Rupert Wills goes from Old Scotch reserves to breaking records with Collingwood

WHEN Rupert Wills finished school he was too short to keep playing footy. Now, five years later, he is a shining light for the Magpies.

Rupert Wills. Picture: Getty Images.

RUPERT Wills chose London over footy.

When the Pies’ latest draft gem finished school, he wasn’t thinking about TAC Cup or the VFL.

He was too short, he thought, and wanted to see the world.

“I went to London and lived away for a year, and just did some coaching in cricket and soccer with the kids, and helped with some boarding house stuff,” Wills said.

Back then, Wills was just a face in the crowd of a London pub.

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But imagine his mother’s shock when he returned to Melbourne 10cm taller after an unexpected growth spurt changed his life from backpacker mode, to powerhouse ball-winner.

“I used to be tiny,” he said.

“When I was 14 I was not that inclined to get in and under because I was so paranoid about blokes being so much bigger than me.

“I would get so down and out about it. I was playing small forward and couldn’t get a kick in school footy.”

How things have changed for the 23-year-old.

Rupert Wills has been a draft success for Collingwood. Picture: Getty Images.

This year at Collingwood, the 191cm Wills has been likened to Carlton bulldozer Patrick Cripps for his stoppage work, and remarkably, set an AFL tackle record (11) for a first-gamer against West Coast three weeks ago.

“I remember walking out on to the MCG in the warm-up and looking up at the stadium and just saying to myself ‘Wow, this is really happening’,” he said.

“I’m really here. I’m not playing out at Camberwell any more’.”

How the Pies unearthed him was a work of beauty, in recruiting terms.

Wills could not have been further off the AFL radar when he started out in the Old Scotch reserves in 2013, not exactly in elite AFL physical condition after a year in London.

But he had new-found height and a natural nose for the ball.

He began to chip away in the Old Scotch seniors in 2014 and got a call-up from Magpies’ VFL footy manager Luke Gatti to trial for the top-up squad for 2015.

In six games, the Pies saw enough to draft him.

But just as his form in the VFL started to take off last year, Wills suffered a severe concussion.

A heavy hip and shoulder from an opponent sidelined him for almost two months, as headaches and dizziness lingered.

“I kept playing for a bit afterwards but I was pretty dazed, and I don’t remember going to the bench,” he said.

Rupert Wills set an AFL record for tackles in his debut. Picture: Getty Images.

“I was talking absolute garbage.”

He said the symptoms were scary, but scans cleared him of serious damage.

“I was just feeling not right and I was pretty paranoid about it (concussion) with all the media attention on it,” he said.

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“But it was just frustrating because you want to prove yourself, and that could have been my only chance.”

A hamstring injury upon his comeback finished his season, and maybe dashed other recruiters’ interest, but Collingwood drafted Wills with pick No. 63 on the back of those six VFL games.

After two AFL matches, the Pies wants to make the final three games count.

“I’m 23 but my footy age is younger I think because I never played any TAC Cup or Vic Metro and then went overseas and have never played more than 11 games in a season,” he said.

“Hopefully, being in a fulltime footy program now I can keep developing.”