Footy Tragic

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

The only real fantasy relevant news for the Crows (or pretty much any other team) this week is that Ian Callinan had a good game for Central District to hopefully put himself in the selection mix for Round 24. He had 20 touches, six tackles and kicked 2.0.

Chris Schmidt made a solid return for West Adelaide after missing eight weeks with a knee injury. He had 21 disposals, three marks, five tackles and nine clearances to be named fourth best.

James Sellar made a late bid to try and keep his spot on the list with 19 touches and 10 marks in defence to be named best on ground for Glenelg. Brodie Martin had a pretty big weekend with 21 touches and ten rebound 50’s for Sturt, but he backed up the next day and played as a sub for the Crows after Michael Doughty withdrew because of illness. Richard Tambling was also impressive for Sturt with 25 touches, seven marks and eight tackles, as well as being named their BOG.

Brodie Smith and Luke Thompson were both serviceable for WWT for those who still have them on the bench. Both were named in the bests , with Smith kicking two goals from 21 touches and Thompson solid in defence with 19 possessions and five marks.

In a promising sign for the future the perennially injured young ruck/forward James Craig played his first SANFL Seniors game of the year for North Adelaide and was named in their bests with 10 touches, 13 hitouts and 1.2.

In all it was a pretty big weekend for Crows on the fringe with eight guys names amongst the bests for their SANFL side.

 

BRISBANE

Brisbane reserves had a bye in the last round of the NEAFL and they picked up the wooden spoon in the Eastern Conference.

 

CARLTON

The Northern Bullants played a rampant Fevola led Casey Scorpions and went down by 100 points. As such, it was hard to find too many positives for the Blues faithful. Brock McLean was his usual ball winning self in the midfield with 34 touches, five marks and nine clearances.

Kane Lucas was named best on ground for his 26 touches and seven marks playing across half back and up on the wing. He had a few turnovers, but overall is showing signs of getting back to his 2010 form.

Jordan Russell rebounded well with 24 touches and six marks. He struggled a bit on the defensive side of his game, but was confident with his willingness to run.

Michael Jamison played half a game to get some more fitness while Carlton had the bye. In the half that he played Fevola kicked four goals on him, with the rest of his ten on Matthew Watson and later Paul Bower.

With some word early in the week that Jarrad Waite was a chance to line up for the Bullants, unfortunately it never eventuated and he’ll be looking to return via the VFL this week and faces an uphill battle to make it back in time.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Collingwood reserves had a bye in the final round of the VFL season.

 

ESSENDON

It was a really disappointing day for Bendigo, who went down to Coburg (who went down to lowly Frankston last week). The big news is that Sam Lonergan made a very quick return from a knee injury that I thought was meant to end his season. In the end he only missed eight games and had a big impact in the midfield on Saturday. He was named second best for the Bombers from his three quarters. He was having such a good season at the time of his injury and might be a smoky to come back for Essendon’s finals series.

Ricky Dyson was named best on for Bendigo, however that’s a comment that is apparently a more relevant for GWS.

Henry Slattery was decent playing midfield and forward, in somewhat of a different role and finished with two goals. Scott Gumbleton played. I can’t reiterate how lucky those who had him in 2010 as a cash cow were because he really battles to stay on the park.

 

FREMANTLE

Wow. With Faulks, Lower and presumably Ibbotson to miss next week the WAFL action on the weekend doesn’t paint a pretty picture for what the Dockers have in reserve at the moment.

Only five Dockers played WAFL Seniors on the weekend and it wasn’t exactly a list of household names. Joel Houghton was probably the pick of the bunch with 15 touches, five marks and 0.2 to be named amongst the best players for Perth. The tall forward prospect will be a big chance to debut this week, given all of the other outs Freo are facing.

Ben Bucovaz struggled with the pace of the game for East Freo. He only had ten touches and was reported in the last quarter, potentially jeopardising his chance for a second AFL game.

Justin Bollenhagen had seven touches for Swan Districts after hurting his ankle in the first quarter and battling through. Rookie listed pair Casey Sibosado and Hamish Shepheard were the last two in WAFL Seniors. Sibosado had 11 touches, seven marks and kicked 3.0, while Shepheard had nine touches and is probably the least likely to play.

 

GEELONG

In the Cats last reserves game of the year a couple of guys did their best to stay in contention for selection in the seniors finals series. Josh Cowan knows how to get the ball, but still struggles a bit with his kicking and decision making. He was named best on ground. Simon Hogan had a similarly good game with pretty much the same strengths and weaknesses as Cowan.

At the opposite end of the scale Cam Guthrie doesn’t need to get a whole heap of the ball to have an impact because he’s so composed and makes good decisions. He’s had a good few weeks and wouldn’t be the worst back up going around.

Taylor Hunt had a bit of an injury concern during the game, but got through OK. He’d be one of the players first in line from a reserves perspective to get a look in for the Cats.

 

GOLD COAST

The Suns reserves struggled in their qualifying final against Mt.Gravatt, going down by 66 points after a competitive first half. They fielded their most inexperienced team of the year with a number of top ups making their NEAFL debut in a final!

Charlie Dixon was best for the Suns playing mostly in the ruck. Steven May could be a chance for a recall after kicking six goals, despite spending some time in defence too. If Gold Coast are a chance to break St.Kilda’s 1911 record of debuting 33 kids (Josh Caddy was the 33^rd on the weekend) you would suspect it rests with Jacob Gillbee, who was named on an extended bench this week and had another good game after a recent string of form. Nathan Krakouer and Joel Tippett were also named in the bests.

Tom Lynch missed again due to his back injury, but is a chance to return straight into the AFL this week.

 

HAWTHORN

Hawthorn’s affiliate Box Hill did a good job against the undefeated Port Melbourne, but the Boroughs kept their streak intact with a 20 point win.

Ben Stratton made his much anticipated and somewhat surprising return from his knee injury. His defensive nous was still good as gold and while he was a little rusty with ball in hand it was a very promising comeback, which gives him a big chance to be available for AFL selection in the finals.

Jordan Lisle was best on ground for the Hawks in defence. Paul Johnson and Brent Renouf were good in the ruck. Johnson was named second best and Renouf kicked three goals. They’ve missed a lot of footy through injury and are back at the right time of year.

 

MELBOURNE

Players other than Brendan Fevola played for Casey on the weekend. In fact, despite his ten goals Fev was named third best behind Matthew Bate and Rohan Bail. Bate picked up 38 touches and two goals and was simply unstoppable through the midfield and across half forward. Bail should be good to go physically after playing one VFL Reserves and two Senior games – it’s just a matter of whether or not there would be any point.

Jack Fitzpatrick is a huge chance to be blooded for debut this week after being named on an extended bench last week. He kicked four goals in an impressive display up forward.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

It was the big showdown between North Melbourne’s two affiliates the North Ballarat Roosters and the Werribee Tigers. North Ballarat took the chocolates, with Shaun Atley the best Roos listed player for them with 25 touches in the midfield. Daniel Pratt was solid with 23 touches.

For Werribee Hamish McIntosh did enough to earn himself a senior recall after a frustrating year. He had 21 disposals, eight marks, five tackles and 23 hitouts. The cynic in me says it was very important for future father/son potential that he plays this week, as it will be his 100^th game for the club.

Ben Ross was kept out as emergency standby for the AFL game.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

It wasn’t a huge weekend of SANFL action for the Power, with only seven playing seniors and a few of those listless performances.

Kane Cornes was named fifth best for Glenelg with 29 touches and nine marks. Apparently he’s a required player, which you could also take to read as, “we can’t pay his two years of contract out.”

Rookie listed Daniel Webb has shown some signs of life of late for West Adelaide. He was named second best for them with 10 touches, seven marks, 11 hitouts and 4.0.

Daniel Stewart was best on ground for North Adelaide in their narrow loss to Sturt after picking up 22 touches, 11 marks and 6.2. If Port can’t get the best out of him then someone else might as well have a crack!

 

RICHMOND

Coburg finished the season on a good note by beating finals bound Bendigo Bombers fairly convincingly. Rookie listed Pat Contin has finished off the season in pretty good fashion and picked up 28, mostly quality possessions.

Ben Nason has been thereabouts lately, but still a bit scrappy with disposal. He had 24 touches and ten marks in a typically spirited effort. David Gourdis returned from a five week layoff and had 22 good touches from defence. Disposal and decision making has been the knock on this supremely athletic player, so it’s not a bad step for him to take.

Ben Griffiths was experimented with by playing CHB on Scott Gumbleton and kept the big Bendigo forward goalless in a decent performance.

 

ST.KILDA

Sandringham went down narrowly in their final game of the season to Geelong down at Skilled Stadium. Michael Gardiner was named best on ground, but with the Saints big men performing well he’ll have a hard time this week. He looked to have hurt himself last week, so it’s good to see it hasn’t dashed his chances at least.

Tommy Walsh was kept out of the VFL game on Saturday morning as emergency standby and after he wasn’t used ended up playing for Sandringham reserves on Sunday morning and kicked three goals. Like Gardiner, the form of the Saints talls on the weekend will work against any chance he has of a debut.

Jamie Cripps has returned from a calf injury that was set to keep him out for the season, so he could be in and around the mark to be on standby for finals action – but you’d have to think St.Kilda would dip back into the well with someone like Baker if a spot came up. It’s just not their style to experiment.

 

SYDNEY

After their impressive win against Geelong at Skilled Stadium there won’t be too many changes for Sydney this week. Mike Pyke and Mark Seaby are both ready to help in the ruck if required. Pyke has missed a lot of footy with a persistent quad injury this year, but has got some continuity into his game lately to be in the finals mix for the Swans.

Jarred Moore was named best on ground for his three goal performance and first year player Jed Lamb was named in the best players too. Lamb is another to have been held back by injury this year, having earlier missed over two months with a hamstring.

 

WEST COAST

Sam Butler returned from a calf injury for Perth with ten touches, four marks and three tackles. With the Eagles a big chance to rest a few players they’d be looking to get an AFL run into the legs of the classy Butler.

Tom Swift had a big one for Claremont with 36 touches, four marks, three tackles and 2.1. Jordan Jones was amongst Peel Thunder’s best players with 20 touches, six marks, five tackles and 2.0.

Koby Stevens will maintain his bargain price tag for next season after getting crunched early and hurting his shoulder for East Freo.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Williamstown were up against bottom of the ladder Frankston, who were playing like they were still hungover from celebrating their second win of the year the previous week. Or maybe that’s just the way Frankston always look…

Anyway, the Seagulls easily accounted for them with rookie listed tall Matthew Panos kicking six goals, while also spending a little bit of time in defence too. He’s showed some good signs this year at both ends of the ground and is a good decision maker.

Mitch Hahn and Lindsay Gilbee were in the bests, with Gilbee providing plenty of drive from half back and chipping in with two goals, while Hahn worked hard, also kicking two goals.

Willy reserves genuinely racked up a defendable score in a one day cricket match with 44.16.280 with first year tall Tom Hill starring with eight goals. The strong marking forward has been in good form lately with 18 goals in four games at reserves level.

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

There wasn’t a whole lot of relevant action for the Crows in SANFL on the weekend. The most relevant was probably the inaction of Ian Callinan, as his team Central District had a bye, making him a long shot to return this week.

 

Brodie Martin was the best Crows performer, with 36 touches and 11 rebound 50’s to be named third best in a losing Sturt side. For someone who was such a good kick a few years ago it has apparently gone quite downhill since having his knee reconstructed. He still finds enough of the ball and they have something to work with if he can start hitting targets. If he looks a chance at being best 22 next year could provide excellent fantasy value.

 

Luke Thompson was named sixth best for WWT Eagles with 17 touches and six marks playing in defence. Ivan Maric was solid as usual for Port Magpies with 11 touches, 33 hitouts and a goal.

 

BRISBANE

 

While there is basically no information available on the Lions it doesn’t sound like there was much to talk about. They lost by 150 points to the Lions reserves. The Lions only had ten players in the game. Josh Green was the only one to even get mentioned by reserves coach Nathan Clarke as “OK” and he kicked two of the Lions four goals.

 

That was the Lions reserves last game of the season and they finished on the bottom of the ladder in the NEAFL Northern Conference.

 

CARLTON

Setanta O’hAilpan had a brilliant return with six goals from his 15 disposals and seven marks in the Bullants gallant loss to the unbeaten Port Melbourne. His performance commanded selection, having not played AFL since Round 11 before missing six weeks with a hand injury and struggling to get back to full form and fitness.

 

Ed Curnow was listed as best on for the Bullants with 27 touches, five marks and ten tackles. His inside work was really strong, as evidenced by his tackle count, though some of his disposal was a bit wayward.

 

Kane Lucas had his best game of the year, playing a bit more up in the midfield after spending a bit of time in defence this year. He led the team with 32 touches and 12 marks.

 

Matthew Watson was excellent in defence with 20 touches and five marks, with a particularly good second quarter. Shaun Hampson played his first game of footy since Round 13 due to a knee injury. He played the first half only and purely played out of the goal square, kicking three goals. Him leaving the field after half time was a big turning point that swung the game in Port Melbourne’s favour.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Youngsters Paul Seedsman and Josh Thomas battled it out for best on ground honours, with the club giving it to the exciting Seedsman, who kicked three goals in the first half. Unfortunately he made a critical error late in the game, where he somehow managed to miss from the goal line while attempting a snap. His game still showed the Pies have plenty of exciting kids coming through though.

 

Thomas picked up 26 touches and was massive inside, reading Cameron Wood’s ruckwork very well. Wood himself was very good an unlucky not to be named in the bests, after dominating the hitouts all game, especially with Gardiner going off injured before half time.

 

Jye Bolton was another inside midfielder to perform strongly, with his 27 touches. He’s a certainty to be upgraded off the rookie list at the end of the year. Kirk Ugle is another to keep in mind for next year. He’s not a high possession winner, but is excellent at forward pressure (Collingwood love role players regardless of experience) and has a knack for goals.

 

With Collingwood VFL having a bye next week in the last round of the season they have played their last game of 2011. No finals for the Pies reserves, but Malthouse has suggested there will be intra club games to keep reserves fit for the AFL finals campaign.

 

ESSENDON

Essendon’s affiliate Bendigo were competitive against the third placed North Ballarat Roosters for the first half, but were blown away comprehensively with a 16 goals to 3 second half.

 

Cale Hooker played his second game back from the setback he had with his hamstring injury. Oddly the reports are that he was quiet in the first half, but much better in the second half when Bendigo were leaking goals like a sieve. He still looked quite restricted though and not quite ready physically for an AFL return.

 

Tyson Slattery played in unfamiliar territory in the forward line and wasn’t too bad. First year player Luke Davis was OK in a besieged defence.

 

Scott Gumbleton’s inability to play in three consecutive weeks continued. He didn’t line up for Bendigo and no reason was given. Recently he’s played two, had a bye, played two, missed two with back spasms, played two and now he’s missed one. He literally has not strung together three consecutive weeks of footy this year.

 

FREMANTLE

Fremantle took the step of releasing very few of their players for WAFL action on the weekend due to their extremely long injury list. With only six players taking part in games (four in seniors, two in reserves) none of them were even remotely a chance of playing AFL this year.

 

With the news on Monday that the Dockers will have seven outs for this Friday’s clash with Collingwood you can see why they were kept out. The Dockers would’ve had a fair idea that if they lost to North, which they did, that they would put the cue in the rack.

 

Most significantly Nick Lower and Paul Duffield didn’t play (though Lower could be Subiaco aligned, who had the bye), as was Kepler Bradley, Peter Faulks, Jonathan Griffin, Byron Schammer, Ben Bucovaz and Clancee Pearce were kept out. Expect most of their seven ins to come from this group.

