Will Hoskin-Elliott has been a bit-parts player at Collingwood for many years now, playing various roles on the wing or flanks, and sometimes called upon to play a key position role when the team is undermanned enough to need someone tall enough to play it, even if his skinny frame does not lend itself to contested pack work. Last year it was a half back flank and the previous year a wing, but in 2025 he has started mostly as a half forward flank as a fourth tall, in the manner of Will Hayward or Callum M. Brown. This role can be lucrative on the right day... maybe today?
Will Hoskin-Elliott has been a bit-parts player at Collingwood for many years now, playing various roles on the wing or flanks, and sometimes called upon to play a key position role when the team is undermanned enough to need someone tall enough to play it, even if his skinny frame does not lend itself to contested pack work. Last year it was a half back flank and the previous year a wing, but in 2025 he has started mostly as a half forward flank as a fourth tall, in the manner of Will Hayward or Callum M. Brown. This role can be lucrative on the right day... maybe today?
Will Hoskin-Elliott is one of a number of roleplayers who have had their role shifted across the early weeks of 2024, covering for injuries elsewhere in the best 22. Starting the season on a half back flank, he has had to move up the ground through wing and to half forward, culminating in a crucial contribution to the win over Port Adelaide a month ago. Since that game he has played key position forward, something which his spindly body has never really been suited for despite his height, and coach Craig McRae would love not to have to play him there. For now, the Pies do what they must.
Whee, it's a roller coaster!
Ex-Giant Will Hoskin-Elliott's scoring bounced back after a lacklustre 2018. A dip in goals juxtaposed with a lift in disposals suggests more time moving further up the ground. It still wasn't enough to match his output from the year he spent largely on the wing averaging 85. His overhead ability rivals Jeremy Howe for most marks per game at the club. Hoskin-Elliott boasts versatility but lacks consistency, prone to quiet games when he can't hit the scoreboard. If you can look past the roller coaster scoring, WHE should be taken in the later rounds to complete the on-field forward line though you would prefer not to be subjected to his lower scores if you can help it.
Will Hoskin-Elliott is a great football story, almost a victim of the byzantine machinations of player trading as he wallowed in the VFL in 2016 but roaring back last year to legitimately win a spot in the best 22 for a Grand Final side. He has always been the poor man's Tom T. Lynch, but given how important that role is to a good team in the modern game he has proved invaluable for Collingwood's structures. His fantasy scores have risen along with the fortunes of the players around him, making him a sneaky POD option on the run to September.
The non-injured Elliott
Fantasy-wise, Will Hoskin-Elliott failed to replicate his excellent 2017 due to a role change, reverting to a stay-at-home forward instead of a wing and high half forward role in past seasons. His average possessions dropped by five to 13, but his scoreboard impact skyrocketed with a personal best 39.13. Collingwood’s midfield is rock solid and Hoskin-Elliott’s prowess near goal is now established. We can expect Nathan Buckley to keep Hoskin-Elliott in a similar role in 2019 considering how damaging he was last year. This limits his value to a very late pick, if at all, given typical variability from a key forward.
Good Will punting
No one was expecting Will Hoskin-Elliott to turn into Matthew Richardson! WHE didn't quite reach the mark and goal levels of Richo in 2008, but he proved a masterstroke when moved from half forward at GWS to a wing at Collingwood, racking up uncontested grabs and drifting forward for just on a goal per game. He had more inside 50s at a better efficiency than Andrew Gaff, and finished off the season strongly with three double-digit mark tallies in the last four. Okay, so maybe that Gaff comment was going a bit too far. If an opposition side wanted to shut Hoskin-Elliott down, all they needed to do was put a man on him. The Pies have a soft draw befitting their lowly ladder position, so they will get into plenty of shoot outs with fellow minnows and that's the environment where WHE excels. His confidence should be high to start 2018, suggesting a middle round pick.
