Willem Drew Biography

Port Adelaide selects Willem Drew as the club's interim captain following injuries to Connor Rozee and Zak Butters.

"He has been such a great leader of the club for such a long time now," teammate Miles Bergman said of Drew.

"He's well loved amongst the group, and he drives the standards [on] game day and is always pushing the boys throughout training."

Willem Drew receives a plantar fascia release to address foot pain and hopes to return to full training within a month, with expectations of playing in pre-season games before the start of the 2025 season.

Willem Drew is the forgotten man of Port Adelaide's feted midfield - and he wouldn't have it any other way. The unsung 70-gamer is often deployed in tagging roles on the opposition's most dangerous midfielder while rarely attracting attention.

"Happy just to go about my business and do whatever is needed for the team," Drew said about his role.

"Obviously we have got some really special players in our team who are playing really good footy so I am happy just to do my bit. I'm a pretty low-key sort of bloke."

Willem Drew signs a contract extension with Port Adelaide to remain with the Power until the end of 2022.

Willem Drew makes his AFL debut for Port Adelaide at the MCG with 21 disposals (10 kicks and 11 handballs), 5 marks and 5 tackles in a 26-point win over Melbourne.

William Drew re-signs with Port Adelaide for a two-years to remain at the club until the end of 2020.

"We see Willem's future as a bigger-bodied midfielder. He has good hands in tight and a very good work rate," Power football manager Chris Davies told said.

"He's a promising young talent and we are pleased that he has chosen to continue his time at Port Adelaide."

Willem Drew will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his right heel.

"We've been managing his injury since late in the pre-season," Port Adelaide's head of high performance Ian McKeown said.

"He wasn’t at risk of doing any further damage but didn’t have the freedom of movement he needed, so we made the decision to operate."

Willem Drew's first pre-season as an AFL player at Port Adelaide is going just as his cousin, Essendon defender Marty Gleeson, predicted.

"He said, 'You're going to be knackered most of the time – all you do is train, eat and sleep'," Drew said.

"I was always asking (Gleeson) questions when he was back home at Koroit. He helped me a fair bit going into my draft year to make sure I was prepared."

Port Adelaide select Willem Drew with pick No.33 in the 2016 National Draft.

"Willem is a North Ballarat boy, has a big engine as a medium mid," Port Adelaide national recruiting manager Geoff Parker said.

"He can earn multiple possession in the chain and had a strong year in a pretty good side at the Rebels."