 

GEELONG

Geelong VFL had the bye.

 

GOLD COAST

Gold Coast were up against a GWS side missing a number of their better players, so had an easy win. Jacob Gillbee returned from a hand injury that had kept him out for three weeks to be named best on ground. Reserves assistant Shaun Hart says the young small forward who is yet to debut “may still play in the last two rounds.” It’s like their determined to break the Saints record of debuting 33 players back in 1911 (the Suns have debuted 32 this year).

 

Josh Caddy played another three quarters of footy in his third game for the year. He’d be a long shot to debut given his lack of conditioning, but I guess it’s not impossible, even as a sub just to give the #7 draft pick from last year a taste.

 

Taylor Hine was good in contested situations and had a heap of tackles to be named second best. Marc Lock, who was their TAC Cup and VFL captain before they entered the AFL kicked six goals. It’s been an interesting year for Lock, who played their first AFL game, but none since. I thought he would be groomed as a tagger, but he might lack a bit of pace for that.

 

HAWTHORN

It was a really dirty day for the Box Hill Hawks, who went down to second placed Williamstown by 101 points. Paul Johnson was named best on ground for Box Hill in his second game back from a nine week foot injury. He had to battle against the incredibly experienced Minson and Hudson and while the Seagulls had the better of the midfield Johnson at least had a crack.

 

Kyle Cheney and Shane Savage were the only Hawks pressing for selection. Cheney just went about his business in a workmanlike manner, while Savage was very quiet in the first half, but worked his way into the game.

 

Brent Renouf and Xavier Ellis both played VFL reserves. Ellis was crunched in a contest in the first five minutes and was sent to hospital for scans, which came back clear. Renouf played the second half only and got through OK.

 

Remarkably Ben Stratton is said to be on track to return via Box Hill reserves this weekend in a last ditch effort to be available for Hawthorn’s finals campaign.

 

MELBOURNE

Neville Jetta pushed his case for a senior recall after collecting 29 disposals and two goals to be named best on ground for Casey Scorpions in their convincing win over Werribee.

 

Tom McNamara is in line for a late chance to resurrect his career having transformed into a tall midfielder this year. He hasn’t played an AFL game since the end of 2009. He had 27 touches and was named amongst the bests, along with Matthew Warnock.

Matthew Bate had 24 touches and two goals, though he wasn’t mentioned in an article on the Melbourne site suggesting four players are in the mix to play (Jetta, McNamara, Tom McDonald and Jack Fitzpatrick).

 

As mentioned above, Tom McDonald and Jack Fitzpatrick did a couple of things to potentially earn a debut in the last two games of the year. McDonald is a midfielder with good skills and Fitzpatrick is a developing tall forward, who would still be a fair way from an impact at AFL level.

 

Austin Wonaeamirri made his return via Casey reserves after missing three months due to personal reasons (returned home to the Tiwi Islands) and then a mini training block to regain fitness. He hurt his ankle in the second quarter and didn’t return, so that could be him done for the year.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

With a top four spot up for grabs one half of North Melbourne’s affiliation, Werribee, were pretty disappointing against Casey Scorpions. Hamish McIntosh was named best on ground for his good job in the ruck against Robbie Campbell and Max Gawn, while also contributing three goals. The Tigers couldn’t capitalise on his ruck work though. McIntosh will receive a healthy discount for 2012 whatever happens, but if he doesn’t play AFL in the last two weeks it’ll make him very tempting.

 

Ben Ross was the only other Roos listed player to have an impact on the game. He ran hard and took the game on, unlike many of his teammates on the day.

 

North Ballarat had a pretty easy win against the Bendigo Bombers and the highlight for Roos fans would have been the five goal performance from young key forward Aaron Black. Black had a serious knee injury in his first year on the list, but has shown some signs this year that he could be a player for them.

 

Cam Richardson knocked up his customary 34 touches and a goal, as he always does at VFL level. Daniel Pratt had 22 possessions, along with seven tackles.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

Kane Cornes pretty much did what you’d expect him to do at SANFL level. He had 40 touches for an utterly pathetic Glenelg, who only managed two goals for the whole game against WWT. With the Tigers getting less than 300 disposals as a team, Kane’s effort accounted for 13.5% of the team’s entire possession count (next best was former Cat, Kane Tenace with 23 and no one else over 20).

 

He was actually the only Power player to be named amongst the best players for their SANFL sides, though Brett Ebert kicked 3.2 from 18 possessions and nine marks for Port Magpies.

 

RICHMOND

It was a disgraceful day for Richmond’s affiliate, Coburg. They lost to Frankston, who have only won three games in the past two years – ALL AGAINST COBURG! Coburg battle at the best of times, but it’s pretty shocking that the only team Frankton can beat is them.

 

Anyway, Pat Contin was apparently reasonable. Ben Nason was kept as emergency standby for the AFL game, so didn’t play. There were not really any positives…

 

ST.KILDA

Tommy Walsh must play! The former gaelic football superstar kicked six goals, including the game winner in the 31^st minute of the last quarter against Collingwood. They keep trying and getting not very much out of Tom Lynch and Ryan Gamble, but Walsh has been performing well all year in a variety of roles. He’s worth a shot, but St.Kilda under Ross Lyon have never been one for adventurous selection policy and debuting an Irish kid on the eve of finals would be adventurous.

 

Alistair Smith was good through the midfield with 30 touches and eight tackles, which was good to see after a pretty inconsistent little patch. Will Johnson kicked a goal, gave the Collingwood cheer squad a spray and a half and then apologised on Monday.

 

Michael Gardiner’s comeback trail hit a snag. He injured his hamstring in the first quarter and didn’t return, putting serious doubt on his body’s ability to allow him to play footy again. If the scan is no good and rules him out for the season, particularly with Sandy only a marginal chance of playing finals, you’d suspect he’ll pack it in.

 

SYDNEY

Jarred Moore was named best on for the Swans reserves in their 150 point drubbing of the Lions reserves. He only kicked one goal, but dished plenty off with his hard work around the arc.

 

Brett Meredith will stay in the selection frame, having being dropped after the Swans last game he responded with five goals and was named third best. The hard tackling Nathan Gordon had another productive game up forward, kicking four goals himself.

 

Trent Dennis-Lane kicked another six goals, but wasn’t named in the best players. It’s not the first haul he’s kicked where he hasn’t been acknowledged, so you can’t help but feel there’s some team rules he’s not sticking closely to.

 

Tadgh Kennelly provided good leadership and was a positive influence on the group according to coach Henry Playfair. Mike Pyke played his second game on return from injury in a late bid to win a spot in their finals team.

 

WEST COAST

The Eagles didn’t really get as many dominant performances as usual at WAFL level, but they’ve set really high standards this year.

 

Mitch Brown played well at CHB for East Freo in their upset win over Claremont. He picked up 26 touches and three marks, as well as doing a good defensive job. Bradd Dalziell had it 26 times, along with four marks, five tackles and 2.2, while Jacob Brennan will be in the mix for a debut across half back. He’s had a good season and the father/son selection picked up 20 touches and nine marks.

 

Koby Stevens was a little down on his usual output with only 17 touches. He’s only played two AFL games in 2011, both as a sub, so looks set to be massively underpriced for next year.

 

Andrew Strijk was amongst the best for West Perth with 19 disposals, nine marks and 2.2. Promising young forward Scott Lycett started off well, but hurt his knee in the first quarter, which hindered him for the rest of the day. He ended with ten touches, seven marks and 3.2

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Williamstown had only nine Bulldogs listed players, due to the number of injuries down at the kennel, but they still easily accounted for the Box Hill Hawks. Mind you, of the nine blokes there was a fair amount of AFL experience with Mitch Hahn, Lindsay Gilbee, Ben Hudson and Will Minson have all played over 100 AFL games (Gilbee over 200 actually). You’d struggle to find a more experienced ruck combo in the VFL and Hudson and Minson combined for 49 hitouts.

 

Josh Hill had a good game with 23 touches, eight marks, five tackles, two goals and a much improved work rate. Hahn plucked a remarkable 17 marks, along with 26 touches and four goals. Dylan Addison and Sam Reid both managed over 25 touches each too.

 

ADELAIDE

Ian Callinan made his return for Central Districts and got through OK with 16 touches. Unfortunately with the Crows (and in particular Matty Wright) playing well at the moment there will be minimal changes and with key personnel on the verge of return “Nutta” might not quite make it back this week.

Richard Douglas is one of those key personnel who is probably ahead of him after returning from his five week ankle injury with a good game for Glenelg, picking up 26 touches, six marks, five tackles and a goal.

Brodie Martin and Richard Tambling were both named in the best players for Sturt, with Martin gathering it 24 times and Tambling with 18 and a goal. Kurt Tippett and Ben Rutten both missed with injury on the weekend and will also cause a squeeze on the Crows 22.

 

BRISBANE

Daniel Rich finally returned from his six week foot injury and lined up for the Lions reserves for the first time in this career. He was named fifth best and showed the class you’d expect from him, so should return straight to the seniors next week.

Amon Buchanan and Josh Dyson were strong in the midfield, receiving plenty of praise for their clearance work. Dyson, along with Rich was also instrumental in the last term after moving to defence where the Lions deployed extra numbers behind the ball to hold on for a four point win against the Suns.

Bryce Retzlaff was an interesting case on Saturday. He finished with 0.8 and has been reported to have taken as many as 18 marks. His wayward goal kicking is presumably what prevented him from being named in the bests and in turn helped keep the Suns in the game.

Broc McCauley was named third best for his job in the ruck. For owners hoping for a game from him he has been returned to the rookie list, but Brisbane have a number of guys on the long term injured list if they wish to upgrade him again.

 

CARLTON

Brock McLean was dominant in the middle, as usual, with 31 touches, seven marks and nine tackles. That’s pretty much the standard he’s set this season at VFL level.

Jordan Russell and Sentanta O’hAilpan helped their chances of a recall on the eve of finals with solid performances. Russell had 23 disposals and five marks, while O’hAilpan kicked two goals, but generated many more opportunities only to be wayward with his kicking.

Youngsters Matthew Watson and Kane Lucas both impressed, with Watson playing strongly in defence and picking up 20 touches and five marks in the process, while Lucas was one of the better players with 29 touches and 11 inside 50’s.

 

 

COLLINGWOOD

Weirdly Cameron Wood was named second best, despite all reports indicating that Tom Bellchambers was the dominant ruckman on the ground. Wood wasn’t bad around the ground, taking five marks with 14 touches, but only 12 hitouts. The rumour has it that he is up and about whenever Darren Jolly is hurt, so I can’t help but feel this is just to keep his confidence up while he’s in the reserves.

Tom Young keeps putting his hand up for senior selection after leading the team with 23 touches and a very impressive 12 tackles. If Toovey isn’t quite right to come back I suspect he’ll be a big chance to get the vacant role in defence. Big American Shae McNamara shows a bit every few weeks and will likely be given a third year on their rookie list next year, although he is already 26 so is running out of time to get it all together. He’s been playing on the wing lately – imagine seeing a 204cm wingman – and on the weekend led the team with 23 disposals and 11 marks.

John McCarthy was yet another player to lead the way with 23 touches (he was the last one, I swear) to stay in contention for selection. Simon Buckley had 19 possessions in defence, but not the best of days.

Brent Macaffer had a huge start with 14 first half disposals, but went off in the second quarter and was getting work done on his legs and didn’t return. I’ve not bothered to mention it in the past, but Jarrod Witts is a NSW Scholarship Player who has now played three games in their VFL side for experience and this week was named BOG with 15 touches, ten marks and three goals – something for Pies fans to get mighty excited about. He’s a big unit too

 

ESSENDON

Nathan Lovett-Murray was best on ground for the second week in a row on return from his calf injury, and is a monty to get called up this week.

Cale Hooker returned from his hamstring injury for a second time and got though OK (on his last comeback attempt he didn’t quite make it to half time). He didn’t have a huge influence on the game, but with Essendon’s depleted defensive stocks they’ll just be happy he got through.

Tom Bellchambers was all over Cameron Wood and was named fourth best for Bendigo. Scott Gumbleton remained upright for a second consecutive game and kicked two goals in Bendigo’s remarkable come from behind win against Collingwood.

 

FREMANTLE

There’s not much to report on here, with only four Dockers playing WAFL Seniors on the weekend. Jon Griffin had 14 touches, four marks and 27 hitouts, plus a goal for East Freo, while Ben Bucovaz had 17 possessions and seven marks.

Byron Schammer might even be a chance at a late game, simply due to being an upright body (which traditionally hasn’t been his go, but he’s been durable this year at least!) after collecting 24 touches and six marks for Claremont. Dylan Roberton was the only other player and he had 13 touches and six marks for East Perth.

The good news is that there’s no one to replace Nick Lower with even if they wanted to drop him after costing me my Super Coach final last weekend.

 

GEELONG

Simon Hogan was named best on for the Cats reserves in their narrow loss to the Bullants. He led the way in the midfield, especially late in the game when it was on the line.

Cam Guthrie had a great start to the game, but was a bit quieter in the second half. He was mainly stationed across half back and provided a bit of rebound.

Ruck duo Trent West and Dawson Simpson were excellent in the taps and should form a strong combo in years to come for the Cats. For those interested Mark Blake has now missed 12 weeks after finger surgery, however he has apparently requested a trade from Geelong and there were rumours he was set to return for the reserves two weeks ago. Let’s see if it’s fourth time lucky in finding a trade for Blake…

Jonathan Simpkin was continuing his great recent form in the first half, but copped a knock to his leg and laboured after that. Josh Cowan and Tom Gillies were both named in the bests. A lot of Cats fans are sceptical about Gillies, but I still give him a chance to make it as a full back – always rated him as a junior.

 

GOLD COAST

The Suns went down narrowly to the Brisbane reserves and it was Jack Hutchins who was named best on ground, which is a bit odd considering he allowed Bryce Retzlaff to have eight shots on goals. It was just lucky that Retzlaff didn’t kick a single goal.

Karmichael Hunt played well and was named second best, playing mostly in the midfield. Who knows what’s going on with him? One minute he’s mentally burnt and won’t play again for the year, the next minute he’s up for selection.

Tom Hickey continues to press his case for senior selection and with Zac Smith well and truly in need of a rest he’s a huge chance to get it this week. Hickey was named fourth best for the Suns.

Nathan Ablett and Josh Caddy, both in their second game on return from injury were good and will be hoping for a Suns debut before the year is out. Ablett kicked two long goals and his work rate up the ground was much improved, while Caddy was strong inside, collecting 20 possessions in only a half of footy.

 

HAWTHORN

Kyle Cheney was dominant in Box Hill’s two point win over Sandringham to secure a finals berth. He was playing across half back and was authoritative with his punching, while racking up plenty of the pill too. A really tough, no nonsense game that will keep him in the selection mix.

Jordan Lisle kicked four goals, but it wasn’t his best game. He was good in body on body situations, but the marks weren’t sticking so well on the lead. Shane Savage returned via the VFL from a two week shoulder injury and didn’t put his hand up for selection. Unless it was purely a run for fitness you’d suspect he’ll have to bide his time in the VFL until he gets some form.

Riley Milne and Thomas Schneider were both named in the bests and were among the leading possession winners for Box Hill. Rookie listed Paul Johnson returned from a nine week foot injury.

 

MELBOURNE

Tom McNamara is getting closer and closer to a recall. I must admit, we’ve been saying on the show that he’s nearing a debut, but I just came across some stats that say he played three games at the end of 2009. Oops! Anyway, he was named second best for a solid 25 disposal performance. After being on the list for four years he very much seems to be on his last chance.

Matthew Bate put in another good VFL performance with 25 possessions and three important goals. He spent a fair bit of time in the first quarter receiving attention from the trainers, but battled through his injury worries.

