Williamstown Senior Coach and Western Bulldogs Development Coach Peter German looks at how each of the Bulldogs listed players are faring in the VFL.

Tory Dickson: Tory rotated between forward and midfield and was really our most effective forward kicking our only three goals. He chased, he pressured - the things that are important for him to develop his game to push for senior selection. He did all of those things when he didn’t have the ball so he was a positive on the day for us.

Andrew Hooper: Hoops played down back again and played on the smaller forwards. He was a bit in and out of the game. Some of his ball use was pretty average but we will keep trying to persist with him down back.

Brodie Moles: Brodie played through the midfield. It was his first game back at senior VFL level in ten months. He looked a little bit off the pace and his kicking was certainly below his standards and his ability. He turned a couple over that cost us. We expect for him to get better each week as he moves along.

Daniel Pearce: We gave him a run with role in defence and he did that pretty well. He was able to restrict his opponent at times. It is the ability to be able to stay in the game for the full 120 minutes that is important for players like him to be able to develop. We were pleased with the way that he went. His ball use was not to his liking so that is something we will continue to work on with him. His surety with his hands at times to be able to mark the ball and defend was pretty good.

Tom Campbell: Tommy was terrific. He clearly won the ruck duels. We didn’t take full advantage of his ruck work at ground level which is something as a coaching staff and as a playing group we have to continue to work on but he was terrific around the ruck. It wasn’t a day for ruckmen in general play to win a lot of the ball but he certainly played his part with the way he got his hand on the ball and was able to give us first option at ground level.

Matt Panos: Matt struggled a bit in the conditions as a forward. All of our forwards probably suffered a fair bit due to the lack of the amount of ball that we got inside our 50. It was tough for him, so Matt didn’t have one of his better games.

James Mulligan: Mulligan down back had to relive some of his worst nightmare of last year’s grand final but we gave him the opportunity and I think in the first half he did really well. We changed him over to a different opponent after half time to try to give him and some of the other defenders the opportunity to play against different players. Grub has had an injury interrupted start to the season so we saw some good pieces of play but we also probably need more consistency from him.

Fletcher Roberts: Roberts was good. He beat his opponent. He kept him to two or three possessions for the day so Fletch was really good with his body work to be able to put himself in a position to be able to defend a tall, strong, marking forward.

Zeph Skinner: Zephy was another one of our forwards who didn’t get a lot of the ball. Zephy was probably our best defensive player in our forward line, he laid seven tackles and roamed up the ground a couple of times to try to put pressure on and give the midfield a bit of a chop out. In many ways at times he was fighting a losing battle.

Clay Smith: Clay played predominantly on ball with a bit off half forward. His attack on the ball was great in the conditions and it was important that we had players like him that were going to continue to attack the ball but he probably didn’t have enough mates to support him. In the conditions he was serviceable

Michael Talia: A young defender playing on a real experienced forward line. It wasn’t one of his better games in his ability to be able to restrict his opponent - his opponent was very influential early. He stuck to his guns and he didn’t throw in the towel. There were some good signs as the game went on but for him it was certainly a good learning experience.

Jason Tutt: Jason sustained a knee injury in the first quarter which limited his impact on the game. For more information, click here.

Lin Jong: Jong was probably not as good as last week but we gave him a couple of roles to be able to play on some of their key midfielders and in the second half we played him on John Baird who we felt was obviously winning a fair bit of the ball.  Jong was able to nullify him so we were reasonably pleased with his ability to restrict his opponent.

Jack Redpath: Another forward who had little impact on the game - the conditions didn’t help us and definitely didn’t help him. We are continually working with him to be able to learn how he can stay more involved in the game each week. His ball use was good at times. When he does get the ball in his hands he knows what to do and how to put it into position so we just have to continue to work with him to try to build his forward smarts to a level where he can be a thorn in the side of the opposition. He is a work in progress. 

This Saturday Williamstown take on South Adelaide in the first round of the Foxtel Cup. Make sure you get to the MCG before the first bounce at 11:05am to cheer the boys on. Entry is FREE for all supporters. Gates open at 10:45am with entry via Gate 6.