Despite a terrific seven goal final term the Lions went down 11.4 (70) to 26.11 (167) to GWS at the Gabba on Saturday.
Reserves Match Report: Round 16
Please find below Coach Shane Woewodin’s appraisal on each of the listed Lions who played against the Giants.
| Josh Clayton | Joshy played as a medium defender again. He played on some good players in GWS’ forward line. He’s still got to work aerially on his contest stuff. This is one part of his game he’s really got to work hard on, around his contest and defensive side of the game. It’s good to see him win more ball. He’s in the game now more as a defender and not getting starved as a half forward. He’s adding another string to his bow which has been good for his development. |
| Tom Cutler | Tommy was asked to put his head in the hole and play as an inside mid and get his shorts dirty, make sure he works really hard on his contest game and his ability to play in tight. He was able to win a lot more ball again, which wasn’t a focus but it was good to see him win some pill, be in more contests and have more tackles this week which is a good sign. Still some areas to improve on, particularly around the contest and some defensive stuff. We want to see him run more through the game, we felt he had walked too much as a midfielder throughout the day. |
| Billy Evans | Another consistent game. Hovering around a 25 possession game as an inside mid. His contest game is still pretty good. He was clean with ball in hands. Now still as a first year player his ability to work hard in transition both offensively and defensively is still his area of improvement but it’s good to see him now start to string a few games together consistently as a midfielder. |
| Jono Freeman | Third game back for Jono. He played as a key forward in the first quarter. Because we played against GWS we felt he like he would have be starved a fair bit of opportunity and work in the game so we pushed him back for the remainder three quarters. He played as a key defender on the likes of Jon Paton and McCarthy and these types, so a good learning curve to see how these good forwards at other clubs work. He had a lot of work to do on hit, didn’t feel like he engaged his opponent enough as a defender but it was a good learning curve. |
| Mitch Golby | Played outside wing for the entire day. He gave good structure, had good running patterns and provided a lot of width for us on the field. Another solid performance by Mitch, he was very good inside in terms of his tackling and his contested stuff. His ball security was good, he’s in good form at the moment Mitch. He’s consistently been one of our best, week to week. |
| Matt Hammelmann | Again played as a key defender. Like Jono, he should be learning a lot playing against key forwards and how they work and how they use their body to get off their opponents. He missed a few hits on their opponents throughout the day but again learning a lot playing as a key defender, again, being in more contests which is his big RFI. Spoiling and more body contact is one for Matty. |
| Luke McGuane | Second game back for Sticks. He’s covering the ground so much better now, he looks to be less inhibited by that knee which is a good sign. He’s just gaining more confidence with more time on ground. He probably got better as the game wore on. Particularly in the last quarter where he has kicked two goals. He kicked the first one of the day as well. He’s kicked three for the day for us with limited opportunities but he provided some good leadership as a forward. |
| Zac O’Brien | Again our best player for the day. We felt Zac was covering the ground really well, very strong in the contest. I thought his transition in terms of his running was so much better than previous weeks. His ability to run 30-30 throughout the day was terrific. Still some work in deny for Zac to improve on in transition but again he really wanted the contest on the weekend. |
| Archie Smith | He probably got better as the game wore on. I thought his contest work particularly in the second half was so much more aggressive than the first. I think he found 15 possessions for the day, which he’s starting to improve on finding more ball, he still needs to mark the ball around the ground more so. He just needs to bring that intensity from the get go rather than wait until after half time to be really aggressive in the air. Defensively in transition he needs to do some work on his opponents. He gets caught ball watching a lot and his opponents get off him so Archie still needs to improve in this. |
| Josh Watts | Played as a third tall defender. Played on some high forwards and became a drop player for us at times, he was pretty good. He missed a few aerial balls in terms of marking, so that’s something for him to work on throughout the week but after an extended break off and a couple of games back now he looks to have found his feet again and we’re looking for him now to finish off the season really well. |
| Trent West | Not as much impact on ground this week in terms of possessions, he had zero marks for the day so that’s something for Trent to work on this week against Sydney. But, again, he provided a solid contest around the ruck for us and giving Archie a hand. Looking for him now to really control the forward line this week and provide some presence up there and be a marking target for us. |