Neville Jetta had 21 touches and five tackles. He’s been displaying some good pressure in the VFL and is a chance to get another look in. Robbie Campbell was upgraded off the rookie list during the week, but was unfortunately knocked out in the first quarter and took no further part in the game.

Rohan Bail made his long awaited return via Casey reserves after missing most of the year with a knee injury. Liam Jurrah was a late out with soreness.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

With their partial alignment North Melbourne only had half of their reserves playing on the weekend, as Werribee had the bye. North Ballarat had the virtual bye, in that they played Frankston and beat them convincingly. Liam Anthony returned from being AWOL for the last four weeks and starred with 34 touches, 13 marks and two goals.

Daniel Pratt was named best on ground with 30 touches, ten marks and a couple of goals. Rookie listed Aaron Mullett would be very close to a senior game. It looks as though North Melbourne have the room on their list for an upgrade and the nicely skilled Mullett has had a good season. On the weekend he picked up 28 touches and nine marks across half back.

Shaun Atley was the only Roos who had played AFL the previous week to take part in VFL action while North Melbourne had the bye (does this mean Cam Richardson keeps his spot again?!)

 

PORT ADELAIDE

Daniel Stewart was the big standout for Power players in the SANFL on the weekend with 14 touches, seven marks and 8.0 for North Adelaide. He’s had some good efforts at SANFL, but is nowhere at AFL level. I’d love to see him on a better team…

Brett Ebert generated the same amount of shots for the Port Magpies, but was wayward with his goal kicking, finishing with 2.6 from 17 disposals and six marks.

Rookie listed Daniel Webb was named fourth best for West Adelaide with eight touches, four marks, ten hitouts and 1.1. Fair to say the Bloods must be struggling as much as the Power. Jarrad Redden is a developing ruckman, who oddly had the exact same stats for WWT, but led all comers with 21 hitouts.

 

RICHMOND

Rookie listed Robbie Hicks kicked five goals amongst his 18 touches, with all of those goals coming in the second half. The slightly built half forward was probably more favoured to not hold his spot, but a performance like this might just spark enough interest for another year on the rookie list.

Andrew Browne put in another decent VFL performance with 24 touches and 31 hitouts to be named best on for Coburg. He’s always going to take a long time, so patience will be required for the big man, but he’s shown some decent signs this year.

Irishman Jamie O’Reilly was third best for the Tigers with 25 touches. He had a few turnovers, but was playing an attacking brand of footy and is coming along OK for a recent convert in his second year of footy.

Another rookie lister Pat Contin picked up 31 touches and mostly used them well.

 

ST.KILDA

Alistair Smith and Tom Lynch led the way for Sandringham with 26 and 24 touches respectively. Smith also spent much of the day tagging Box Hill captain Sam Gibson, managing to curtail his influence to be named best on for Sandringham.

Nick Heyne is making a last ditch effort to save his career after collecting 23 touches and kicking a goal. Tom Simpkin had an interesting duel with Jordan Lisle. Lisle kicked four goals, but Simpkin was pretty effective off half back. Michael Gardiner continues to press for selection, getting through another game unscathed with 13 touches and 20 hitouts.

 

SYDNEY

Nathan Gordon is seriously pushing for a recall in this half forward role he’s been playing for the past couple of months. He kicked another six goals in the best on ground effort and adds plenty of intensity and tackling pressure, as well as his ability to play in the middle.

Trent Dennis-Lane kicked five goals, but wasn’t named in the bests. He was mostly getting on the end of some cheap ones against a pretty weak opposition and wasn’t showing the intensity he needs to step up to the next level.

Gary Rohan and Jed Lamb in their second game back from injury were both good. Rohan was used in a variety of roles and his trademark pace was on display a few times when he was in possession. Lamb worked hard around the clearances for a lot of his possessions. Dylan McNeil was also good in and under. Nick Malceski got plenty of the ball, but burnt it a fair bit.

Mike Pyke and Lewis Johnston both returned from injury to play three quarters of footy.

 

WEST COAST

The usuals played really well in the WAFL, with East Freo pair Koby Stevens and Chris Masten dominant. The inside midfielders picked up 28 and 27 touches respectively, with Stevens named BOG and Masten also amongst the best players. If Luke Shuey needs a week off, either one of these two are in good form.

Tom Swift was everywhere for Claremont with 34 touches and seven inside 50s, while Gerrick Weedon and Lewis Broome had 15 tackles between them.

Andrew Strijk had a solid game for West Perth, picking up 22 touches, mostly kicks, and 14 marks in the midfield.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

I only got to watch the first half of the Williamstown vs. Port Melbourne game on the weekend and Patrick Veszpremi and Jason Tutt were the two that really caught my eye. Veszpremi was very active early on with two first quarter goals and finished the day with three. He looked energetic and was applying the tackling pressure you want from small/medium forwards. Tutt was getting plenty of spread from the contest and was utilising his long kicking skills from the wing. His radar for the goals was a bit off though, with three behinds (all from outside 50) in the first quarter.

Will Minson was good in the ruck, despite his harsh self assessment in a half time interview on the TV coverage. One area the Bulldogs aren’t lacking is AFL quality rucks, with Minson’s form in the VFL being good for a little while, but it’s been seven weeks since he’s seen AFL action.

Ayce Cordy was named in the best players, but I must admit I didn’t see much of him in the first half. He was playing on talented Callum Sinclair (who has been invited to the Victorian State Combine) and certainly Sinclair’s involvement was limited. Cordy has been playing in defence lately and with Dale Morris going down on the weekend he’s a chance for a debut.

 

ADELAIDE

There was a split round in the SANFL, so only one game was played (Centrals vs. Sturt) this weekend with only two Crows in action. Brodie Martin had 30 disposals and nine marks in a best on ground display. He’s struggled this year after some high hopes in the pre-season, but they’ll want to look at him before the season is out, I suspect. Richard Tambling had 18 touches and nine marks.

 Luke Thompson played for Central District reserves as a fill in player to allow him some extra match fitness (he’s usually a WWT player).

BRISBANE

Callum Bartlett could be an interesting one to either get blooded for some late games this year, or one to keep an eye on for next year. He’s a hard inside midfielder, who has already had two knee reconstructions and therefore not had a lot of exposure. He’s played the past four games for the Lions reserves and is building up on some good performances.

Ryan Harwood is another tough midfielder who had a good one. He picked up 36 touches with plenty of quick hands out of traffic to the outside players.

Josh Drummond is getting pretty close to a return after playing the past two games for the reserves. With the way his body is, gone are the days where he’s a viable fantasy options – as tempting as he might be in SC.

Tom Collier was named best on ground for the run he provided from defence, while Mitch Golby also had a good game. For those interested, Xavier Clarke has missed the past five games with a foot injury, so it doesn’t look like he’ll make it back as a late downgrade option.

  

CARLTON

Carlton’s affiliate the Northern Bullants had a bye in the seniors, but their reserves played. There were four Blues in action, three of them purely for match fitness after missing a bit of footy recently. Setanta O’hAilpan was the best of the bunch with five goals and was named fourth best. Simon White and Blake Bray were also named in the best players, while Paul Bower won a participation award.

 

COLLINGWOOD

The factory down at Collingwood just looks to continue producing footy players. Four guys yet to debut had good games! Tom Young, the oft named emergency was named second best and had 25 touches with a fair bit more midfield time. He usually plays a fair bit across half back and likes to link up. He does have a tendency to get caught holding the ball (as I’ve mentioned in the past, he doesn’t lack confidence) and his decision making is a bit of a query, but he’s had a great season.

Josh Thomas was the one I thought was in line for a debut the week Ben Sinclair got a gig. Thomas is a tough inside midfielder with amazingly quick hands. He also had 25 touches.

Paul Seedsman had 29 touches and 10 marks, with a particularly good second half. Kirk Ugle got named fifth best and even spent a bit of time in defence, having played most of this season as a small forward. He got crunched hard in a contest in the last, but the little fella got up and played the game out.

John McCarthy was solid with 21 touches if they need some more experienced depth, but I couple of the above mentioned kids are ahead of him at this stage (not to mention Toovey, Dawes, Wellingham and O’Brien returning from injury).

 

ESSENDON

Nathan Lovett-Murray and Andrew Welsh both made their return from injury and were very good in slightly limited game time. NLM was coming off a seven week calf injury and Welsh a four week hammy. Both look ready for senior selection and given how few players Essendon have available at the moment, could be a shot this week.

Promising young forward Ariel Steinberg floated in and out of the game, but finished off very strongly with four goals and some signs that he’ll be an exciting player for the future. He’s probably a little too lightly framed for a debut late this year, but after a solid pre-season he should be in the mix next year.

 

FREMANTLE

Freo didn’t have many players in action on the weekend, only six in WAFL seniors and Byron Schammer in the Foxtel Cup final. Schammer was nearly anonymous in the first half, but lifted in the second half as Claremont made a late, but unsuccessful comeback.

Ryan Crowley was a solid contributor for Subiaco with 24 touches. In a really odd turn of events, Jayden Pitt missed out on playing due to a breakdown in communication. Pitt traveled to Melbourne as an emergency for the Dockers, but when he traveled back to for Perth’s game it turns out the Dockers hadn’t communicated that he was available for WAFL selection. Oops!

Josh Mellington suffered an elbow injury suffered an early injury for West Perth.

 

GEELONG

For the second week in a row Jonathan Simpkin was named best on ground for the Cats reserves. It wasn’t the same dominant seven goal display that he produced last week, but he was hard at it and showed good leadership. He’s probably a bit more depth than anything at the Cats, even moving forward, but he’s a good solid player.

Simon Hogan lifted after a quiet game last week. He was also working hard inside, as usual and can run all day. Big bodied Ben Johnson was promising up forward with three goals. He was marking it well and after missing a fair bit of footy with a groin injury is working to keep his spot at the club.

Josh Cowan was pretty handy in the midfield, just another one adding to their depth. If Matthew Scarlett does end up missing a week it’s good to see youngster Tom Gillies named fifth best for the Cats, so he can be in the mix.

 

GOLD COAST

Josh Caddy played his first game of 2011 after battling a foot injury. He only had about 50% game time and the #7 draft pick has probably left his run for a debut this year a bit too late, so will be an inside midfielder to keep an eye on for an even cheaper price next year.

Nathan Ablett returned to the side after missing four weeks with a groin injury and was named best on ground for the Suns reserves. Joel Tippett was named second best and with all the ruck carnage this week and the news that Zac Smith is a chance to miss his owners will be hoping for a random debut from him. Tom Hickey has the form line though and is more likely to come in for his debut this week.

Charlie Dixon kicked four goals, with three of them being in the second term before he was moved to defence to try and stem the flow, as Broadbeach were getting on top. Brandon Matera returned from a three week abdominal injury and also spent a little bit of time in defence too.

 

HAWTHORN

I went to the Coburg vs. Box Hill game on Saturday. Chance Bateman made his return from a four week absence with an ankle injury and was very active. I loved the enthusiasm he brought to the game and reckon he was really stiff not to be named amongst their best players.

Cameron Bruce was getting to the right spots and still knows exactly where to go to get the pill. His ball use was a bit sloppy, but he’s ready to go if Hawthorn need him.

Ryan Schoenmakers was named best on ground for Box Hill and that’s a pretty fair call. He was a calming influence on their backline and looked in good nick. He ran out the game fine and I reckon he’s ready for a return.

Jarryd Morton was really good across half forward and displayed good leadership. It seemed like his time was up at the Hawks, but he’s had a good month or so to maybe get himself another year – if not at the Hawks, perhaps somewhere else.

The story of the day as far as I was concerned was Sam Grimley. Adam Pattison injured his ankle in the first 15 minutes so Grimley was thrust into almost full time ruck duties (with a bit of a chop out from Jordan Lisle). Grimley got around the ground really well and took a few good contested marks. He showed the athleticism of someone who could be more versatile than just a ruckman, which is so important in the modern game. I’m not predicting him to be a world beater just yet, but it was definitely a solid building block.

Will Sierakowski missed as the traveling emergency.

MELBOURNE

Col Sylvia didn’t really dominate as you’d hope for an automatic call up. His performance was more described as workmanlike and that he “did his job” which isn’t exactly what a top five player at a club should be doing in the reserves. Todd Viney mentioned that he’s a chance though, along with Liam Jurrah.

Cale Morton was best on ground for the Casey Scorpions with 32 touches and Viney has mentioned his name as a possible recall this week.

Defensive pair Matthew Warnock and Tom McDonald were solid, with Warnock being named second best and McDonald just doing his just. McDonald has been named as an emergency a couple of times lately and seems to be nearing a debut.

Sam Blease is another rookie priced player who could get a go late in the year after a good game through the midfield, where he was named third best.

The pressure by Neville Jetta and rookie listed Kelvin Lawrence was first rate. Jetta will be a big chance for a call up this week.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

Ben Ross was really impressive for Werribee on the weekend with 28 touches through the midfield and a couple of goals. He has had an up and down season, but looked classy and was working really hard on Saturday.

Nathan Grima pretty well blanketed Scott Gumbleton. He really is a class above VFL and has shown good enough form over the past few weeks after not having much of a pre-season.

Hamish McIntosh looked a bit better with 16 disposals and was moving a lot more freely than last time I saw him. He had 16 touches, over 40 hitouts and a goal. Majak Daw provided his usual highlight reel moments with one big mark and an impressive running goal at a crucial stage in the last quarter.

North Ballarat had a bye, so a number of Kangaroos in the VFL had the week off.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

With the SANFL split round Port had only two players in action and both were in the reserves. Matthew Westhoff took up his usual spot for Centrals reserves, while Jarrad Redden (normally WWT) filled in for Sturt, due to the amount of footy he’s missed with injury.

 

RICHMOND

I usually spend a bit of time talking about the players that I saw, but Coburg only had seven Richmond listed players on Saturday…and not many of them were very good.

Jayden Post, however, was super impressive. I can’t understand for the life of me why they don’t just give him a block of games to let him settle at AFL level. His contested marking has always been a strength and it was a stand out feature on the weekend. He played with confidence and I’m not sure that he’s learning anything by playing VFL.

Andrew Browne had a red hot crack. I like the way he goes about it, always giving 100% and today was no exception. He competed well in the ruck. Grimley had him around the ground, but Browne had the better of the ruck. Jeromey Webberley was good in patches in a variety of roles off half back and delivering inside 50.

Matthew White and Ben Griffiths both missed, presumably as emergency cover for Richmond.

 

ST.KILDA

It was another pretty terrible day for the Saints affiliate Sandringham Zebras, who didn’t kick a goal until the third quarter. Steven Baker was good, playing on Col Sylvia for most of the game and picking up 27 touches himself. He was one of the only real highlights for the Saints faithful.

Tom Simpkin was named best on ground for them, but was reasonably patchy. With Ryan Gamble under a fitness cloud Tom Lynch could be a chance to return, but aside from a few good things didn’t really stand out. Tommy Walsh could be another who gets a chance as a third tall forward.

Michael Gardiner battled, only picking up eight touches and looks a bit off the pace.

  

SYDNEY

The Swans had a number of players returning from injury in their reserves on the weekend. Gary Rohan had missed the last four games with a hamstring, after earlier in the year missing six with a knee injury. Matt Spangher, rookie Jed Lamb and Campbell Heath also played after missing for various lengths of time, with Spangher kicking two goals and being named fourth best.

Jarred Moore was best on ground, continuing his good season in the reserves with four goals. Brett Meredith had 32 possessions in the midfield and will be pushing for selection late in the year. Jesse White kicked three goals and spent some time in the ruck and even as an on baller while Mark Seaby (who was named second best) was rucking.

