{"id":68533,"date":"2020-06-17T13:24:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T03:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=68533"},"modified":"2020-06-17T13:24:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T03:24:28","slug":"qa-will-papley-gippsland-power-vic-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/06\/17\/qa-will-papley-gippsland-power-vic-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Will Papley (Gippsland Power\/Vic Country)"},"content":{"rendered":"

AS the postponement of all seasons commenced over the last few weeks, we head back to the pre-season where we sat down with a number of athletes across the country. In a special Question and Answer (Q&A) feature,\u00a0Draft Central<\/em>\u2018s\u00a0Michael Alvaro<\/em><\/strong> chatted with Gippsland Power’s Will Papley<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0at the NAB League Fitness Testing Day hosted by\u00a0Rookie Me.<\/em><\/p>\n

The small forward got on the park nine times during Gippsland’s 2019 NAB League regular season before being hampered by a hip injury, eventually returning in the Power’s preliminary final loss. While he has battled a similar setback during preseason, Papley is raring to get stuck back into his usual forward role, with an eye on progressing into the midfield on the back of a greater endurance base. He has as good a mentor as any to help him through the journey too, with brother, Tom<\/strong> among the best smalls at the elite level.<\/p>\n

>> CATCH UP ON OUR FEATURES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Q&A:<\/strong><\/h5>\n


\nMA: Will, you’re sitting out the testing today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

WP: “Yes. I’ve got a hip injury, just some inflammation around the ball and socket at the moment. It’s getting better though, so should be alright for (Round 1).”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How’s the preseason been apart from that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’ve had a few injuries. I had shin splints early in preseason, pre-Christmas and then missed all the fitness testing. So I haven’t really done much lately but I’m maintaining my adductors and keeping strong around there.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You got out on the park for 10 NAB League games last year, how was that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“It was good. Obviously missing a few games from the same injury, my hip was pretty disappointing but getting back for one last game in the prelim was a good experience, but it was pretty disappointing that we lost.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gippsland had a really talented squad last year, how was it being able to run out alongside the likes of Caleb Serong and Sam Flanders?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Those boys really led the way a lot, they taught me a lot of new things and they were really role models to me. I really looked up to them.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Having played the small forward role, are you looking to change it up this year or keeping going with more of the same?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I’ve been talking to my head coach at Gippy, Rhett (McLennan).<\/em><\/strong> He wants to play me more midfield, but earlier in the season I’ll probably play more forward to build up my tank just so I can get more endurance and move into the midfield.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is that endurance something you’re looking to improve on given you’ve missed a good chunk of preseason?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Yes. The tank is always been one of the downsides to my game. I’ve never really been the best runner but I always push myself as hard as I can every contest.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are some of the strengths in your game?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Definitely finishing for goal, tackling pressure – mainly forward pressure. But I’m working both ways, up and down the ground a little bit.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A little like your brother (Tom)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“A little bit.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You don’t like the comparison?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“No not really, but I suppose you’ve got to take it.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How has he been as a mentor to you, does he give you many tips?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Definitely. I go up (to Sydney) a fair bit and he takes me through the rooms, through the coaches area so I learn a fair bit from him.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AS the postponement of all seasons commenced over the last few weeks, we head back to the pre-season where we sat down with a number of athletes across the country. In a special Question and Answer (Q&A) feature,\u00a0Draft Central\u2018s\u00a0Michael Alvaro chatted with Gippsland Power’s Will Papley\u00a0at the NAB League Fitness Testing Day hosted by\u00a0Rookie Me. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":68534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[278,11591,7949,8],"tags":[2964,40,7951,11583,11827,8309,12552],"class_list":["post-68533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature-articles","category-gippsland-power","category-nab-league","category-news","tag-feature","tag-gippsland-power","tag-nab-league","tag-qa","tag-qna","tag-will-papley","tag-william-papley"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}