Again still returning from an extended lay-off with injury. Rhys played full game time, he had it 21 times. His contested footy again was a highlight, his work inside the contest. We’re still working on what Rhys does on the outside, his ability to run from contest to contest. I know it was a lot harder in the conditions but that’s Rhys’ big area of improvement to play senior footy at this stage. His contested work and his ability to hunt the footy inside for us has been really good.

Played key defence – he had it 18 times, took seven marks, really strong in the air back there in the conditions for us. He saved a lot of Sydney’s thrusts going forward with what he was able to do down back. He’s in really good form at the moment. He’s really consistent and leading the group well in what hasn’t been a great start to the year.

With Nick Robbo being a late withdrawal, Josh played back out on a wing giving us some structure in and around the footy for us. Had to drag Josh a couple of times just due to not playing and adhering to team instructions. He wants to add a bit more run and carry for us. Again, the conditions didn’t suit. It wasn’t a great game for Josh – he’ll attest to that but as I said it wasn’t for everyone.

Played on Rose and wanted the job on Rose. It was good for a kid to be able to put his hand up and want to play on a dangerous player. He was OK on him, a couple of contests where Josh wasn’t involved Rose had impact and a couple of ground level balls in the back 50 where if you give a good player room they’ll take you to the sword. It was a good improvement from Josh, taking the role on the half back line really well and buying into it. Now we really want to see him take the game on with his run and carry because that is his strength, his ability to run.

Not a lot of the ball, he had the week off prior as an emergency for the seniors. He had it 13 times, 10 contested which was a good result. He was pretty clean around the contest during the day, he just didn’t get enough of the ball. Like Rhys Mathieson, Billy’s work on is that contest to contest and ability to run hard both ways. His missed the scoreboard which was unfortunate, but looked above with his clean hands in and around the contest.

Another inside mid – we’ve got three of them at the moment. He had it 11 times, he wasn’t clean it wasn’t a great day for Jarrad. His tackling is at a great level for where he needs to be right now but he still needs to find more ball. He’s still learning our system on how we play the game coming from Geelong. Like Rhys and Billy that work contest to contest and ability to get on the spread and work hard in transition is what we’ve been teaching these mids.

Pushed him back forward like last week against Aspley. He had minimal impact this week. He only had it 10 times, in the back half of the game we pushed him back down in defence. He wasn’t marking the ball and wasn’t really providing the contest for us up-front. It’s probably for him to be able to forget. He hit the scoreboard with our first goal of the game late in the first. A big thing for Eric to be working on right now as a young key-forward is his ability to stay strong in the contest, keep his feet. He doesn’t have to mark everything, as long as he’s created the contest and is bringing it to ground and our ground level boys into play.

Not a big day for our ruckman. Westy only had it 9 times for the day. His ruck work was pretty good in and around the contest. With the wet conditions our rucks weren’t really able to influence the play around the ground. I thought his tackle work and intensity in and around the contest was OK but around the ground he had minimal impact. It’s something for our rucks to continually work on and hopefully put pressure on Stefan Martin in the seniors.

Not a great day for Reub. He hit the scoreboard in the first quarter which was good for him, it’s been one of his goals to have an inside-50 impact. He only had it the seven times and the three tackles we’re asking for a bit more of an input from Reuben in this area. Probably what hurt him on the day was a bit of fumbling, he’ll need to do a bit more work on that in the coming weeks.

Only played just under a half – he got a knock on the knee and will spend 2-3 weeks on the sidelines with a low grade medial injury to his knee. He looked OK in his time whilst on the ground. He was clean with the ball. He only had it 6 times but went at 100% efficiency. It was very unfortunate, he can’t take a trick at the moment big Hugh. Hopefully it’s a small break and he’s back with us really quick.

Not a good day for Matty – again he played as a key defender we’re keeping him back at the moment to improve his aerial contest work and making sure he’s in contests all the time where as a forward he’s probably limited. His big one is his body spoils and making sure he’s impacting aerially. Only the five touches, all uncontested so we’re really asking Matty for a big lift in this area going forward.

Not in great form, Jono. Only the 4 touches, that’s three weeks in a row for Jono. He’s not impacting the scoreboard or aerial contests with his marks. He only took one for the day. I know it’s trying conditions for our big key forwards but all we’re asking is that contest – if it goes to ground, keep it in the area. We’re asking him to work a little harder at the moment, his work rate and his ability to run is not quite at the level. We’ll play him higher up the ground in the following weeks just to make sure he’s getting on his bike and having an impact more up the ground. His work rate is down at the moment and he knows it,  so that will be his focus now for the next two or three weeks.