WEST COAST

With only two WAFL games (plus Claremont in the Foxtel Cup final) there were plenty less Eagles in state league action on the weekend.

Sam Butler returned from his four week quad injury and left just as quickly reinjuring that quad. It’s unfortunate that he simply can’t get his body right.

Ashton Hams was an impressive performer with 28 touches and seven marks with 4.1, including a three goal burst in the third term. Andrew Strijk is also keeping his name up for consideration with 19 touches and six marks.

Brett Jones was solid in defence for Claremont with 13 touches and six marks, while Tom Swift had a decent game with 21 touches and was using the ball a bit better (though I’d love to see him kick through the ball).

WESTERN BULLDOGS

The Bulldogs affiliate, Williamstown won the inaugural Foxtel Cup against Claremont on Saturday afternoon. Jordan Roughead was really impressive in the ruck with 18 touches, five marks, 19 hitouts and a couple of goals. Of the Bulldog listed players, he was the best.

Christian Howard’s ball use was magnificent with 18 touches and 94% disposal efficiency, along with two goals. He really benefited from the wide open expanses of Subiaco in a half back/wing role.

Mitch Wallis was his typical in and under self with 19 touches, 11 of those being handballs. He had five clearances and formed a good combination with Roughead.

Dylan Addison was good early in the game and has good overhead skills for his size, while Nathan Djerrkura lifted late when the game was on the line. Andrew Hooper worked hard for 16 touches and nine marks. In defence Matthew Panos beat his man and was neat in mopping up.

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

Tony Armstrong was probably the pick of the bunch as far as Crows in the SANFL go. He had 26 touches and was named fifth best, mostly across half back for North Adelaide. His form has been pretty good lately and it seems Neil Craig had a line through his name. Will Bicks give him one last crack?

Shaun McKernan kicked four goals for South Adelaide, amongst 13 disposals. Youngster Jarryd Lyons had a decent game for the second week in a row. With the change of scenery at Adelaide he could be a slight chance to be blooded for a game before the year is out.

Brad Moran put in a listless performance for West Adelaide, conceding a few goals before limping off with a calf injury and only three disposals to his name.

 

BRISBANE

Brisbane reserves, along with their seniors, had a bye on the weekend.

 

CARLTON

Setanta O’hAilpan had his second hitout on return from a hand injury that sidelined him for six weeks. He kicked three goals, all in the second and third quarters and had a better game than his return last week.

Jordan Russell had a solid enough first half, but copped a corky in the third quarter and sat out the rest of the game.

Matthew Watson was good in defence, with his trademark kicking being a feature. He continues to show signs, but with emergence of Henderson in the back line, he’s probably going to keep developing in the VFL this year. Kane Lucas was decent enough, though he has been struggling this year after missing a lot of footy with a knee injury. Ed Curnow didn’t have much of an impact with the long season perhaps starting to take its toll on him.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Oddly, considering their strong position, Collingwood is the club that has the most young players pushing for a debut (after debuting Sinclair, Rounds, Keeffe and Fasolo in the past couple of months and sitting on top of the ladder). Josh Thomas had a really strong inside game and picked up 29 touches against Frankston.

Tom Young had 34 touches across half back in one of his better games for the year. He plays with plenty of confidence, but often just starts going before he seems to have a plan. His decision making needs some work, but he’s very exciting to watch.

Jye Bolton was named best on ground for his four goal performance, displaying plenty of hardness in the midfield. He’s very likely to get upgraded to the senior list at the end of the year after putting together a very good season. Paul Seedsman is another one to have impressed on the weekend. Their player development is something to behold. Kirk Ugle was kept out on the weekend, along with Ben Sinclair as emergency cover for Dale Thomas (obviously Sinclair got the nod).

 

ESSENDON

Bendigo Bombers had a bye on the weekend.

FREMANTLE

With their immense injury list Freo only had eight players in WAFL action on the weekend. Not many of them actually performed too well, with Byron Schammer being the stand out with 26 touches, five marks, four tackles and a goal.

Peter Faulks was probably a victim of the wet weather to not get a debut this week with Luke McPharlin suspended. He had nine touches and four tackles at full back for the Peel Thunder.

Ben Bucovaz had 15 touches, five marks and four tackles with 2.1 a little bit further up the ground than his usual half back role.

Jay van Berlo’s West Perth had a bye, but with Matt de Boer out for the year with a knee injury you’d imagine he comes back in this week. Clayton Hinkley was kept out of action as an emergency for the Dockers.

 

GEELONG

Geelong, in a massive upset (only their fourth win of the year) completely smashed Melbourne’s affiliate Casey Scorpions (who are fighting for a top four spot). The reserves won by 128 points and put on an incredibly accurate 31.6. This means that between the AFL and VFL Geelong beat Melbourne and their affiliate by a combined total of 314 points, while kicking 68 goals on the day. Solid effort.

You would imagine that most of the Cats inclusions in the coming weeks would come from those who didn’t play at all on the weekend (Byrnes, J.Hunt, T.Hunt, Menzel, Podsiadly, Vardy all were out with injury). As for an eye to the future though, Jordan Schroder was really impressive. He goes at it nice and hard with a good knack for goals too, finishing the day with four. There was an article earlier in the year in the Sun identifying Geelong’s drafting policy as replacing the guns they already have – Schroder was aptly compared to Chappy.

Jonathan Simpkin was named best on ground for his seven goal performance in the forward line. Simpkin usually plays as a hard midfielder, but due to a lack of talls on the weekend he played as a medium forward.

Cam Guthrie arguably had his best game of the season. Josh Cowan was also solid, with everyone in the midfield doing a good job. The pair have already been blooded this year, but Cowan in particular has been hovering around the emergency list lately, so he still appears to be right in the mix.

Basketball convert, Ryan Bathie played very well in the ruck up against Max Gawn. It’s not a position too familiar to him, as he’s been playing key back most of the year, but with West in the seniors and Blake, Vardy and Simpson all out injured he shouldered the responsibility and showed some really promising signs.

 

GOLD COAST

Gold Coast reserves had a bye.

 

HAWTHORN

Box Hill Hawks had a bye too.

 

MELBOURNE

Gee, it was a real crumby day down at Geelong for Melbourne. Well, surely their affiliate Casey Scorpions (fifth on the ladder prior to the round) would’ve beaten tenth placed Geelong, who only had three wins for the year…In a sign of things to come the Geelong reserves somehow beat Casey by 128 points. What the hell?! At least the AFL game kind of made sense, but Casey would have been heavily favoured to win this game, not get thrashed by 20 goals!

Aaron Davey made his return from eight weeks on the sidelines with a knee injury. He got named sixth best, but it doesn’t sound like that was any sort of glowing honour. Joel Macdonald also returned from a four week knee injury and at least tried to create some run.

Max Gawn had a crack in the ruck at least and Clint Bartram was OK. Melbourne will obviously make a few changes this week, but there wasn’t much pushing up. Maybe promising forward Lucas Cook could be blooded before the season is over.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

Lindsay Thomas had that famous game against Carlton last year where he kicked 7.5 along with eight tackles. He also kicked four against them the previous time against Carlton. Unfortunately North Melbourne used up all of his mysterious power that appears when they play Carlton in the VFL. He kicked nine goals out of North Ballarat’s 13 in a two point victory over second placed Williamstown (9.3 for the record). There’s nothing like a big bag of goals to get over a terrible case of the yips.

Cruize Garlett continued his domination, while his mysterious absence from the senior team extends another week. He had 39 touches in a massive midfield display. Shaun Atley had 23 touches and seven tackles to be named in the bests as well.

I was at Sandringham on Sunday to watch Werribee take on Sandy. Majak Daw was super impressive. With Hamish McIntosh being a late withdrawal Daw shouldered the responsibility of ruck duties with aplomb. He had 16 touches, six marks and 21 hitouts – a couple of those were very exciting pack marks. All year I’ve been saying Daw is not what the Kangaroos need, but I reckon the time is right to blood him. His development has been huge this year and some exposure to the top level would do him (and the team) the world of good.

Nathan Grima looks ready for a return. He was strong in defence, reading the flight of the ball really well. It’s two weeks in a row I’ve seen Werribee and he just looks a class above VFL level. Ben McKinley was generating plenty of shots on goal, but only finished with two, never really getting the hang of the conditions.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

There wasn’t a whole lot standing out for Port in the SANFL on the weekend. Jacob Surjan was probably the pick of the bunch with 22 touches, six marks and five tackles. There will be a few forced changes at Port this week, so he might be a show for his first AFL game in eight weeks.

Daniel Motlop kicked 2.0 from 14 touches and eight marks. Surely he is gone at the end of the year, but he might get a chance to rescue his Power career late in the year due to a few injuries they copped in the Showdown.

Daniel Stewart did precisely nothing with only five touches to his name, but Jay Schulz going down with injury is probably his call up. John Butcher is another who could be in the mix, but he was pretty quiet with six touches and 1.0.

Rookie listed Tom Jonas was very good in defence on Butcher, in what was a bitter sweet match up for the Power. With Trengove injured and very little in the cupboard Jonas wouldn’t be the most illogical selection this week. His form was good prior to a six week hand injury and he’s played two games on return – both pretty good and was named fifth best on the weekend for Norwood.

Former basketballer Daniel Bass has had a solid extended run in the seniors for South Adelaide and was named sixth best on the weekend with ten touches, six marks and 19 hitouts.

 

RICHMOND

A lot of the same performed well for Coburg in their surprise win over the Northern Bullants. Jayden Post is one that I rate, but he just doesn’t seem to get the opportunities at Richmond. He was named second best for Coburg for his role in defence. He spoiled well and picked up 22 possessions. I reckon he could do with an extended run in the seniors to try and find his groove at AFL level.

Jeromey Webberley had a really good first half. He faded a little bit in the second half, but was still named amongst the best for Coburg. Tom Hislop was typically good, with hardness at the contest, but Richmond have been there and done that with him. Good VFL player.

Andrew Browne dominated in the ruck against a much shorter opponent, Nick Meese. He had 37 hitouts and 21 possessions.

 

ST.KILDA

As mentioned above, I saw Sandringham take on Werribee. They were really disappointing, but the one bright light was Tommy Walsh. With Zac Dawson missing this week with suspension it could be a good opportunity for him. However, Jason Blake was also pretty solid and I can see him filling Dawson’s defensive role. I didn’t mind Tom Simpkin’s game either. Or maybe Nick Riewoldt just returns and someone within the team swings back.

Steven Baker was Steven Baker. Robert Eddy was Robert Eddy. They did as you would expect by working really hard and undoubtedly Baker will find his way back into the team before finals.

Michael Gardiner got through the game fine, but I was surprised to see him named in the best players for Sandy. I thought he was well beaten by Majak Daw and had minimal impact on the game. At one stage in the third I was convinced he was finished for the day because I hadn’t seen him in ages, but it turns out he was fine and just ineffectual for a while.

I really worry for St.Kilda’s depth. The young guys they’d be wanting to push for selection like Alistair Smith, Nick Heyne, Will Johnson and Nick Winmar were pretty average. Arryn Siposs missed for a fourth week in a row with a shin complaint.

 

SYDNEY

Sydney reserves had a bye. I’m loving all of these byes. I actually started by filling in the byes first so I can very quickly say I’ve knocked over five teams.

 

WEST COAST

Once again, West Coast boasted a whole bunch of good performances at WAFL level. East Freo’s best players list read as a bunch of guys pushing for Eagles selection. Chris Masten was awesome with 34 touches and four goals, along with seven tackles.

Bradd Dalziell had 27 touches, eight marks, six tackles and 3.0, while Tim Houlihan continues his impressive season with 25 disposals, nine marks and 2.0. Koby Stevens will be battling for a role as an inside midfielder, but was pipped by Masten this weekend, however he himself had it 29 times. Jordan Jones had 27 touches and eight tackles for Peel Thunder.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

With Williamstown playing in Ballarat and clashing with the Western Bulldogs game this weekend it’s hard to get much information on how the young pups went, but Ayce Cordy impressed for his role as a tall defender and it was the third week in a row he’s been named in the best players for Williamstown. He will be a big chance to debut in the run home.

Lindsay Gilbee was good across half back and was named best on ground. Christian Howard kicked two goals from the wing, while Jason Tutt continues to push his case for a debut with his ability to spread from the contest and kick long.

Lukas Markovic was strong in defence, while Mitch Wallis was typically good in his inside role.

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

The good news for Chris Knights owners is that he’ll be straight back in this week. After Adelaide were embarrassed on Friday night I reckon a 38 touch and 13 mark game will not go unnoticed. Knights is likely to be dropped TO Adelaide this week (WWT doing well this year) and that game was worth 147 DT points, for what it’s worth. Hopefully Bickley will play him in the midfield. Luke Thompson was solid again in defence with 13 touches and seven marks.

If the Crows are fed up with Brad Moran it looks like Ivan Maric hit a bit of form for the Port Magpies on the weekend, with 16 touches, six marks, 17 hitouts and a goal to be named sixth best.

Tony Armstrong might get one last chance to resurrect his AFL career after picking up 24 possessions, five marks and a goal for North Adelaide.

Taylor Walker played up the ground for Norwood. It would be easy enough for him to go back to and play forward for the Legs and kick a swag of goals, but it won’t endear him to the Crows coaches if he isn’t doing what they want him to do in the AFL. He didn’t lay any tackles unfortunately, but he did have 17 touches, eight marks and seven inside 50’s, sometimes at times playing in the midfield.

First year player Jarrad Lyons had a promising game for Glenelg with 20 disposals, five marks and 1.2.

 

BRISBANE

The Lions reserves were on the receiving end of a drubbing by the Gold Coast reserves, but the game marked the comeback of Jamie Charman, who hadn’t played a game of footy in over 18 months. He played the first half of the game, as planned, and hopefully pulls up OK to line up again next week.

Josh Drummond also returned from four weeks on the sidelines and had a quiet outing, more just getting a feel for the game than anything. Matt Austin was named best on ground for the Lions, with Josh Dyson and Ryan Harwood also getting a mention in the bests. Bryce Retzlaff kicked two goals in a weaker than usual forward line (with Cornelius and Karnezis both in the seniors).

 

CARLTON

Setanta O’hAilpan returned from his layoff due to a hand injury and looked short of a gallop, which is odd considering he should’ve been able to maintain fitness in that time. He will need another week or two in the VFL before being considered for AFL selection, however he did manage six scoring shots (2.4).

Brock McLean was dominant in the midfield once again, racking up a massive 40 touches and nine tackles. It’s the same old story with Brock though – too good for VFL, but not fast enough for AFL. With David Ellard being relegated to the sub role last week maybe McLean is starting to get a little bit closer to a game.

Jordan Russell’s absence from the Blues team might annoy those DT/SC coaches who have him as a sneaky unique, but they’ll be glad to know he was named in the best players after picking up 21 touches and six marks.

Joe Dare is one I’ve mentioned a few times lately and he was good again with 25 touches and eight marks. He’s still on the rookie list, but by my reckoning they could upgrade him as their Round 11 upgrade (the rule that allows clubs to upgrade one rookie after Round 11 regardless on long term injuries). Curnow was their nominated rookie at the start of the year, while Rhys O’Keeffe, Wayde Twomey and Zach Tuohy have been upgraded for Andrew Collins, Andrew McInnes and Luke Mitchell.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Collingwood VFL had the bye.

 

ESSENDON

It really puts into perspective how lucky Scott Gumbleton owners were last year. Those that got him in as a cash cow were incredibly fortunate that his body stayed together for so many consecutive weeks. He was a “very late withdrawal” for Bendigo this week due to a back spasm on the morning of the game.

Michael Ross had a very impressive first term with nine disposals, but was kept out of it pretty well after that. Even though he faded he’d still be a chance for a debut before the season is out, particularly if Essendon look like missing the finals.

