Nick Robertson

As we’ve said all year, Robbo’s endeavour and attitude in unquestionable. He played midfield and a bit across half-back, mainly to teach him about having specific accountabilities. He’s shown real improvement in the defensive side of his game this season. The beautiful thing about Robbo is that you give him instructions and he’ll listen and try to get the desired outcome. He’s a really coachable kid.

Jordan Lisle

Jordy ended up with six goals, and worked well in tandem with Jackson Paine, Jono Freeman and Sam Michael up forward. We had quite a tall forward line, particularly when Archie (Smith) and Leuey rotated through there. Jordan continues to read the play really well and bring other players into the game. He took three contested marks, and continued to lead up to the footy. He’s playing a big role in helping educate Jono Freeman up forward.

Marco Paparone

Had a really solid first half, and had racked up 23 touches by half-time. Gold Coast then sent a player to him in the second half and that cooled him down a bit. He also copped a bit of a cork in his quad which slowed him down a bit. His ability to run and cover ground was exceptional. He was able to get his hand on the ball so often because he works so hard. Marco just needs to keep working on getting to more contests and winning a few more contested possessions.

Matthew Leuenberger

It was good to see Leuey back out there. He only played the second half, so spent the first half sitting on the bench which would have been a new experience for him. We didn’t have a huge expectation of him in his return game, but his actual tap work was exceptional. Some of his taps to advantage were brilliant. He’ll probably need a couple more weeks in the NEAFL to build his match fitness before returning to the seniors.

Andrew Raines

Rainesy was our Captain on the day – we’ve been rotating that role throughout the season. His attitude and the way he’s going about it has been exceptional. He’s been contributing both with his ability on the field, and as a leader. He just needs to make sure he keeps running the right patterns and plays to the game plan.

James Polkinghorne

Polks played inside mid for most of the day and a bit on the wing. He showed some real aggression – and he plays his best footy when he’s aggressive. He’s still coming back from ankle which continues to give him some grief. Polks has a good size body and all the attributes, he just needs to put it all together.

Jonathan Freeman

Jono is an interesting one. He got his hands to a lot of footys, but couldn’t quite clunk them. He was up against an experienced AFL defender in Matthew Warnock, so it was a really good learning experience for him. Jono’s really close, but also really far – if that makes sense. He’s getting to contests, but just letting a few through. He’s got some real potential, he just needs to keep doing the hard work so that he eventually gets the reward.

Jackson Paine

Jackson played a really good game, even though he only ended up with one goal. His intensity and effort to come up and meet the footy opened up space with others. He linked up well with Lisle. It was one of his better games up forward. He needs to continue playing in that manner going forward.

Isaac Conway

Izzy played a bit of everywhere, although mostly as an inside mid. He showed some poise in tight, and was able to take on the tackler and use his hands well. Still needs to work on his kicking, and has been putting a lot of time in that, but I thought Saturday was one of his better kicking games.

Nick Hayes

Defensively, Hayesy was superb with the way he went about it. His tackling and defensive aspects were terrific, particularly as he and Jordon Bourke were our only listed backs – the rest were teenage top-ups, which can sometimes make things difficult. He probably didn’t get as much footy in terms of offensive movement. He needs to get the balance right of doing the defensive stuff well, but also getting the ball outside as well. We want to the ball in his hands because he generally uses it so well.

Archie Smith

Archie showed some special things at times, but he just needs to get that consistency and playing the full four quarters. Hopefully working closely with Leuey will help him learn that in the coming weeks. We want to see him run, jump and follow up. We want him to get that competitive spirit back that he had earlier in the year. He’s still showing good signs for the future.

Jordon Bourke

Did some really good things defensively and very rarely gets beaten one-on-one in the air, he’ll generally spoils or marks the footy. The key for him will be keeping close to his opponent. Sometimes he can allow his opponent too much room. He’s really matured over last couple of weeks, and seemed to relish the responsibility down back last Saturday.

Zac O’Brien

Zac was terrific. He played three quarters, before saitting out the final term as our senior emergency. Like Robbo, he is an absolute work horse who can win the ball at clearances. Was one of our better players on the day.

Sam Michael

Sam had a reasonable day, but it was tough given we had four big guys playing together up forward. He took some strong marks, and really gave us a lift in that second quarter. We need to get around him when he takes those marks so we keep the ball moving fast. He gave us a real contest in the air, and is an endurance beast.