HEAD of development Brett Allison reviews the Melbourne-listed players who played in the VFL at Eureka Stadium on Saturday

VFL: North Ballarat 11.17 (83) d Casey Scorpions 9.9 (63)

Sam Blease: Sam played half-back and a little bit of wing. He had 29 disposals. Sam’s built up some consistent form over the last few games. He’s hopefully learned some lessons from playing on similar players to himself, as a defender. We’ll look to move him up the ground and play him more wing/half-forward in the coming weeks. He certainly gave us stability and drive in the back half.

Dom Barry: Dom played wing for most of the day and had 14 possessions. He was used in a run-with role on North Melbourne’s Brad McKenzie, who was playing for North Ballarat. Dom did it well at times, but I thought he allowed too many uncontested possessions, when he was clearly close enough to stop his man getting the ball. He just lost his focus this week in that role and didn’t perform it as well as he has been in the previous month. But it was a good learning experience for Dom and his continued improvement has been good to see. He probably just let his guard down on the weekend. 

Jack Fitzpatrick: Jack played full-forward and ruck and had six possessions and 17 hit outs. He took a strong contested mark early in the game, but probably fell into the trap of wrestling and wanting to out strengthen his man, rather than lead, present and contest strongly for the ball, when it was in his area. Jack clearly knows what his focuses are to try and work his way back into the senior team and the consistency of his effort at the contested ball in the air is what we’re looking for from him the most.

Max Gawn: Max played ruck and key forward. He had 16 possessions and got a bit of the ball around the ground, which was good to see for him. Max had 63 hit outs, but we’d really like the team capitalising on his ruck dominance through turning those hit outs into clearance domination for the team. That probably wasn’t the case on the weekend. It certainly wasn’t one of Max’s worst games by any means.

Alex Georgiou: Alex played full-back and had 16 possessions. He kept the opposition’s best forward to one goal for the day. I thought he stuck to his task really well over four quarters in conditions that probably suited defenders. Still, he was set a task and he got the job done, so it was a good, solid effort from Alex this week.

James Harmes: James played on ball and half-forward. He had 18 possessions. He won some good hard-ball at stoppages, but couldn’t break out or break away – or get any rewards for those. Often, he got tackled or there was a secondary ball-up. It’s when the opposition gets the ball that Harmesy needs to continue to focus on. He needs to react quickly when picking up his man or picking up the nearest man to help us defend and get the ball back.

Jay Kennedy-Harris: Jay had 18 possessions and played wing, half-forward and a little bit on ball. He did have impact on the game at times, but there were also some disappointing defensive efforts from Jay, which aren’t acceptable at senior level – let alone VFL level. He really needs to put his focus back on. One of his strengths – and the reasons for being recruited to the club – was his defensive play and chasing, but he just seems to have lost the desire for that at the moment.

Viv Michie: Viv played on ball and had 23 possessions. He had a first half run-with role on North Melbourne’s Ben Jacobs, who was playing for North Ballarat. I thought he did that job quite well. He limited Jacobs’ influence on the game and still gained possessions. Viv also impacted the play well for us as well in the first half. Jacobs didn’t return after half-time, due to an injury, but unfortunately I didn’t think Viv gave us as much drive in the second half, as he did in the first half. He just needs to keep working on his positioning and body work around the stoppages. Viv also needs to react quickly, when the opposition gains possession, and in defensive transition to help the side.

James Strauss: James played half-back and wing at times. He had 15 possessions. For the second week in a row, he was more consistent in contested ball play, when the ball was in his area. He just needs to tighten up and not drop off his man, when the opposition has the ball. He needs to make sure he realises where they are at all times, so that he can lock away his man and stop him gaining possession. But he’s on the right track, as opposed to previously in the season. He’s still going forward.

Luke Tapscott: Luke played on ball and half-forward. He had 24 possessions. We saw a couple of times this week that he was able to get some easy ball – or easier possessions out in space. It’s the first real time we’ve seen it this season, so we’d like to see a bit more of that with Luke to combine with his bullocking, inside, contested work at stoppages.

Dean Terlich: Dean played half-back and half-forward. He had 16 possessions. I thought he was another who was pretty consistent over four quarters for the team. He positioned himself well and communicated well with his teammates in the defensive area. He just made a couple of disappointing decision-making errors, with ball in hand. He tried to be a little bit too cute, when the conditions were certainly not conducive to tricky ball use – he just needed to play the percentages.

Jimmy Toumpas: Jimmy played wing and half-back. He had 26 disposals. His ball use was pretty solid this week. Unfortunately, he was a little bit fumbly and missed some tackles that we would expect him to make. He just needs to continue to work on his positioning at defensive stoppages, knowing where he needs to be and what role he’s playing at those stoppages.