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

2017 Peter Jackson VFL
Saturday, July 8, 1am
Richmond 11.10 (76) d Casey Demons 7.6 (48)
Holm Park Recreation Reserve, Beaconsfield

From the coach …

“Richmond’s win was set up through the first half; we were really slow to start. I thought we defended really well – we defended nearly 30 inside 50s in the first half. I thought our defenders defended manfully. They scored easy goals through poor defensive transition and poor defensive aerial work. They ended up taking 20 contested marks, 13 or 14 of which were intercepted from our kicks. We identified that as being an important part of the game that we needed to fix, and to our players’ credit, they brought a level of effort, intensity and attitude in the second half, and we were able to win the second half by two to three goals. In that last quarter, had we kicked straighter and hit the scoreboard, we may have been in a situation to put them under more pressure. I felt like it was a game of two halves, really poor defensively and aerially in the first half, then we were able to come out and get the game back into a contest through basic fundamentals. We were pleased with the way the players finished off, but our first half was very poor.” – Justin Plapp 

Dion Johnstone: Dion had 11 touches, nine of which were contested, 13 tackles and four clearances on the weekend. You look at his stats most weeks and he’s not a big accumulator of possessions. His work around the ball, and his ability to keep the ball in our forward half through strong tackling and defensive work, was at a really high standard. Dion continues to work on the finishing part of his game and his ability to hit the scoreboard, but I’ve been really impressed with him over the past month.

Declan Keilty: Declan had six touches, two marks and two tackles. I thought Declan, from a possession point-of-view, didn’t have a big influence. I thought his aerial contest work and his ability to close out and create contests in the air was really strong. He was a player that played in a number of different positions. He started off forward and then we moved him back. I thought his second half was probably a strong point of his game.

Ben Kennedy: Benny had 32 disposals, 13 of which were contested, five tackles and seven clearances. He continues to play really high level VFL football. He’s a player that continues to provide a lot of intensity and a lot of strong work around the contest. He really let himself down on the day though with some possessions, a bit of polish and some finishing work. That was a bit of a downfall on the day with him.

Mitch King: Mitch had seven touches and 14 hit outs. He continues to play the back-up ruck to Jake Spencer. He’s starting to spend a bit more time up forward, which I think is important for his development. One thing about Mitch on the weekend, which was significant, and a big step forward for him, after missing a lot of football through a knee injury, was that he started to jump and really launch at the ball. It showed that he’s getting a lot more confidence in his body, which is important for big developing players. The challenge for Mitch now, being a ruckman, is to try and get more involved around the ground, particularly in stop-play situations where we need our ruckman down the line to create contests for us. For our two big blokes to take one mark between them isn’t acceptable and we need to be better in that area.

Corey Maynard: Corey had 25 possessions, 15 of those contested, seven tackles, 10 clearances and one goal. He continues to improve and evolve his game. He’s a player that gives us a lot of energy and provides pressure around the middle of the ground and contests. His repeat efforts have been outstanding.

Jake Spencer: Jake collected 10 possessions, five tackles and had 37 hit outs. Spence probably reflected a lot of our team, where they had very slow starts and inconsistent first halves, but I thought he played a really strong second half, where he was aerially a lot more consistent. His follow up and his ability to get back involved, when the ball hit the ground from stoppage, was a lot better.

Jack Trengove: Jack racked up 11 contested possessions among his 26 possessions on the weekend. He also had four tackles and four clearances. Jack played a number of different roles for us on the weekend. He played across half-back, on the wing, and was really important to us in the last quarter – and in the second half where we got ourselves back in the game, and competing at a really respectable level. His leadership and on-field direction was really strong. Jack continues to play consistent VFL football and provides strong leadership for us as well.

Sam Weideman: Sam collected seven possessions, five marks, two tackles and had two behinds. After coming off a really good game three weeks ago, the opposition had done a little bit of work on Sam over the past two weeks. He played on opponents that have defensively done good jobs on him. He’s got himself in positions to take marks, but he hasn’t capitalised on those opportunities, and a few other opportunities in front of goal. He just needs to finish off his work, but he’s getting himself in good positions.

Mitch White: Mitch collected 18 possessions, five marks and five inside 50s. He was a little bit slow to get going on the weekend, but I thought his second half was a lot stronger, aerially, for us. He took us forward with the ball a lot better. Mitch had some challenges around playing an AFL game and then being left out of the team, but I thought his response to being dropped was solid.

2017 AFL Victoria Development League
Sunday, July 9, 11am
Casey Demons 11.7 (73) d Sandringham 8.10 (58)
Trevor Barker Beach Oval

Liam Hulett: Liam continues to build and work on his game. His first quarter, at development level, was probably as good a quarter as I’ve seen him play this year. He took two or three really strong, contested marks, but unfortunately he tapered out of the game. The longer the game went on, he had less impact. We’re looking to play him in other positions and get him into games. He spent a little bit of time in the ruck and up forward, so I think for Liam, it’s about getting consistency over four quarters.