Jedd Busslinger
19 disposals, 11 marks

Jedd was good again. He's had a couple of months now where he's putting some solid footy together. He got involved in the offence with 19 possessions which is good - just going through his vision, it’s just (looking at) how he can impact a little bit more defensively so some of the opponents he’s playing on aren’t getting much of the ball. It’s the one and a half stuff, and then supporting in the air is the big one for him – he’s continuing to build in that space, which is great.

Rory Lobb
11 disposals, five marks, four tackles, three clearances, 15 hit-outs

Lobby was really important for us in the ruck. They obviously had Ned Reeves, who's played a fair bit of AFL and is a monster man, really, so Lobby went in there to quell his influence a little bit. He had a couple of opportunities up forward to kick goals but let them squander a bit. I thought his presence around the ball was pleasing when he went in there. 

Ryley Sanders
28 disposals, eight marks, nine tackles, seven clearances

Ryley was good – he had a lot of the ball and won a lot of clearances. He had a fair bit of midfield time. As I said before they had a bit of dominance in the ruck, so for our mids to be able to get on top – I think there were 41 stoppages in the last quarter so they had their work cut out for them – but Ryley was good. He’s continuing to work on a few things, but it’s pleasing with his attitude coming back and having an impact at VFL level.

Jordan Croft
Seven disposals, two marks, one goal

Crofty has been building. He obviously had a limited pre-season and is now putting games together. Now he’s playing forward – the plan originally was probably to play back – but it’s been good for him to learn (playing as a key forward). He’s just continuing to work on his timing and aerial presence and things like that. He’s still got some development in terms of physical to go, but he’s loving it and his attitude has been great. 

Caleb Poulter
14 disposals, two clearances

Caleb played three quarters as the emergency for the AFL game. He had a little bit of an impact on the wing which was pleasing, but just needs some more continuity in his footy. I think putting together some more full games will benefit him impacting in that wing position more. He can have a real presence there at either level, so hopefully he starts to put that together now.

Dom Bedendo
11 disposals, five marks, two goals

Dom’s playing that second or third key forward position at the moment. To hit the scoreboard a couple of times was great – his last goal he said he was ‘centring it’, so it was amazing that it actually went through – but he was good. When he’s on with the defensive stuff and flying into contests, he’s really lively, so it’s just about consistency for him and staying in the game for longer periods of time.

Joel Freijah
26 disposals, 11 marks, one tackle

This was Joel’s best game for the footy club, really. I’ve been working really closely with him in the last 5-6 weeks on his contest stuff, and that’s why we moved him down back – to have that presence in the air and on the ground. I think it’s really pleasing for him and obviously why he’s got his opportunity at the next level - it’s reward for effort. His balance between defence and offence was awesome on the weekend, so it’s really pleasing to see his growth.

Anthony Scott
Nine disposals, three marks, one goal

Scotty kicked the last goal of the game which was nice. It probably wasn’t a great day for the wingers out there – some days they can see a lot more of the ball, but he’s always compliant in his role and runs the patterns really well. Hopefully he can get a bit more continuity – he’s sort of had a week on and a week off with injury and various things that have tampered his preparation going into games I suppose. Hopefully he can start to own that wing role and get a little bit more reward for effort. 

Lachie McNeil
14 disposals, four marks, two tackles

Lachie was good – I think his presence defensively up forward was good. He didn’t hit the scoreboard this week, but it was a big focus for those small forwards to go after that pressure. It’s massive at both levels really, if you can bring the pressure because it starts to choke the opposition a little bit, and then we get the looks we want. Lachie was important in doing that – the scoreboard stuff will come.

Arthur Jones
Nine disposals, five tackles

Arty was similar to Lachie in that facet – I think it was his most tackles for the year in a game which was great. He had four shots at goal and kicked four points, which was disappointing for him, but I think the fact that he’s getting in those positions is great. It’s just the little details in his game that he needs to clean-up, but he’s working on those things.

Caleb Daniel
28 disposals, eight marks, four tackles, four clearances

Caleb was great coming up as that extra mid. His composure with the ball leadership out there is a clear sign of the amount of footy and amount of experience he’s got. He really helps the younger guys around him. To then have an impact coming up and having a few clearances while getting the ball in hand – he’s a great user and decision-maker so it’s really important when he gets a lot of the ball.  

Luke Cleary
29 disposals, five marks, two tackles

Luke has been building towards a game like this, so it was great to see him get on the end of a fair bit of footy. Similar to Joel, I've been working really closely with Luke about the aerial contest and ground contest stuff, and he’s continuing to put it together. He’ll just continue to build towards a more consolidated game, and balance that defence and offence. He had a job on Chad Wingard as well, which is really pleasing to see how he went about that. Wingard’s obviously been a very good player for 10-11 years now, so it was a really good opportunity for Clizz to show what he could do. 

Lachie Smith
Six disposals, two marks, 13 hit-outs

Big Foss is playing some good footy. He’s undersized with most of the rucks he comes up against, (and lacks) experience as well so to go against Ned Reeves was a really good test for Lachie. He’s continuing to improve each week in figuring out how he can start to get on top of opponents, and become that sort of big bash and crash type of ruckman. He’s putting things together which is nice to see.

Alex Keath
19 disposals, 11 marks

Chief’s been really good – he leads the boys amazingly with his experience, and leads the way in his contest stuff as well. He’s big on taking body when he takes the ball, so the younger guys can really learn a lot from him. He’s then getting involved in the offensive side as well, and putting himself in position to help get the ball out which is massive at any level. It's pleasing to see him get an opportunity as well - he's put together a good couple of months of footy.

Ryan Gardner
13 disposals, seven marks

It was good to have Gardy play a full game down back again. He’s finding his feet again a little bit – he hasn’t played there for a little while, obviously with his foot and then was thrown forward and into the ruck a little bit. Al the boys talk about his voice and leadership down there, and obviously the experience he brings, so it was pleasing to see him have some really good 1v1 wins. He’ll continue to build as the weeks go on.