They may not yet win the time trials, lift the heaviest weights or take the biggest grabs, but second-year pair Will Phillips and Tom Powell have already had a hand in shaping North Melbourne’s pre-season training sessions
Both inside midfielders by trade, Phillips and Powell have spent their young football lives honing their handballing, and have begun passing on their skills by hosting the ‘Phillips and Powell Handballing Masterclass’.
While the training drill was named with the pair's tongues firmly in their cheeks, it has become a feature of the Roos' pre-season sessions.
"We got approached by some coaches last year who felt like some young fellas needed to take their handballing to the next level. Powelly and I got pretty creative and we came up with that name,” Phillips told North Media.
"We manage to get 10-15 players there every session. It only runs for about 10-15 minutes but we try and have a bit of fun with it.
"[We] get some old boys down who don’t think they need to work on their handballs. Josh Walker is probably one of them, but we’ve managed to get him down to a couple. It’s good fun."
Phillips' pre-season focus has been far beyond his handballing, though. The former No.3 draft selection has been working hard on his game as he aims to lock down a spot in North Melbourne’s best 22 this year.
Phillips played 16 games in his debut campaign, splitting his time between the midfield and forward lines. He says the experience gained at AFL level last season was eye opening.
"I think I learned a lot about the pace of the game [and] how to deal with playing against bigger bodies, people who are faster and fitter than me,” he said.
"I learned so much about how to go about my life off-field. I just embraced everything I could last year and I feel like I'm just a much better player from having that growth mindset last year and trying to soak up as much as I could.
"I'm working on enhancing my main weapon, and that for me is my inside game. My clean hands, my ground balls and probably my power out of the stoppage … I'm really trying to implement those things in my training sessions and my growth.
"There's lots of things I can work on, but my kicking is probably my main area of growth and something I feel I can take to the next level in 2022."
