood". Herald Sun.
  6. Morris, Tom (25 November 2015). "AFL draft 2015: Collingwood surprises by selecting Brayden Sier, Rupert Wills". Fox Sports. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  7. Twomey, Callum (30 July 2016). "Match report: Tackle-happy Pies pile the pain on West Coast". Australian Football League. Bigpond.
  8. Higgins, Ben (1 August 2016). "Rupert Wills tackles his way into AFL record books on debut for Collingwood". Herald Sun.
  9. Colangelo, Anthony (24 July 2017). "Rupert Wills back in Collingwood side after 'frustrating' 2017". The Age.
  10. "Rupert Wills". Phoenix Management Group. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  11. McGowan, Marc (13 October 2017). "Magpies confirm new deals for young pair". Australian Football League. Telstra Media.
  12. Montesano, Julia (8 November 2019). "Veteran swingman, premiership player headline host of Collingwood re-signings". Fox Sports.
  13. "Beams says goodbye, Pies delist three". Collingwood. Telstra Media. 25 November 2020.
  14. "Elite Athlete Program Profiles". Deakin University. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  15. "Rupert Wills". AFL Tables. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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