Nick Robertson

Nick worked tirelessly all day and got good reward for his effort, which has been building over the past three weeks. He finished with 38 touches and ran off and defended very hard.

Jordan Lisle

Had an off day, and didn’t have much of an influence. He played half the game up forward, and the other half down back. Only had one disposal to half time. Probably lowered his colours for first time all year in the NEAFL.

Marco Paparone

We tried Marco at half-back all day, and he gave some good run and overlap. Had 30-odd touches in his first real experience as a defender. It’s just another part of him learning the caper in that area. It’s a real positive that he’s been able to get his hands on the ball, but there are still a couple of things he needs to work on.

Matthew Leuenberger

We intended him to play whole game, but ended up putting him to bed with 10 mins to go as a precaution. He had a good influence in ruck and with his taps, but didn’t do a lot around the ground and up forward. It was still only his second game back after an interrupted preparation.

Tom Cutler

Tom came back after a month out with a groin injury, and ended up playing the whole game. When he got the ball and drove his legs, he looked really good. He didn’t have a huge amount of disposals, but that’s expected as he’s still breaking the ice back into footy.

Andrew Raines

Played inside a lot more than usual and a bit on the wing. Had 30-odd touches and did his job. He’s been good lately with his ability to lead and talk to the multiple young blokes we’re playing. Still had a few kicking errors, but had a reasonable influence on the contest.

James Polkinghorne

Probably for one of the first times in his career, Polks got tagged by Daniel Robinson at the Swans. He didn’t have much of the ball – he finished with around 12-15 possessions – but got to experience having someone hard on his tail. He’s had an interrupted preparation with his legs, but the real positive for us was that he ran the game out well.

Jonathan Freeman

Jono kicked all three of our goals up until half-time, and finished the day with 3.2. He was a positive for us. He jumped at a couple of contests and took some nice grabs. He also laid three big tackles, which we don’t see often with guys of his size. His pressure was up a little bit.

Jackson Paine

Didn’t have a big influence on the game, and didn’t kick any goals. However, he was close-checked. The Sydney defenders in the NEAFL are clones of their senior defenders, so they were scragging a fair bit. I though Jackson could have gotten a better run from officials, but he also wasn’t helped by the delivery at times. He got a little frustrated, but kept trying.

Nick Hayes

Nick played on-ball all day and was quiet. It was an unusual game for Hayesy. He just seemed to be running to the spots a bit early or a bit late. As the late Jack Dyer used to say, he probably ‘ran where the ball aint’. He still laid his four tackles and contributed at times, but didn’t have the influence he has in recent weeks.  

Archie Smith

Archie didn’t have a big influence, but we were satisfied with his game in the ruck in terms of being competitive. He’ll probably think not, but I thought he was of value. He also got to play more minutes up forward, which is just another part of his ongoing development as a player.

Jordon Bourke

Played very well. He beat all-comers. He spent most of his time on Lewis Roberts-Thomson, and beat him hands down. Had 24 touches and took four contested intercept marks, which helped give us some attack the other way. I would have had him in our best two or so players on the day.

Sam Michael

Sammy played half forward and half back. He seems to get shunted around everywhere, and plays a bit as a utility, particularly when we play two natural ruckmen in Leuey and Archie. I’m sure he’d rather play more in the ruck. One thing with Sam is that he always tries his guts out. He can be a bit clumsy at times, but took a couple of nice grabs up forward – he just couldn’t capitalise.