CASEY coach Justin Plapp reviews the Melbourne-listed players who played in the VFL

2017 Peter Jackson VFL: round two
Saturday, April 22, 7pm, Casey Fields

Casey Demons 19.13 (127) d North Ballarat 12.9 (81)

From the coach …
“We were really proud of our players on the weekend. We had some pretty big challenges that we had to overcome. It was a five-day break – we played Williamstown on Easter Monday and then backed up on Saturday night. So we put a fair bit of time into our players about how they recovered throughout the week. For them to come out and run the game out like they did – it was a real credit to them. We lost some players early and we had some had some other players on limited game time. Half-way through the last quarter, we didn’t have any rotations and we had to ask our players to dig deep and play some big minutes. We had seven or eight players that played the whole last quarter without a rest, so it really showed a lot of strong character against an opposition that was going to test us after their round one loss against Richmond. I was really proud of the way the players responded and dug in.”  – Justin Plapp 

Angus Brayshaw: Unfortunately, Angus had a knock to the head and was pulled from the ground pretty early in the match. He’ll be assessed during the week and hopefully everything will be OK there.

Tomas Bugg: Tom had 32 disposals, seven inside 50s, 10 tackles and five goals. It was a really positive performance from Tom. He certainly responded really well, after being left out of the Melbourne team. Tom played a real AFL game at VFL level, so we were really rapt with his performance.

Liam Hulett: He had 11 disposals, five marks and two tackles. It was Liam’s first game back after a long layoff with injury. He was building game time, playing as a key back, and he competed really well in the air. His ball use was really strong, but he’s looking to keep his develop going over the coming weeks.

Dion Johnstone: Dion had 20 disposals, including 17 contested. He also laid seven tackles and kicked three behinds. It was clearly Dion’s best game for the club. It’s taken a while for him to find his feet, which it tends to do for young, first-year players. I felt his ability to impact the contest and play his role as a smaller, high half-forward was good. The only disappointing thing for Dion was that he wasn’t able to convert on the scoreboard – as he had a few opportunities to do that. It’s a work in progress for him and an area we keep encouraging him to work on.

Declan Keilty: He had 10 disposals, four marks, 12 hit outs, two goals and eight tackles. We were really pleased with Declan’s performance on the weekend. He’s going through a bit of a transition phase and playing other positions on the ground. Declan’s developing as a forward/ruck to give us a few more options around the ground, so he’s taking time to work into that role. But we felt he took some really big steps forward, particularly his contest work. He was able to finish off his work with two goals and really give Mitch King a chop-out. It was a strong performance from Declan.

Ben Kennedy: Ben had 21 disposals, including 10 contested possessions, plus six inside 50 and six tackles. It was another solid effort from Benny. He’s had two or three weeks, where he’s been pretty good. His work around the ball, and his ability to put the opposition under pressure and work from contest-to-contest was a strength.

Dean Kent: Dean had 14 disposals, four inside 50s, kicked 1.1 and had three tackles. It was a bit of a quieter night for Dean. He had patches in his game, where he was able to use his attributes, find space and use his speed and power. We didn’t see enough of it over the course of the four quarters.

Mitch King: He had seven disposals, 28 hit outs and five tackles in his first game in over 12 months. It was his first game back after his knee injury, which happened in the first game of the VFL season last year. We were delighted with his first-up performance, playing in the ruck. He really jumped at the ball and his follow-up work was very strong. Mitch is another player who is going to take a bit of time to build him back into full match time. We were really bullish about his return.

Corey Maynard: Corey had 23 disposals, with 17 contested possessions. He also had six tackles and six clearances. Mayney continues to impress with the way he wills himself into the contest. Even though he’s a mature body, he’s still learning a lot around his stoppage craft and some composure when he’s got ball in hand. He certainly leads the way, with the way he attacks the ball and the man with the ball.

Oscar McDonald: He only played half a game, due to being held over as an emergency for the AFL game. In that time, he had eight possessions, four marks, three inside 50s and two tackles. We felt his half of footy was really solid and some of his highlights were very good – he really attacked the ball well in the air and really set the tone for our defenders and the way we defended. In the half he played, Oscar was very good.  

Cameron Pedersen: He had 16 disposals, six marks, 10 hit outs and kicked two goals. We felt that was one of Cam’s better performances, particularly through the pre-season and the early part of the year. He played the role that we need him to, and he was able to compete and bring other players into the game. When he wasn’t marking the ball, he was able to put the opposition under some really strong pressure. We felt that he was one of our really strong contributors on the night.

Jack Trengove: He had 18 disposals, five marks, five clearances and eight tackles. Trenners has had a really solid few weeks and we felt he was one of our stronger contributors on the night. We thought his leadership, when we needed someone to organise and make an impact around the contest, was very good. He not only provided that, but also played a different role for us on the day. He played wing, inside and half-back, providing flexibility for us. I rated his game pretty highly on the weekend.

Mitch White: Mitch had 25 possessions, eight marks, five rebounds and five tackles. It was a massive improvement from the week before, after a recent layoff with injury. He’s still building his game time, but he provided some real highlights with his aerial contests and intercept marking. Mitch really took us forward off our half-back line, so it was a better performance this week.

2017 AFL Victoria Development League: round two
Casey Demons

Bye