First year defender Luke Davis had a good, solid game. There’s nothing too flashy about him. He just gets the job done and has a nice long kick to clear the area in a no nonsense fashion. It might be a stretch for him to get a debut this year, but Essendon are struggling for defenders with Cale Hooker and Dustin Fletcher missing on the weekend and Tayte Pears getting subbed off. Rookie listed Tyson Slattery might be slightly more of a chance if Hooker and Pears miss a bit more footy (which they are set to) but will be undersized. Slattery had a good battle with Cam Mooney and was named in the best players, despite Mooney kicking four and also getting named in Geelong’s bests.

Josh Jenkins played predominantly up forward with Tom Bellchambers doing most of the ruck work. Jenkins was a revelation, kicking five goals. It’s encouraging that a ruckman can have that sort of performance in the forward line with the sub rule meaning most rucks will need an extra string to their bow. Bellchambers was solid.

Mark Williams didn’t play because of the knee injury that saw him announce his retirement this week after earning approximately $200K per game he played for Essendon (or $32,000 per kick).

 

FREMANTLE

With Luke McPharlin out suspended for one week it paves the way for Peter Faulks to finally make his AFL debut. He had another good game, keeping the very in form Chad Jones to only two goals.

John Anthony showed something for the first time in a while, kicking 4.3 from 18 possessions for Subiaco. Swan Districts teammates Clancee Pearce and Clayton Hinkley were both solid with 24 and 20 touches respectively. I really feel Pearce is a bit unlucky to be out of the Dockers side at the moment.

Kepler Bradley had a decent game too with 25 touches, but the good form of Jon Griffin and Zac Clarke in Sandilands’ absence isn’t doing his immediate chances much good. It’ll be even worse when 211 comes back, you’d imagine.

 

GEELONG

Cameron Mooney pushes closer to an AFL return after he kicked another four goals for the Cats reserves against Bendigo. Chris Scott has said this week that he’s very close to a return either this week or next week.

Dawson Simpson had 40 hitouts, however with Trent West having a good game on the weekend and Brad Ottens likely to come back he’s probably back in the queue a little bit at this stage.

Jonathan Simpkin was hard at it in the midfield and was named best on ground. Daniel Menzel didn’t play due to a back complaint.

 

GOLD COAST

Karmichael Hunt played his second game for the reserves and was named best on ground (the first time I believe that has happened in his Aussie Rules career). He played purely as a midfielder in another phase of his development and handled it well, as the Suns beat the Lions reserves easily.

Ruckman Tom Hickey has been on fire of late, adding to the Suns massive depth in that department – it’s fair to say they easily have the most promising ruck division in the league. He dominated the hitouts and kicked three goals and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Queenslander debut before the season is out.

Jeremy Taylor did a good job in defence and was named second best, while Jacob Gillbee kicked four goals.

 

HAWTHORN

After getting dropped back to the VFL Riley Milne responded by being the only Hawthorn listed player named in the bests for Box Hill. It was a really good outing by Box Hill though and a number of other Hawthorn players had good games.

Jarryd Morton has been showing some good form lately, but it might be a bit too late for him – at Hawthorn at least. Is it possible for all three Morton’s to be on the move next season?

Jordan Lisle made an early return from his busted cheekbone. Originally he was listed as 4-6 weeks, but in the end only missed two games. He was crashing packs and playing with confidence since his stint in the AFL and could be a chance for more senior action soon.

Cameron Bruce made his long awaited return from injury. I’m sorry to all of those people who bought him at the start of the year for bringing his name up and reminding you. He’ll need another week or two before being look at for AFL action.

Ryan Schoenmakers returned via the Box Hill reserves team after a five week absence with a foot injury that also dogged him early in the year.

 

MELBOURNE

Casey Scorpions had the bye.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

Ben Cunnington is pushing up for a senior recall after being named best on ground for North Ballarat in their drubbing of Coburg, with 24 touches and five tackles.

Rookie listed Aaron Mullett had 26 touches and a goal to be named in the best players, while Lindsay Thomas had another encouraging performance with 4.4 among 18 tackles, along with five tackles. It’s important to note that Craigieburn is an extremely hard venue to kick goals at – I don’t think I’ve been to a venue where the wind is such a factor (swirly, inconsistent and always strong).

Shaun Atley was also solid with 18 touches and Cruize Garlett continues his good form with 20 touches. I’m really starting to wonder why he isn’t getting a game.

Ed Lower made his return from a knee injury a full year after his last game of footy via the North Ballarat reserves. He had 19 touches, six tackles and a goal in three quarters.

I went to the Werribee vs. Williamstown on Sunday and there were only a few North Melbourne players in action (six to be exact). Hamish McIntosh lifted in the second half after a  very quiet start, but he just isn’t moving that well as far as I’m concerned. With only a five day break until the Kangaroos Friday night game I would think he’s less likely to make it back this week.

Nathan Grima was excellent, wearing Mitch Hahn like a glove for most of the day. Hahn is having quite a good season, but Grima kept him to six touches and two goals, while providing plenty of rebound himself with 17 possessions and five spoils.

Gavin Urquhart was another rebounding really well with 23 touches and some nice kicking out of defence. Ben McKinley wasn’t too bad either, working hard on his leads to get the ball up the ground and took eight marks along with 2.2.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

John Butcher was the big talking point from the weekend for the Power on their bye weekend. He had 14 touches and four marks, while kicking 3.3 for the Port Magpies. Nothing really comes easy for Butcher though, as he does the easy stuff hard and the hard stuff easily. His set shot kicking doesn’t sound to have improved since getting drafted, but hey, he’s a first round pick and will probably get a game in the bottom placed side before the year is out.

Rookie listed Tom Jonas made a pretty positive return from a six week hand injury with 20 touches and four marks for Norwood.

Daniel Motlop is worth a mention, purely to remind readers that he exists. He had 14 touches and kicked 0.2. I’m not sure that it gets much lower than not being able to crack a game with Port for five straight weeks. Daniel Stewart kicked 4.2 from 11 touches and six marks for North Adelaide.

 

RICHMOND

It was a very dirty day for Richmond’s VFL affiliate Coburg. They got smashed by a resurgent North Ballarat. Matthew Dea in his second game back from a long layoff with a leg injury was named second best for his role in defence – even though his direct opponent Lindsay Thomas kicked four goals.

Robbie Hicks played his first game in a while in VFL seniors, having spent the last two months with Coburg reserves and used his pace well to be named third best. With Richmond looking in trouble at the moment, unfortunately there’s not a great deal else screaming pick me at VFL level.

 

ST.KILDA

Michael Gardiner took a big stride in his road back to the AFL with a good performance in the ruck, where he had 18 touches, 19 hitouts and seven marks to be named in the best players.

Andrew McQualter was best on ground for Sandringham with 28 possessions, but unfortunately sustained a shoulder injury in the last quarter that will see him out for the rest of the season.

Steven Baker kept the VFL’s leading goal kicker (by some margin) Patrick Rose goalless for the first time this year. Jason Blake also had a solid game in defence.

Tommy Walsh sustained a chest injury and was sent to hospital. He appeared on the injury list on Sunday, but has oddly since disappeared completely off the list. Is he OK, or did they quickly decide to hide it? Anyway, if he’s OK he could be a decent chance to debut with Nick Riewoldt missing through suspension this week.

 

SYDNEY

Unfortunately the Swans reserves against GWS was going to be the curtain raiser to their AFL game, but was moved to Blacktown due to all of the rain in Sydney.

So yeah, as a result no Swans fans attended the game and it seems to be the only game on the NEAFL website that hasn’t had a game report submitted…apparently the media and league didn’t even attend. Maybe it was too wet.

Anyway, the Swans only had nine players in action due to their mounting injury list. Nathan Gordon continues to put his hand up for selection, being named second best. That’s five games out of the last six he’s been named in their bests.

Jarred Moore was named third best and is in a similarly rich vein of form, being named in the bests four weeks in a row now. Jesse White and Dylan McNeil rounded out their bests and Trent Dennis-Lane kicked two goals. GWS smashed them, by the way.

 

WEST COAST

Tom Swift had a big game for Claremont with 31 touches, however 22 of them were in the first half. He also had five marks and eight tackles and a goal.

Jordan Jones had another good game for Peel Thunder with 27 touches in his new midfield role. Koby Stevens, after getting dropped from the Eagles with 27 touches for and was named in the bests for East Freo. Chris Masten was filling all the columns with 26 touches, eight marks and six tackles.

Mitch Brown had a scare with the shoulder he’d missed so much footy because of, however it might not be as bad as it first looked and he could be available for selection for West Coast this weekend after keeping gun forward Josh Smith to only one goal.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

As mentioned above in the North Melbourne section I went to the Werribee vs. Williamstown game and saw the Bulldog affiliated Williamstown hold off a late comeback from Werribee.

In muddy conditions the Bulldog listed big men were commanding. Jordan Roughead, Ayce Cordy and Will Minson were all good. Cordy played the game in defence and his height and mobility nullified the threat of the Werribee big men Hamish McIntosh and Majak Daw when they moved forward. He’s been named in the best players for the Seagulls two weeks in a row in defence after missing the previous two games with injury.

The other two big men rotated between ruck and forward, combining for 45 hitouts and amassing 19 touches each, with Roughead kicking three goals and taking a few strong contested marks – quite the feat considering how muddy the ball got at times.

Christian Howard and Jason Tutt both provided some good outside run with their noted good kicking featuring moving into the forward 50. Ed Barlow returned from his two week hand injury and was good in patches. Brennan Stack was competitive in defence and very good in contested situations. Mitch Wallis was loving the mud heap in the middle and did a fair bit of dirty clearance work. Josh Hill kicked three goals.

 

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

Chris Knights played his first SANFL game for the year and in a good showing picked up 23 touches, four marks, five tackles and 2.1. It’d be nice if he could get back in the Crows side (which is every chance after their performance on the weekend) and score 106 DT points. Luke Thompson was very good in defence for WWT with 20 touches and 13 marks.

Jack Gunston was named best on ground for Central District with 17 touches, 11 marks and 5.2. Recently upgraded rookie (second time this year) Aidan Riley was Sturt’s highest ball winner with 23 touches and four marks, while teammate Brodie Martin had 19 touches and four marks – the pair of them getting named in the bests for the Double Blues.

 

BRISBANE

Rohan Bewick staked his claim for a senior recall with a best on ground performance for the Lions reserve on the weekend. Aaron Cornelius kicked his fourth bag of five (or more) for the year, taking hi season tally to 46 and was named second best for the Lions.

Bryce Retzlaff also had a solid return with four goals and was named in the best players. While the Lions reserves have struggled this season, they’ve had no dramas getting goals from their big forwards with Cornelius, Retzlaff and Karnezis all putting up good numbers – with the latter two spending reasonable time at AFL level too.

Jesse O’Brien and ruckman Bart McCulloch were both named in the best players too. Callum Bartlett is still finding his feet, with the weekend’s game only being his second of the year. Xavier Clarke didn’t play with a foot injury, Amon Buchanan had a very good first half, but sat out the second half to stay fresh in case the Lions needed a late replacement for the AFL. Jamie Charman is set to play his first NEAFL game of the year next weekend.

 

CARLTON

The Northern Bullants had the bye on the weekend, but their reserves played against Williamstown reserves with four Blues players in that game. I caught the last quarter of that game and Joe Dare was looking good (continuing on from a good game last week in the seniors against Sandringham) and I see he was named best on for the Bullants (who got smashed, by the way). Levi Casboult was well held up forward by Bulldogs listed Matthew Panos.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Tom Young was named best on for the Pies reserves and continues to push his case for senior inclusion after being named as emergency a few times in the past six weeks. He had 17 touches and four tackles playing a bit further up the ground than usual on the wing, though the problem with his game is that he can still run himself into trouble at VFL level – he certainly doesn’t lack any confidence when he gets the ball in his hands.

Paul Seedsman really impressed across half back and a little up on the wing. He’s still quite skinny, but has been talked up a bit lately after missing about a month of footy not long ago. He had 19 touches, including five marks with his pace and kicking being a feature.

Josh Thomas played a good game as an inside mid, picking up 27 touches with plenty of clearance work against a very experienced Williamstown midfield brigade. He’s had an interrupted year, but will be one to watch for the future. For those Simon Buckley owners he had a serviceable game in the midfield, but Ben Johnson’s good game in the seniors might not help his immediate chances.

 

ESSENDON

Jake Carlisle had another good game in defence for Bendigo, playing on Port Melbourne goal kicking gun Dean Galea. He kept Galea to only two goals and Carlisle was named sixth best with his defensive marking being a feature.

Michael Ross was named best on for Bendigo. He’s happy to take the game on and has put forward a strong case for senior selection over the past month. Essendon have a few guys to return from injury in the coming weeks, but Ross might snag a sneaky game or two before the season is out. He actually travelled to Adelaide as an emergency for Friday night’s game, but flew back to play VFL on the Saturday.

Taite Silverlock was rebounding well from half back before a concussion to in form defender Tyson Slattery meant that Silverlock had to play on Patrick Rose. Rose had four for the day, but not all of them were on Silverlock – in all not a bad game from the quick one.

Cale Hooker returned from injury and quickly returned back to injury. He only lasted until five minutes in the second quarter before succumbing to hamstring soreness – I should stress that it is apparently just soreness and reinjuring the muscle.

Scott Gumbleton has strung together four games in a row now. With Essendon’s forward line structure not quite clicking at the moment (Hurley needs help!) they’ll want Gumbleton back soon. He kicked 1.4 and was often leading wide, not making his job of converting any easier. He couldn’t be too far away, but it’s touch and go whether he gets a call up this week.

 

FREMANTLE

For the first time in a long time Freo had more players in WAFL action than West Coast did. In fact, 13 players in the WAFL means their injury list is finally starting to shorten. You’ve got to admire Byron Schammer’s season. He’s been consistently good all year and helped Claremont get through to the Grand Final of the Foxtel Cup with his 17 touch and two goal effort (fourth best for them).

Nick Suban made his return from injury in the same game and picked up ten touches playing deep in defence. He’ll be better for them run, but will probably need one more week before an AFL call up.

Clayton Hinkley and Clancee Pearce had 26 and 25 touches respectively for Swan Districts, while Pearce also had six marks and eight tackles in an effort that will have him one of the first in line for a recall.

Kepler Bradley had 18 disposals with four marks and a goal for West Perth, while Josh Mellington kicked three goals from his seven touches. Peter Faulks had a good game in defence and while he’s a shutdown defender it’s worth noting he could be in the mix for a debut.

 

GEELONG

If the Cats ever need/want Cameron Mooney in their AFL forward line he hasn’t really put a foot wrong over the past month (except maybe when he missed that set shot against the Bullants to tie the game in the dying stages). He kicked four goals and has 13 goals in his past three games. He’s still working hard and is there if they need him.

Shannon Byrnes went alright after a slow start. He kicked three goals and is playing well enough for a call up, once again if needed! They left Duncan and Menzel out of the AFL on the weekend (neither played VFL, for what it’s worth) and at least one, probably both of them are ahead of Shagger.

Josh Cowan played a good inside and outside game to keep his name in and around the selection mix, while Dawson Simpson was very good in the ruck. Rookie listed basketball convert Ryan Bathie showed some promising signs for the future.

You’ve got to feel for Marcus Drum. He was named for his second game of the year (he only last ten minutes in his first of 2011) on the comeback trail from what I can tell is his third separate injury this year and hurt his hamstring at the last training session of the week.

