Bulldogs’ development manager Jamie Maddocks reviews the 14 AFL-listed players who lined up for Footscray on Sunday afternoon.

Hayden Crozier

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Unfortunately Hayden injured himself when landing on an opponent’s foot in the first quarter and was taken out of the game quite early. We hope it’ll only be a short stint on the sidelines, but he started the game positively with his trademark aerial courage to help us defend.

Sam Darcy

17 disposals, six marks, seven inside 50s, two clearances, eight hitouts, one goal

Sam played a mix of forward and ruck, and applied himself well in both areas. He competed hard against an experienced and tricky ruck in Tom Campbell. Sam is learning his craft as a ruck and was open-minded to trying different things to limit Tom’s impact around the ball. As a forward, he competed well in the aerials and was able to pressure when the ball came to ground level.

Zaine Cordy

16 disposals, eight marks, four inside 50s, two rebound 50s

Zaine was one of the standouts on the weekend. He played a really strong defensive game and was able to repel many of Sandringham’s forays forward. He positioned himself well to intercept or protect his teammates coming back to impact in the air. The second half in particular saw the game played in our forward-half due to our defenders getting their positioning right, thanks to Zaine’s strong communication.

Toby McLean

27 disposals, nine tackles, five inside 50s, five clearances, one goal

Toby played as an inside mid for his time on ground. He battled away well on the day, putting on a mountain of tackle pressure and also was able to gain territory with his clearance work. He is still getting his match fitness back and gaining confidence in his body again after a long lay-off. It’s great to see him out there and getting through games.

Josh Bruce

18 disposals, six marks, two clearances, four goals

Josh obviously had a big day scoring-wise, but it could have been a monster outing if he took the chances on offer for him. He was a strong presence in front of the ball, being able to halve contests and let the small get to work, or get back and compete at ground level to find the goals himself. He moved around the ground really well and was able to outwork his opponents, which is the Josh Bruce we know and love. He looks to be getting full confidence in his body again too which is great.

Louis Butler

20 disposals, three tackles, five inside 50s

Louis had some really big moments in the game that stood out. He went back with the flight on a number of occasions, to either win the ball himself or just to bring it to ground to keep his team alive - things that his teammates feed off. He was able to find the ball well, and while there will be a few disposals that need to be cleaned up, on the whole he had a really positive game.

Tim O’Brien

17 disposals, seven marks, three rebound 50s

Tim played in defence and was able to position well to intercept on a few occasions. He reads the play very quickly and is able to move first and get the right areas to win the back behind the ball. Tim is constantly working at his game to make sure he is helping our team defence set up the correct way. He’ll take good confidence from this game.

Laith Vandermeer

13 disposals, three marks, three inside 50s

It was great to see Laith back out there running around. He was a little rusty early but found a way to work himself into the game. His pressure at the source and the many little things that people don’t see popped up in Laith’s game. His ability to cover ground at such speed and help us either move the ball or defend it quickly is a feature. He was on restricted minutes coming off a hamstring injury, so it will be good to see him get more game time in the coming weeks.

Buku Khamis

16 disposals, seven marks, three tackles, three rebound 50s

Buku played in defence this week and picked up where he left off. Intercepting or impacting aerial contests with big spoils were the highlights of his game. He used his legs well to help us explore our ball movement catalogue. As mentioned earlier, our second half was extremely strong defensively and Buku was a big factor in that front-half dominance.

Lachie McNeil

14 disposals, four marks, four tackles, two goals

Lach didn’t have the biggest game numbers-wise but we felt his impact was very high. His ability to tackle and pressure the opposition into error was a big factor in us scoring and constantly owning the game in our front-half. His speed and decisiveness was evident as both a forward and winger.

Luke Cleary

16 disposals, two marks, five rebound 50s

Luke was one of our best defenders on the day. His ability to constantly come off his direct opponent to help others in the air or clean up ground balls, and find his teammates on the outside with poise and skill was a feature. He reads the ball faster than most and is often the first to move.

Roarke Smith

12 disposals, four marks, three inside 50s, one goal

Roarke played an important role for us on the wing this week. He has had a few weeks playing as an inside mid whilst we had some personnel shortages and acquitted himself well. We felt back out on his customary wing, he was a big contributor to the team’s success. He is structurally sound and protects the team on turnover and at stoppage so well. It was great to see him work hard into both 50s and hit the scoreboard.

Cody Raak

18 disposals, four marks, four tackles, three inside 50s

Cody played in our forward line again this week. We are giving him a taste in this area of the ground to see what he can add to our mix with his ability to use the ball. He had a couple of nice entries resulting in goals. Being a first-year player, there is so much for Cody to learn but he is applying himself well in-game and also during the week.

Jordon Sweet

Eight disposals, four tackles, six clearances, 30 hitouts

Sweety also competed well against Tom Campbell, who can at times dominate state-league football. We were able to keep the ball around our mids who were strong in clearance all game. Sweety was able to follow up his ruck work well and apply tackle pressure on the opposition, which is vital for a big man to provide a presence.