Footscray head coach Stewart Edge reviews the seven AFL-listed players who featured in the VFL opening round against Casey on Saturday afternoon.

Charlie Clarke

Six disposals, one mark, one goal

“Charlie played his first game off a limited preparation. It was good to see him kick a drop-of-ball goal, which showed some of the talent he’s got. He’s growing accustomed to playing senior footy and is building on his fitness from an interrupted summer.”

Buku Khamis

15 disposals, five marks, three tackles, three clearances, one goal

“Buku played as a key forward, and also spent a bit of time in the ruck – he showed some nice flair there with his centre-bounce ruck work. He kicked one goal, but had limited opportunities to get 1v1 contests as a key forward.”

Mitch Hannan

20 disposals, three marks, three inside 50s, two goals

“Mitch played as a forward and had some nice involvements. He was probably a little bit unlucky with the supply, but certainly his drop-of-ball opportunities and where he scored his goals was good. He also had a peculiar role of doing a bit of ruck-time to help us out too.”

Luke Cleary

20 disposals, four marks

“Luke played in the backline. He’s had a good summer and is really looking to maximise the impact of his possessions, and to be more of a threat off half-back. The challenge for him is to be more damaging with ball in hand.”

Jason Johannisen

18 disposals, four marks, two clearances, five inside 50s, one goal

“JJ is fantastic for our younger players to play alongside. He’s so instructive and helps them get better. He gave us plenty of run off half-back, including kicking the ball inside 50 on five occasions, which shows his appetite to run and create opportunities.”

Cody Raak

Five disposals, four marks

“Cody played in defence, after playing most of last year as a forward. He’s fitting in quite well back there. We hope that his kicking skills will get us out of the back-half effectively, but what he’s really working on is being able to compete in the air against bigger-bodied men. What he’s doing in defence is certainly showing some promise.”

Jordon Sweet

10 disposals, three tackles, four clearances, 36 hit-outs

“Jordon was a dominant ruck on the day. He’s working particularly hard on his around the ground aerial contests, and we’re starting to see some improvement in that. In due course, it will mean he plays a little bit more forward time too. That’s hopefully where we’ll see the benefits of that improvement.”

On the VFL-listed players...

“The VFL boys had a strong start – it was an entirely VFL-midfield, apart from Sweety as the ruck. They were able to finish +10 for clearances. The usual suspects were Lachie Sullivan (27 disposals, seven marks, nine clearances) Joel Garner (23 disposals, four marks, six clearances), Ewan Macpherson (20 disposals, six marks, three clearances), Dan Orgill (15 disposals, five marks, six tackles, four clearances) and Cooper Craig-Peters (19 disposals, four marks, five tackles, three clearances). Through what was a pretty lean year last year, they got a lot of exposure in there and are now looking like established, mature players who are more than capable of getting things done when AFL availability is low.