 

GOLD COAST

There’s not a heap of info coming out of the Suns reserves, as it was played in Cairns as a curtain raiser to the Richmond vs. Gold Coast clash. The big news is that Michael Coad reinjured his hamstring four minutes into the game and will be out for the rest of the season. The mature aged recruit, who debuted at 27 and has played two AFL games this year can’t catch a break. I really hope he’s back and fully fit next year, because he’s taken the long road to the AFL and is a quality player.

Ruckman Daniel Gorringe injured his ankle before half time and will also miss the rest of the season, so it wasn’t a great day for the Suns reserves, who also went down pretty convincingly to the top of the ladder NT Thunder.

In losing Gorringe, big Tom Hickey stepped up and was named best on ground for the Suns and added two goals in a good rucking performance. Luke Russell was lively and also bobbed up for two goals, while Jeremy Taylor had a good battle with former Saints player Ross Tungatulum (who could be a chance for being redrafted with the good season he is having).

 

HAWTHORN

With Hawthorn having the bye Clint Young was the only player who backed up and played for Box Hill after lining up for Hawthorn the previous week. He didn’t have a great game. He ran well, but wasn’t kicking as well as he usually does. It will be interesting to see if he holds his senior spot. Based on other clubs state league movements in AFL bye weeks it seems like he’s on the chopping block.

Jordan Lewis also played for Box Hill with his suspension served and nowhere else to play. He got through the game without standing out, but will come straight back in this week.

Sam Grimley showed a bit of promise in the ruck and also went forward for two goals. Jarryd Morton was the only Hawthorn listed players named in the bests for his role across half forward.

 

MELBOURNE

Neville Jetta returned from four weeks off with a hand injury and was named in the best players for the Casey Scorpions with some lively work in the forward line. Lynden Dunn had a handy return of four goals from 21 touches and six marks and was also named in the best players, but the best performed Demon listed player was Michael Evans with his good inside work, picking up 25 possessions.

The Demons on the fringe for selection mostly didn’t play though, with Matthew Bate, Clint Bartram and Max Gawn all having travelled to Darwin as emergencies for the seniors. Aaron Davey was originally named for Casey, but didn’t line up. The other news, and I don’t usually make a habit of mentioning non-AFL performances, but Fev snuck through a sly 11 goals.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

There’s not a heck of a lot of info coming out of the North Ballarat side of things, considering the game partially clashed with the North Melbourne game on Sunday. Cam Richardson was named best on ground again with 31 touches and ten marks, but we all know what he can do at VFL level – it doesn’t mean he’ll get an AFL call up. He’ll need to bide his time and wait for an AFL opportunity to arise through either injury or others bad form.

Lindsay Thomas kicked 3.1 (not 1.3) and had 18 possessions. He looked a lot more comfortable and will hopefully keep it up. An immediate recall wouldn’t be on the cards you imagine, as he needs to string a few good performances together with less of a spotlight as well. Ben Cunnington also had a good game and was named in the best players for the Roosters with 29 touches, but probably needs an extended run in the VFL to really get his game going. Daniel Pratt also had it 29 times.

Werribee had a bye, so a large chunk of North Melbourne reserve players weren’t in action.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

There were only four Port players in SANFL Seniors action on the weekend, with a further two playing for Port Adelaide Magpies in the Foxtel Cup. The Magpie pair were probably the two most notable performances with John Butcher being named third best…oddly only collecting eight touches, three marks and kicking 0.2 – granted, the games are shortened in the Foxtel Cup.

Jacob Surjan picked up 14 touches and two marks as the final South Australian team bowed out of the tournament.

Jason Davenport had 19 possessions and five marks for West Adelaide. With ruck stocks thin at the Power, if Brogan isn’t back any time soon to give Lobbe/Trengove a chop out rookie listed Daniel Bass had 14 touches, four marks and 15 hitouts for South Adelaide and Jarrad Redden had 10 touches, six marks, eight hitouts and 2.1 playing a fair bit up forward for WWT.

 

RICHMOND

You don’t imagine that too many sides lose to Gold Coast and don’t ring the changes. Brad Miller was best on ground for Coburg with ten marks and five goals. With all the talk about Jack Riewoldt’s body struggling lately he might be a chance to come back and give him a chop out.

Mitch Morton would have to be a walk up start this week after picking up 28 touches on the wing, as well as working hard defensively in a consistent performance.

Jayden Post took a screamer, amongst his eight marks, while pinch hitting in the ruck. David Gourdis conceded four goals to Cam Mooney, but wasn’t too bad.

Out of favour Angus Graham had 32 hitouts and 18 touches, so will be a chance if Richmond turn the team upside down. Shane Tuck travelled to Cairns as an emergency against Gold Coast, so didn’t play. Tom Hislop and Mitch Farmer had 22 and 21 touches respectively.

 

ST.KILDA

St.Kilda’s affiliate Sandringham had the bye. Their reserves played with Jarryn Geary getting some much needed game time. He picked up 30 touches in a best on ground performance and is very close to an AFL recall after missing most of the year with a leg injury.

 

SYDNEY

Jarred Moore was best on ground for the undermanned Swans reserves in a typical Jarred Moore performance. He was tackling hard in his role across half forward before moving into the middle later, where he was also dominant.

Mark Seaby gave the Swans first use a lot of the time with 25 hitouts. He also spent a fair bit of time in the forward line where he kicked two goals. Nathan Gordon had another really good game in the forward line, displaying the hardness that saw him debut earlier in the year.  He took ten marks and kicked 3.3. His tackling pressure could make him a handy option for the Swans going forward.

Paul Bevan and Irishman Chris McKaigue also had good games and I’ve got to give a shout out to my mate Peter Lake, who filled in as a top up player and had a couple of early goal assists before getting knocked into tomorrow by former Crow Chad Gibson – onya Lakey!

 

WEST COAST

Jordan Jones’ rich vein of form continues and the Eagles clean bill of health is the only thing preventing him from getting a game at this stage. The versatile tall had 27 touches, 10 marks and kicked 2.1. He plied a lot of his trade in juniors as a rebounding half back, but is a genuine outside mid or medium forward option.

Big Callum Wilson kicked nine goals, with eight of those in the second half. He’s not the most mobile bloke in the world and doesn’t add a lot of pressure, so with West Coast’s high pressure forward line it’s hard to see how he would fit in, but his game deserves credit – if he didn’t get a game when Lynch missed with suspension I’m not sure that he will at all.

Ashton Hams worked tirelessly for 28 touches and generated four shots on goal, but only converted for one goal. Andrew Strijk had an impressive 18 touches, eight marks and 4.0 for West Perth.

Tom Swift and Patrick McGinnity were named best and second best for Claremont in their Foxtel Cup semi final victory over Port Adelaide Magpies. Swift had 24 touches in the shortened game, though the quality of his disposal was a bit scratchy. Mitch Brown played for Peel reserves due to East Freo having a bye, so he needed the run in his legs. I just wanted to point out that Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls is still on their rookie list and had a solid game with 22 touches and 12 marks for East Perth.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Ayce Cordy was named in the best players for his role in defence in his return after a two week layoff with a back complaint. Hopefully his body will allow him to play out the rest of the season, because he’s a great talent.

Youngster Jason Tutt had about 20 touches and continues his good form this year. Nathan Djerrkura and Tom Liberatore were prolific in the midfield and got great service from ruckmen Will Minson and Jordan Roughead, with the duo winning the hitouts 49-34. Patrick Veszpremi and Justin Sherman were lively with two goals each, while Brennan Stack was also named in the bests.

 

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

ADELAIDE

Taylor Walker made his return from a knee injury for Norwood (should this be in the GWS section?) and had 18 touches, eight marks with 1.4. He was reported for a sling tackle and has subsequently been suspended for one week – quite ironic considering he was dropped earlier in the year for his lack of tackling.

Aidan Riley got back into a bit of form after a down few weeks. He had 22 touches and six marks, though oddly no tackles. It’d odd because he’s a hard inside midfielder usually in the thick of it. He was, however, named fourth best for Sturt.

Jack Gunston had 22 touches and six grabs for Central District in a game that will keep him in the selection frame, while one of Neil Craig’s favourites Ricky Henderson returned for the Centrals after a one week layoff with concussion.

With the Crows having the bye Richard Tambling was the only Crow that played the week before to play in the SANFL and he had 15 touches with an impressive eight tackles.

 

BRISBANE

Brent Staker was very impressive in only his second game on return from his LARS knee surgery. He played in defence on Israel Folau, and while Folau kicked four goals, only two of them were on Staker. He might need another week in the reserves before a senior call up, as he spent a bit of time on the bench and his skills dropped a bit late in the game, but he’s staking his claim for a return.

Aaron Cornelius was nearly a late withdrawal with a sore quad, but played through it to be named second best with two goals to his name. It’s almost at the stage where Brisbane just have to see what he’s got and with Retzlaff being subbed off on the weekend he might get his chance in place of him.

Amon Buchanan was good as usual, especially in the clearances. Tom Collier played in defence and kept highly rated youngster Josh Bruce to one goal. Callum Bartlett made his long awaited return from knee surgery and while he was a little rusty, he displayed the ferocious attack at the contest that got him drafted. Xavier Clarke didn’t play, presumably because of that injury he copped last week, but there’s no word on how bad it is.

 

CARLTON

The Northern Bullants had it all their way on the scoreboard against an embarrassing Sandringham. I really liked the way rookie listed Joe Dare went about it across half back. A lot of Sandringham’s entries weren’t doing anything, but there had to be someone there to cut them off and Dare had it 28 times, along with eight marks.

Matthew Watson provided a lot of the long kicking on rebound. He has been a bit down on form for a little while now, but this was a much better display.

Jarryd Cachia goes so hard at it and had 31 touches and nine tackles. The small ground down at Sandringham would’ve suited him beautifully. The consistent Wayde Twomey had another solid game with 30 possessions and nine tackles.

Ed Curnow returned from his quad injury and played his first game for the Bullants (having completely bypassed them to jump straight into seniors at the start of the year). He didn’t do a whole heap, but he’ll be better for the run.

Unfortunately for the Bullants Brock McLean left the field in the last quarter after rolling his ankle and was on crutches after the game, so it doesn’t look good for the dominant midfielder, who has had a fantastic six weeks in the VFL.

 

COLLINGWOOD

Ben Johnson played a good game showing his usual run and carry. Collingwood will have a few guys looking nervously over their shoulders with an experienced player who can still contribute.

The big American Shae McNamara was named Collingwood’s best, playing in a very different role on the wing. He’s an incredible athlete and the knock on him has obviously been that he can’t read the play in the ruck. Collingwood tried something different and it sounded like a pretty successful first up effort. He would be so far away from senior selection, but I’ll be keeping a keen eye on how he goes in this role.

Kirk Ugle had another very good game with a couple of goals and while he still looks like he’d need to run around to get wet in a shower, he could be some silly chance of getting a game if a small forward got injured. He is a tireless worker in the forward line, which I’m sure the coaches would love.

John McCarthy got plenty of the ball and the coaches must have been happy enough with his game to name him in the bests, but his disposal was a bit scratchy. Brent Macaffer played well enough to stay in the selection frame. Tom Young, after being named on an extended bench two weeks in a row didn’t have such a good game, which might hurt his immediate chances.

 

ESSENDON

I had to put up with watching Sandringham attempt to play against the Northern Bullants and that was enough. I’m glad I didn’t have to also cop Essendon’s affiliate, Bendigo serve up one goal for the whole match against Coburg (who are comfortably outside the Top 8!) It was, by all accounts a dreadful day made worse by the fact it was played at Craigieburn – a ground that makes most games a write off anyway.

Jake Carlisle was pretty much the only positive for the Bombers. He played back mostly on Brad Miller and sometimes the resting ruckman. He took a few strong contested marks in difficult conditions and mixed it in with some authoritative punching. Tyson Slattery was also OK in defence and Michael Ross wasn’t too bad either.

Ariel Steinberg kicked the Bombers only goal, for what it’s worth. Bendigo played on Sunday and with Essendon playing on Friday night in Adelaide it’s a short break for anyone to come in anyway.

 

FREMANTLE

With Perth and Swan Districts having a bye and East Perth playing in the Foxtel Cup there weren’t many Dockers in WAFL seniors action this weekend – six to be exact. There weren’t many standout performers either.

Jay van Berlo was the leading disposal winner from the Docker brigade with 22 touches, four marks and three tackles.

Josh Mellington was the only Freo player to have played AFL the week before to take the field in the WAFL during their bye week. He was impressive with his forward pressure and had 15 touches with five marks and 2.4.

 

GEELONG

Geelong VFL had a bye.

 

GOLD COAST

Gold Coast had a huge win over a depleted Sydney reserves in the curtain raiser to their AFL clash later that night.

The big Dream Team and Super Coach news from the Suns reserves is that Michael Coad made a slightly earlier than anticipated return from his major hamstring injury. I noticed during the week that his status had changed straight from indefinite the week before to test. All of a sudden a viable back line downgrade appears. Coad played forward, where he kicked three goals and was named in the best players. He might still need a bit more conditioning, but if Bock misses with injury he might be more of a chance to be rushed back.

Rex Liddy backed up his good game last week with another strong performance, while Maverick Weller won plenty of the ball. Steven May, Tom Hickey and Seb Tape rounded out their best players.

 

HAWTHORN

It was a real dog of a day out at Cranbourne this weekend, where the Box Hill Hawks took on the Casey Scorpions. Box Hill only scored three goals for the day (there were some terrible scorelines in the VFL this weekend).

Rick Ladson was named best on ground for Box Hill and battled hard all day. It was a genuine slog with rain pouring down for the whole first quarter. He used it pretty well, given the conditions and will be around the mark for a recall after Hawthorn’s bye.

Taylor Duryea hasn’t been too bad lately and he was the only other Hawthorn listed player named in the bests for Box Hill. He’s been handy in his role across half back.

 

MELBOURNE

Max Gawn was dominant in the ruck in awful conditions out at Casey Fields against the Box Hill Hawks. There were a lot of stoppages and he gave the Casey Scorpions first use, especially in the later stages of the game.

Luke Tapscott had his second game back from his hamstring injury and will be a chance to come into the Melbourne side this week. He was hard at the contest, as you’d expect and had a fair bit of midfield time.

Tom McNamara was named best on ground for Casey for a workmanlike performance in the midfield. Matthew Bate kicked a couple of goals and didn’t do too bad in really difficult conditions.

With Melbourne having the bye, Jamie Bennell and Sam Blease were the only two who played seniors the previous week. Bennell has been struggling for form, so this could be an indication he could be out this week, but I don’t think it’s anything sinister with Blease, who played last game as a sub so would just be keeping match fitness up.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

North Ballarat had the bye and with North Melbourne’s partial alignment it meant a number of their players weren’t in VFL action, including Cam Richardson. If North make wholesale changes (not really Brad Scott’s style) after their embarrassing loss unfortunately Richo didn’t have a game to prove himself on the weekend.

Similar types that DID have a game played at Werribee and that included Jamie Macmillan returning from those horrible facial fractures he suffered against Adelaide. He had a solid game with 23 touches in the back half.

Gavin Urquhart was also decent off half back and has put together a pretty solid month. Ben Ross was named BOG for Werribee with 19 touches and three goals. Ben Speight kicked a handy three goals and was named in the bests, but left the game a bit early with a concussion – no idea how severe, but they had the game well under control.

Ruck duo Hamish McIntosh and Majak Daw were both named in the bests for Werribee. It was McIntosh’s third game back this season, so with a bit of continuity he’ll be in the mix for selection this week or next week. Daw has been in good form, but as I’ve said before North are lacking in many areas, but the ruck isn’t one of them.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

Port only had six players in SANFL seniors action this weekend and only Jacob Surjan had more than 15 possessions. Surjan was actually quite good with 26 touches and 1.2 to be named BOG for Port Adelaide Magpies.

