Coach Peter German gives his exclusive review of the Bulldogs listed players in action for Williamstown.

Brodie Moles: Brodie was a little bit slow out of the blocks but after half time really committed his body to the contest. His second half was probably the best football he has played this year with his pressure skills and his physical attack on the ball.

Tom Hill: Was probably only an average game from Tom this week - even by his own assessment. He was a little disappointed. He played in the forward line and played in the ruck as well. He still has to learn the roles he needs to play either as a tall forward or a ruckman - his positioning. So they are some areas that we got some good learning from our vision this week.
We expect Tom will bounce back from this game.

Andrew Hooper: Hooper started in the back line - was reasonable in the first half. Then we pushed him forward and he was pretty active as a small forward. He kicked a goal and missed and hit the post another time. Hooper is the type of player that we will rotate between the back line and the forward line to keep him versatile for the team.

Justin Sherman: Sherman was probably a little down - certainly from what we expect from a senior AFL footballer coming back. At times he worked hard and got a bit of the ball - some of his ball use was a bit wasteful this week as opposed to other games. It is an area that we have spoken about and he is working hard on at this point in time.

Lindsay Gilbee: Lindsay has obviously come back after a six or seven week spell and probably played that way as well. He didn’t have a lot of the ball at times and struggled with some of his decision making with or without the ball. That is part and parcel with a person who has missed a fair bit of footy - he only played 60% game time as well so it is not going to help him make a great impact on the game. We are expecting him to build up and improve his efforts this week.

James Mulligan: Played on one of their key forwards and had mixed results as a defender. His decisional efforts at times left him a bit vulnerable as a defender. He is a player who had a tough job - but he did some good things during the game.  James is a player that we have to continue to keep teaching a lot about defence and how to play it.

Liam Jones: Jones did a lot of his best work up the ground away from goals which didn’t allow him to hit the score board. I think he had a couple of shots but took three or four strong marks up around half forward. We still expect more from Liam who has had a fair bit of experience over the last couple of years at senior level. He is still young and he is still learning a lot about himself and the game, so we will continue to keep working with him.

Michael Talia: Another who by his own admissions probably played his worst game of the year as a defender. At times he made some defensive errors but one thing that we know about Talia is that even though he was doing that he still has a competitive approach to his football. He certainly didn’t give it away but it wasn’t one of his best games. We are expecting he will bounce back this week.

Christian Howard: Howard played on the wing and a bit of half back - and even went half forward for a while. Got a little bit of the ball but would have liked a little bit more from a player of Howard’s talents - even though it is only his second game after a spell. I think sometimes the second game is harder than the first game when you come back from a long spell. We expect him to give a lot more this week and really be able to show the talents that he has got with his ball winning ability, his run and his disposal.

Lin Jong: He was quite solid. Played a bit in the midfield and played a little bit forward and back as well. We try to push the players through the three zones so that they can get some good understanding and knowledge of different roles. Jong is really starting to show that he is going be a player that is really willing to put his head into territory that can be quite scary with his hardness around the stoppages. He is really starting to get cleaner hands so his stoppage work is really improving. He is really starting to adapt to structures and what the game demands as a midfielder.

Matt Panos: Matt played forward and kicked a couple early. We also ended up playing him in the ruck and on the day was probably our most effective ruckman - even though he had the least amount of time in the ruck. Some of his ruck work and positioning around the ground was pretty good. What we want to keep working on with Matt is his contested type football and his one on one, whether in the ruck or as a key forward.

Jack Redpath: Offensively-wise it was probably his best game - he took three or four really strong marks and kicked four goals, one behind. It was important in the third quarter when the game could have spiralled out of control he was the one player who kicked two goals in a row just with some strong marks and good penetrating kicks. We are seeing some glimpses of what Jack has to offer. It was a slow start but for him to give a strong contest in the second half and have five or six shots on goal has given us great enthusiasm.

Fletcher Roberts: Fletch was probably our best defender. He was changed onto Scott Gumbleton and I think he kept him to one kick after quarter time. We are really thrilled with the way Fletcher is going at the moment. He is learning the craft of a defender of how to position and how to body spoil and play those roles. I think that it was a really positive game from Fletcher Roberts.

Clay Smith: Clay was probably one of our better players on the day. We got him to really try to balance his game between attack and defence. That is something we are really keen for him to work at - so he is not just an offensive ball hunter, that we can really get him to be able to lock onto a player and be able to defend as well.  Just a couple of reckless tackles from his over exuberance to be able to tackle the man with the ball. He needs to be a bit more careful in some of those efforts. Otherwise he worked hard, won some good clearances for us.

Williamstown will play their first home clash at the redeveloped Burbank Oval in Round 11 against Box Hill this Saturday from 1:10pm. Make sure you get down to the oval to cheer on the Seagulls and support the Bulldogs listed players.