Daniel Motlop kicked four goals from 14 touches. Young ruckman Jarrad Redden had 22 hitouts and seven touches for WWT.

 

RICHMOND

It was a miserable day out at Craigieburn where Coburg hosted Bendigo, but it certainly wasn’t a miserable performance by the Tigers. Mitch Morton pushed his case for a senior recall after three VFL games on return from a bit of personal leave from the club. He displayed plenty of versatility and it’s good to see him get named in the bests without kicking a goal.

David Gourdis ran the show in the backline, keeping gun Bendigo forward Matt Little to only a handful of possessions. He consistently performs so well in the VFL, but doesn’t get much of a run in the AFL. On precisely that point, Shane Tuck was dominant once again with the wet conditions suiting him to a tee.

Angus Graham had the better of Tom Bellchambers in the ruck. It was interesting that he didn’t get the call up with Andrew Browne’s hip injury, so it’ll be interesting to see if he gets a game against GC this week.

 

ST.KILDA

The Saints affiliate Sandringham were awful. There were some truly dreadful team performances in the VFL on the weekend and this was the one I witnessed.

Michael Gardiner made his long awaited return from injury and played the first half, blowing out a few cobwebs. He was pretty good in the taps and only collected a handful of possessions around the ground. It sounds like he was pretty happy to get through the half and will look to ramp up his game time in the VFL over the next couple of weeks.

Tommy Walsh kicked the Zebras only two goals of the day and was pretty promising. Saints fans have been crying out for the big Irishman’s debut. In fact, his photo adorned the front page of footytragic.com for the whole off season because of Toby’s love for him.

Robert Eddy was his usual workmanlike self and didn’t give up, but lacked polish. Tom Simpkin had a crack in defence, but that was really it.

Andrew McQualter and Jarryn Geary both traveled to Adelaide as emergencies for the Saints, while their other emergency Arryn Siposs was spotted in the stands at Sandy, but no one seems to have a clue why he didn’t play. Rhys Stanley returned after a four week hamstring injury and left the game with another hamstring injury.

 

SYDNEY

The Sydney reserves lost their first game of the season to the Gold Coast reserves in almost farcical circumstances. They started the game with only 20 players! The reserves game between Sydney and Gold Coast was the curtain raiser to the AFL game between the same two teams and Jarred Moore and Luke Parker both pulled out of the reserves to play AFL that night.

Nathan Gordon kicked a goal, but was sent off before quarter time because he was reported twice in the same game (yes, that’s a real rule in many leagues). Only down to one on the bench the Swans ended up basically playing with no rotations when Lewis Johnston got hurt. He still played a little bit, but was definitely lame.

Byron Sumner was impressive and loves to tackle. He adds a bit of outside pace and can kick goals. Jesse White returned to the reserves and really had a crack. He was named second best and kicked three goals, while Mark Seaby was named BOG for his job in the ruck. In form Daniel Currie didn’t play.

 

WEST COAST

Strangely with two WAFL teams having a bye the Eagles still had a massive 16 players in WAFL seniors on the weekend.

Rookie Andrew Gaff was best of South Freo with 27 touches and four marks. He’s had such a good year for a first year player, but just can’t break into the Eagles side. He’d be very close though.

Mitch Brown on return from a broken thumb had 25 touches and eight marks and was among the best players for East Freo. Bradd Dalziell and Chris Masten were a couple of his Shark teammates named in the best players – Dalziell with 33 touches and nine marks, while Masten had 24 with eight tackles.

Jordan Jones, like Gaff, is very unlucky that the Eagles are up and about with a very small injury list at the moment. He was fantastic for Peel Thunder with 26 touches starting across half back and then moving into the midfield for 11 last quarter possessions.

Beau Waters had his second game back from his elbow injury and got through fine. He had 19 touches and six tackles. The Eagles are flying (high), but Waters should be back either this week or next week, making someone in the side very unlucky (McGinnity or Swift my guess).

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

The Bulldogs affiliate Williamstown won convincingly in their Foxtel Cup semi final against the East Perth Royals. It was well and truly over by quarter time, as they dominated from opening bounce to final siren in the shortened game.

Patrick Veszpremi kicked four goals and took the game on. He was lively around the big sticks and was working off the ball with good intensity.

Dylan Addison was named best on ground with 20 disposals and a goal. Tom Liberatore worked hard in the midfield for 17 touches. Will Minson and Jordan Roughead dominated the ruck so much that they individually had more hitouts than East Perth did as a team. Mitch Wallis, Jayden Schofield and Brian Lake all didn’t play in the match.

 

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

With Adelaide, Melbourne and Fremantle all having a bye this weekend are there any saviors for your team? Did Cam Richardson do enough to earn a recall? Maybe you desperately need Charlie Dixon, Josh Toy, Mitch Wallis or Tom Liberatore to come back this week. Failing that, are there any rookies who have shown some hot form and could be in line to debut. Let’s take a look over the 17 clubs and how their players went in state league action last weekend.

 

ADELAIDE

There wasn’t very much going on with the Crows players in reserve on the weekend with quite a few listless performances. Luke Thompson was solid in defence for WWT in a narrow loss to ladder leaders Central District. At the other end of the ground for the winners Jack Gunston played back for the Dogs and didn’t do too bad either.

Brodie Smith collected 21 touches mostly playing on a wing for WWT and might not be too far from returning. Shaun McKernan was named in the bests for South Adelaide for his role in the ruck with 10 touches and 24 hitouts rucking against Ivan Maric (four touches and 28 hitouts).

 

BRISBANE

Brisbane reserves struggled against Aspley and went down by eight goals. James Hawksley was named BOG for the Lions and was one of their only players to stand up when Aspley were at their best.

Aaron Cornelius was marking the ball well and finished the game with four goals in a solid showing. He’s been in good form in the reserves most of the year and hasn’t played an AFL game since Round 5 and will put pressure on the subbed off Retzlaff this week.

Amon Buchanan was reasonably well held, but his clearance work was still prominent and was named fourth best, while rookie listed Josh Dyson also got a mention in the best players.

Jared Polec kicked three goals and Broc McCauley had a great start to the game, kicking 2.1 in the first term, but faded badly after that.

Brent Staker played his first game on return from his LARS reconstructed knee and looked a little rusty in defence, but got through the game fine. Unfortunately Xavier Clarke didn’t make it to quarter time before having his ankle iced up – he just can’t catch a break (or maybe he catches too many).

 

CARLTON

This was one of the games I saw on the weekend and wasn’t overly impressed with too many of the Carlton listed Bullants. Brock McLean was Brock McLean. He’s so dominant at VFL level and his form really demands selection at the moment, but there’s just no room in the Carlton team.

Dennis Armfield was good in patches, but mostly frustrating. He’d do some good things, but too many bad things. His pace is such a big asset and he uses it well, but his turnovers and general game sense hold him back.

Paul Bower wasn’t bad in defence, but naturally he went off in the second quarter with what looked to be an arm injury. He did return later in the quarter, however his body is a concern. He played with that dash and didn’t fear to take the game on, which is what you expect from him.

I was surprised to see Mark Austin named in the bests. It wasn’t that he was bad, but he had no positive or negative effect on the game – he was playing on Brian Lake and the ball just didn’t go near their contest very often. Rookie listed Joe Dare was good across half back after missing the last two weeks with a thigh injury.

 

COLLINGWOOD

This was the TV game and for once I had a Saturday afternoon in front of the TV, owing to my girlfriend’s dog getting put down (R.I.P Ricky). I got back in time for the start of the game and tastefully asked if I could watch the VFL.

Collingwood fielded a very young side and the standout for me was Paul Seedsman. I hadn’t seen him play yet, as he’d missed a few weeks, but his contested marking was really good and I thought he showed a bit.

Ben Johnson had a really quiet first half, but worked his way into the game beautifully during a third quarter comeback. In all, it was a good outing from both he and Brent Macaffer. John McCarthy wasn’t too bad either.

Kirk Ugle was very lively up forward and kicked three goals. His body is a fair way off being ready for AFL and his involvements in games need to get more consistent, so don’t expect to see him in 2011, but he’s an exciting player. If anyone is going to get upgraded off their rookie list it would be Jye Bolton.

Tom Young was kept out as an emergency for the AFL game.

 

ESSENDON

Essendon’s affiliate the Bendigo Bombers had a bye.

 

FREMANTLE

While the injury list is starting to get smaller and the Dockers are having more players take part in WAFL action, there wasn’t a whole heap of big performers this weekend. Rookie listed Casey Sibosado kicked five goals for Perth. He’s had a very ordinary season and was controversially almost dropped to Perth reserves a few weeks ago until Freo cracked the sads and made sure he stayed in the seniors.

Byron Schammer picked up another 30 touches and used the ball pretty well, which isn’t something he’s particularly noted for. It doesn’t look like he’s part of Freo’s plans, but his form has been pretty good this year.

Kepler Bradley, who was reasonably stiff to get dropped was good for West Perth with 27 touches and 11 marks. It’s not all about kicks and handballs though (well, it kinda is for DT/SC coaches) but Peter Faulks restricted goal kicking powerhouse Josh Smith to only two goals.

 

GEELONG

Geelong haven’t enjoyed many wins in the VFL this year, but they smashed a hapless Frankston by nearly 100 points on the weekend. Cameron Mooney kicked five goals, all in the first half, but helped dish a few off in the second half too. It still looks like he can fill a role if required. Tom Hawkins was patchy, but managed to kick three goals in his good moments.

Simon Hogan continues his excellent return to action and was named best on ground for the Cats. His good work ethic could make him a good tagging option and he went forward to kick three, but Josh Cowan was named second best, is younger and athletically similar.

The pair of Geelong talls Dawson Simpson and Trent West were dominant in the ruck, while West also got forward and kicked three goals. Jonathan Simpkin and Jordan Schroder are two guys yet to debut, whose games drew praise.

 

GOLD COAST

There’s not a lot information coming out of the Gold Coast reserves game, Charlie Dixon kicked 11 goals…so yeah…I reckon he did alright.

Harley Bennell was very classy through the midfield and went forward to kick three goals, which is another good game pushing him closer to a senior return, so long as he turns up to training. Rex Liddy was another flashy performer, who turned heads. Daniel Harris picked up close to 40 possessions in typical Harris manner.

Rory Thompson started the year in the ruck and up forward, but has played in the backline the last few weeks and held former Richmond player Cleve Hughes (one of the more proficient goal kickers in the NEAFL) to one goal.

Gary’s brother Nathan and Josh Toy kicked two goals each.

 

HAWTHORN

Xavier Ellis returned after missing over a month with a calf injury and was very good in limited game time. Apparently he was only meant to play half a game, but he ended up playing all four quarters with closely monitored minutes and even assisted the game winning goal to Luke Lowden. Lowden himself was quite good after being named emergency for the Hawks last week. His ruck work is still raw, but he covers the ground well for a big bloke.

Jarryd Morton breathed a bit of life into his career with his best game in a long while, including a nice long goal. Riley Milne racked up plenty of touches in a variety of roles, but mainly playing across half back and given he was named emergency last week is a chance to come in this week.

Taylor Duryea had a nice game, without doing anything too stand out, but was a consistent performer. On the flipside, Derick Wanganeen showed some good signs in bursts.

Will Sierakowski was kept on emergency standby for Hawthorn.

 

MELBOURNE

Addam Maric was BOG for the Casey Scorpions, with 33 touches and five marks. He will be putting a lot of pressure on struggling Jamie Bennell for a senior spot.

Max Gawn was handy in his return to VFL action with a couple of goals in a challenging ruck battle with Hamish McIntosh and Majak Daw. The Werribee pair probably had the better in the ruck, but Gawn won his share of hitouts and was productive up forward.

Troy Davis and Tom McDonald both were named in the best players for solid roles in defence. This game also saw the return of Luke Tapscott, who made an early impression by smashing Werribee captain Dom Gleeson who had to leave the field with a head injury only minutes into the game. Tapscott had 18 touches and six marks and will be a good chance to return after the Demons bye.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

Cruize Garlett maintains his remarkable consistency this season, with another 31 touches through the midfield. He’s been named in the best players in six of the past seven games and on all of those occasions was named in the best three for the Roosters. As DT/SC coaches we complain about Richardson not getting a game, but this guy is seriously blitzing and will poll well in the J.J Liston Medal (the last time an AFL listed player won it was Paul Johnson in 2005, for the record).

Speaking of Cam Richardson, he was not named in the best players, which doesn’t bode too well for an instant recall in what will be a week of carnage for a lot of fantasy forward lines this week.

Rookie listed defender Marcus White had his best game for the season on the comeback trail from shoulder surgery and racked up 32 touches, a whopping 14 marks and six tackles. Forward Aaron Black booted four goals from 14 touches.

As for the Kangaroos guys playing at Werribee Robbie Tarrant was in more familiar surroundings in defence and had the big job on Brendan Fevola. He kept the former Coleman Medalist to two goals and was named best on ground for the Tigers.

Hamish McIntosh and Majak Daw combined in the ruck for an impressive 46 touches and 35 hitouts (pretty much an even split in the stats). Ben Warren was tracking really well, but an ankle injury in the third term that saw him stretchered off ended his day on three goals, however the injury doesn’t sound as bad as it first appeared.

Shaun Atley didn’t play, as he was emergency standby/rested for the Kangaroos.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

The Power would be hoping for something, anything coming up from the reserves after such a disappointing season. Cam Hitchcock was their best performer on the weekend with 14 touches, seven marks, five tackles and 5.1 for Glenelg. I’ve said it before, but he needs to translate his goal kicking form to AFL level.

Mitch Banner picked up another 24 touches, along with seven marks and was pretty wasteful by foot (nothing new), but was named second best for the Magpies. Teammate Jacob Surjan had 20 possessions with three marks and five tackles.

Michael Pettigrew was named in the bests for West Adelaide and kicked a very rare goal.

 

RICHMOND

Richmond’s affiliate Coburg Tigers had a bye.

 

ST.KILDA

It was a dog of a day for Sandringham, who only managed six goals against a resurgent North Ballarat. Tommy Walsh was named best on ground for the Zebras, and although reports on his game were not glowing he played a variety of positions to show that his development is tracking nicely. You’d imagine he’ll get blooded at AFL level at some stage this season.

Andrew McQualter continues his ball winning form in the midfield, but is quite clearly purely a depth player for the Saints, while Arryn Siposs showed flashes, as he did in his handful of AFL games and kicked a nice goal, but it sounds like he didn’t get involved enough.

 

SYDNEY

Another week, another cricket score for the Swans reserves. They kicked 33 goals for the second week in a row, so really how much can you read into all of the good performances when they’re basically running competitive training drills?

Trent Dennis-Lane single handedly beat the opposition team for the second week in a row with another dozen goals including five in the first quarter (after scoring 11 the week before). This week they snuck him into fourth best after not even getting a mention last week.

Byron Sumner played in the midfield and was named BOG for the Swans, displaying a great work rate and winning plenty of the ball.

Matt Spangher played another great game up forward after being moved their last week. His marking overhead was a stand out and he also helped out in the ruck with Mike Pyke not getting up for this game.

Daniel Currie was named second best for his job in the ruck and crashing packs up forward. This is the sixth week in a row he’s been in the bests and I’d really love to see his perseverance get rewarded with a senior game. He also finished with two goals.

Nathan Gordon and Jarred Moore were good and showed their usual hardness in the contest, while Gordon finished with three goals.

Gary Rohan returned from a knee injury that had kept him on the sidelines for a couple of months, but hurt his left hammy and it didn’t look good. It appears as though he’ll be sidelined for a while longer.

 

WEST COAST

The best performers for West Coast mostly played in the Sunday game (Claremont vs. South Freo) which only leaves a five day break until the Eagles Friday night game this weekend. Beau Waters returned from his elbow injury for Claremont and had 16 touches, five marks and nine tackles, while displaying his usual kamikaze attack.

John Worsfold has talked up Andrew Gaff’s chances this week after a 28 touch, five mark best on ground display for South Freo, while Sharks teammates Callum Wilson and Gerrick Weedon were also impressive. Wilson kicked four goals from his 18 disposals and Weedon was creative up the ground, getting it 21 times, including nine marks. All four will be in line to replace the suspended Quinten Lynch and injured Sam Butler.

While West Coast had the bye the only player who had been in AFL action the previous week was Brad Ebert. Sometimes this is an indication that a player is about to get dropped, but it should also be noted that Ebert has been the sub three weeks in a row, so could’ve also been getting match fitness.

Andrew Strijk had 20 touches, six marks and kicked three goals for West Perth. Mitch Brown could also be in line for his long awaited return. His East Perth had a bye, but the rules allow players returning from injury regaining match fitness to play for the bottom placed reserves side and he picked up 21 touches for Peel reserves. For Peel Seniors Blayne Wilson and Jordan Jones were named in the best players.

With East Freo having the bye a host of good Eagles reserves had the week off, such as Koby Stevens, Chris Masten and Brad Sheppard.

WESTERN BULLDOGS

The Bulldogs affiliate, Williamstown had a comfortable win in the second vs. third clash against the Northern Bullants. Jordan Roughead and Will Minson did as they pleased in the ruck against a very inexperienced Bullants duo and both floated forward to kick three and two goal respectively. Roughead, in particular took a couple of nice pack marks.

Dylan Addison was very gutsy and along with Jayden Schofield took some nice contested marks far exceeding what you would expect from players of that height.

Nathan Djerrkura, Tom Liberatore and Mitch Wallis won plenty of ball in the midfield. Wallis had a lot of handballs in traffic to start the spread, while Djerrkura and Liberatore were named in the best players for the Seagulls.

Jason Tutt really impressed me, particularly in the second quarter when he kicked a couple of goals. He added a bit of run and carry, while his kicking in difficult conditions looked good. He’s had a good month.

Brian Lake kicked three goals and took a couple of steps in the right direction playing at both ends of the ground, but the ball didn’t really find it’s way to his contest vs. Mark Austin very much at all. Justin Sherman was very lively early, but faded.

 

Dan runs through all the action from this weekends state-league matches. Which AFL listed players are pushing for a senior game?

Unfortunately for the same reason I wasn’t on the show on Thursday night, I didn’t get out to a state league game last weekend. I’ve still put in a heap of work to bring this weeks installment of State League All-Stars.

 

ADELAIDE

After their shocking effort down at Geelong the Crows might have a few changes to make, so let’s see how they went in SANFL action on the weekend. Brad Moran had a very good game for West Adelaide in defence. He picked up 22 touches, including seven marks and was named BOG for them. With Shaun McKernan not giving much of a yelp on the weekend for the Crows, this could be one change – Moran was diabolic in his one game for the Crows this year, but he’s talented, very talented in my opinion…just needs to go harder at it.

After his poor game for South Adelaide last week Daniel Talia lifted big time this weekend. He was also playing in defence and was named second best for the Panthers with 16 disposals, three marks and three tackles. To continue the trend of tall Crows reserves doing well on the weekend, James Sellar was named in the bests for Glenelg, mainly playing in the ruck.

If anyone still has Brodie Smith, he played his first SANFL Seniors game of the season and had 16 touches, four marks and seven tackles. David Mackay made his long awaited return from injury for South Adelaide and had 15 touches. The Crows need him back badly!

 

BRISBANE

The Lions are all about playing the kids at the moment, but Amon Buchanan is screaming for a recall, collecting 47 possessions in a BOG performance for the Lions reserves in their narrow defeat to Mt. Gravatt. His clearance work was especially fantastic and while he lacks a bit of polish, on his recent form, with this game in particular he’s a worthy call up.

Xavier Clarke remains upright after four straight reserves games. He’s shown a bit of class and would be around the mark.

Tom Collier was named in the best players, along with Josh Dyson and Brad Harvey, though only Collier would be around the mark for a game. Jared Polec made a rather uninspiring return from a knee injury.

 

CARLTON

It didn’t sound like the best day for the Northern Bullants, thought Brock McLean kept up his good recent VFL form with 28 touches and eight clearances according to Bullants Twitter. I wouldn’t think it’s a good sign for his standing at the Blues that he couldn’t get a game with Curnow and Robinson out of the side on the weekend.

Wayde Twomey had a solid, consistent game, as he pretty much has all year. The mature ager is handy back up for the Blues to have on their list, but probably not much more than that.

Paul Bower was kept out as an emergency for the AFL game.

 

COLLINGWOOD

It was all about the return of Darren Jolly, Ben Johnson and Brent Macaffer for the Pies on the weekend. Realistically these three, along with Alex Fasolo are the ones likely to come back into the team any time soon.

Jolly was very good, with 23 touches, 29 hitouts and a goal to be named BOG for the Pies twos. Unfortunately Michael Gardiner was a late withdrawal, which would’ve made for a pretty high quality ruck duel in a VFL game – in the end he was up against the less experienced duo (and more key position than ruck) in Daniel Archer and Tommy Walsh. Unless the Pies think he needs more match fitness he should come in this week.

Johnson provided some outside run, which isn’t an easy thing to do considering they were playing at Sandringham – about the size of a basketball court. He kicked a couple of nice goals in the first quarter, but faded out of the game later, but was still named second best.

Macaffer looks to have slimmed down a bit and played across half forward with stints in the midfield and will add to the Pies depth, which was starting to look thin.

Fasolo kicked a couple of goals and his good foot skills were on display. He’ll be around the mark for some more games this year, but probably won’t have good enough job security to be a good DT/SC option. Luke Rounds is playing some good footy as a small defender and I can see him getting a game or two for experience this year.

 

ESSENDON

It wasn’t a brilliant day out for Essendon’s affiliate, Bendigo. With a few injuries to key Bombers there will be a few changes to make this week (Crameri and Hardingham will both return from suspension).

If Kyle Reimers doesn’t get a game, then something is clearly up. He’s put together a really good month of senior footy and was good again on the weekend, so he’s either being really made to earn it or the Bombers have a line through his name. The longer his exile remains for, the more I start to believe there’s a line through his name, but let’s see what happens this week.

Jake Carlisle had an impressive game at both ends of the ground. His contested marking was a feature and will be in the mix for selection over the next few weeks. Scott Gumbleton kicked a goal and didn’t get injured. He got on his bike and was playing up the ground a fair bit, rather than being the target inside 50.

Michael Ross was named BOG for Bendigo for his sweeping role across half back, providing a bit of run and carry for the Bombers. Interestingly the article on the Bombers site talks up Carlisle and Gumbleton, but no mention at all of Reimers.

 

FREMANTLE

With such a long injury list, Freo only had eight players in WAFL Seniors on the weekend (with two more in the reserves). Byron Schammer played another good game, but it seems Mark Harvey isn’t interested anymore. He had 29 touches and six marks.

Rookie listed Casey Sibosado kicked two crucial last quarter goals, including the match winner from outside 50. He had 15 touches and five marks to go with that pair of goals. He’d be a very long way off it, but it’s good to see him showing something.

Jay van Berlo had 22 touches and six marks, while Ben Bucovaz returned to WAFL action after his AFL debut with 17 disposals, four marks and a couple of goals.

 

GEELONG

The Cats reserves were hideously undermanned this week, with only nine of their players lining up. Simon Hogan was the stand out in his second game for the season, amassing 27 touches, with plenty of grunt work in the middle. With a bit more conditioning the Cats hard worker will add some good depth to the line up.

Cameron Mooney also had a very good game. With no other key forwards in the team he was up against, often getting double and triple teamed, but he still ended up with eight marks and four goals. There’s still life in the big hairy cat!

Jonathan Simpkin was hard at it in the midfield and picked up 28 possessions, while Cameron Guthrie and George Horlin-Smith weren’t bad off half back.

 

GOLD COAST

There’s not a lot of info from the Gold Coast reserves game unfortunately. They had three players kick four goals each – Nathan Ablett, Jack Stanley and Liam Patrick, but none got named in the best players.

Seb Tape was named BOG for his role across half back, along with Rory Thompson, who played at centre half back for a change of scenery (usually ruck/forward).

When the Suns reserves it was Joey Daye and Harley Bennell who lifted in the midfield to allow the Suns to cruise to a comfortable win. For anyone who may still be holding onto him, Daniel Harris didn’t play. I know a few people who have Tom Nicholls as ruck cover and even though he was showing up on the injury list as a few weeks away he played on the weekend.

 

HAWTHORN

The Box Hill Hawks had a bye.

 

MELBOURNE

Melbourne’s affiliate, the Casey Scorpions had a bye.

 

NORTH MELBOURNE

In his second game on return from injury Matty Campbell was lively up forward and finished with four goals. His forward pressure was good and should return to the team soon.

Daniel Pratt returned from his thumb injury and was composed in the back half, collecting 27 touches. Rookie listed Aaron Mullett was also impressive for North Ballarat, playing off the wing and drifting forward for three goals, with his third quarter being especially good. Cam Richardson was not named in the best players for the first time in over a month, owing to the fact that he finally got the call up to AFL.

As for those that played for Werribee, Hamish McIntosh made his much anticipated return from a pre-season achilles injury, spending most of the day in the forward line. He was a bit rusty early on, but played better in the second half. Hopefully he pulled up well during the week, but North aren’t exactly struggling in the ruck, so it’ll be interesting in a few weeks when his match fitness is up.

Speaking of rucks Majak Daw gave talkback callers who have probably never seen him play and have no understanding of structure, a reason to angrily call up SEN and demand to know why Daw isn’t getting a game. He was named second best for Werribee and led the ruck. He worked hard around the ground and had 24 hitouts, but as I said before, North are travelling well in the ruck.

Ben McKinley kicked five goals, among 23 disposals and six marks. It was another good game for the in form forward, who just simply needs to keep it up and wait his turn, as the Roos forwards are working well at the moment. Rookie listed Matt Scott went down in the second quarter and appears to have sustained a serious knee injury – tough luck for the young lad, who I am quite a fan of.

 

PORT ADELAIDE

All I can imagine by now is that Matthew Primus forgot that Mitch Banner is on their list. He keeps dominating for Port Adelaide Magpies and has reportedly displayed a lot of improvement in the defensive side of his game, as evidenced with four tackles on the weekend. He had another 27 disposals, probably not the cleanest, but he just keeps playing well every week.

A trio of Power listed players were named in the best players for Glenelg this weekend, though Chad Cornes already has his farewell game announced for Round 20 against Collingwood. Cam Hitchcock had a ripper with 26 touches, six marks and 4.2. His main issue in the AFL this year has been that he simply isn’t kicking goals, so it’s a good step for him to take. Steve Salopek had 23 touches, six marks and 2.1.

Rookie listed basketball convert Daniel Bass had a very promising game for South Adelaide in the ruck. It was his third game in the seniors this year (spending most of his time with South reserves) but the first time he’s looked the part at SANFL seniors level. He had 12 touches, four marks and 17 hitouts. With the career of Dean Brogan drawing to a close they’ll be hoping for a similar story to emerge with Bass – still a long way from AFL I’d imagine, but good to see the former Eltham High School student reprezenting (my old school).

Speaking of Port’s ruck stocks, considering they’re quite thin at the top end right now Jarrad Redden had his first game time since Round 1. He lined up for WWT reserves and was named second best – straight into the Eagles seniors this week I’d suggest.

Daniel Motlop kicked four goals for North Adelaide.

 

RICHMOND

Travis Tuck picked up 37 touches and showed his usual hardness at the contest in a BOG performance. Jayden Post was impressive in a key defensive role, plucking a few marks and winning 27 touches. He was matched up on Ben McKinley though, who got off the leash late in the game, however Post was still named third best for Coburg.

Rookie listed Ben Jakobi showed a bit of dash from defence and used it well the 19 times he had it. In his second game on return from personal leave Mitch Morton kicked three goals in a dangerous display. It’s not too late for him to make an impact this year and a couple more games like this should see him back in the seniors.

Ben Nason showed good work ethic in picking up his 24 touches, as illustrated by his 14 handball receives.

 

ST.KILDA

Andrew McQualter had another great game and is in ripping form in the VFL lately. Certainly on form he’s someone who deserves another go, but it may already be decided by Saints match committee that he’s too good for VFL, but not quite good enough for AFL. On exactly that topic, Raph Clarke had a very good showing for Sandringham.

Youngster Tom Ledger was industrious in the midfield and will be pressing for selection. Will Johnson kicked three goals and Tom Simpkin was named second best.

Jason Blake hurt his knee again in the second quarter and didn’t return, while Jarryn Geary made his return from a long lay off with a leg injury.

 

SYDNEY

Sydney reserves won by almost 200 points against Queanbeyan. It was such a drubbing that it’s hard to get a real read on how they went – the match was described as more of a training run than a footy match.

Trent Dennis-Lane was pretty stiff not to get named in the bests for his nine goal effort, including eight in the first half – at which point the game was presumably on the line for the first 90-120 seconds.

He wasn’t the only major goal kicker, with BOG Nathan Gordon slotting through a cool seven. He gave off a few as well and showed plenty of toughness at the contest. He got his debut the week after Kieren Jack went down with that ankle injury. He hurt it again on the weekend, but may not miss. Gordon is on the bubble too, but I wouldn’t be banging down the door to get him in.

Matt Spangher started in the back line, but after missing a bit of time with a hamstring injury it looked like the Swans wanted to get him into the action, so threw him forward, where he ended up with six goals – yep, that’s 21 goals between those three players for those not keeping count.

Luke Parker will be pressing hard for a spot along with Gordon if Jack misses any time. Jarred Moore was good around the clearances and picked up three goals, while Byron Sumner ran hard all day (an issue with his game in the past). Daniel Currie continued his great form and was named in the bests, but unfortunately for the unlucky big man (five years, no games) Mike Pyke made his return from injury and will already be ahead of Currie in the pecking order.

 

WEST COAST

Another round, another week to be jealous of West Coast’s depth. Many of the same players put in good performances in the WAFL on the weekend and will be ready to step straight in if need be.

Koby Stevens was very stiff not to be selected ahead of Tom Swift last week, but with Swift not having such a great game maybe he’ll get a chance this week. Stevens had 25 touches, six marks and a goal for East Freo.

Chris Masten picked up 27 touches, six marks and laid eight tackles in what sounded like a pretty good game. Andrew Gaff was another to impress and would have played a lot of games this year if he was at most other clubs in the league, but West Coast’s form and depth has seen him on the outer. He had 24 disposals, seven marks and a couple of goals.

Lewis Stevenson got it 24 times along with eight marks across half back, while Callum Wilson had 19 touches and a whopping 11 marks for a return of three goals. To top it all off their incredibly short injury list got even shorter with Mitch Brown returning this week and you’d imagine he’d be one they find room for in the 22 soon.

 

WESTERN BULLDOGS

Jarrad Grant had a massive game with eight goals and was named best on for Williamstown. A couple of the goals came easy, but he worked hard to earn 20 touches and eight marks.

Andrew Hooper worked hard in the forward with some of that forward pressure that saw him earn a debut in the finals last year. He also ended up with four goals and gave a couple off to be named third best. Nathan Djerrkura and Josh Hill were both good, while Jordan Roughead and Ayce Cordy had the better of Josh Jenkins and Jay Neagle in the ruck.

Brian Lake started back and moved forward to end up with three goals in a more promising display, while Mitch Wallis had 25 touches and Tom Liberatore (in his VFL debut) had 20.