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

VFL

Saturday, April 23, Casey Fields, 7pm

Williamstown 17.12 (114) d Casey 11.4 (70)

“We were beaten quite convincingly. We played a team that plays a really complete style of football, where their contest and ball movement is very, very good. We were able to sustain a level of effort and consistency for a quarter and a bit, but then we were outworked. They were harder and their system was better than what ours was. We were beaten by a better team on the night. We’re certainly looking at the game and taking a lot of learning out of it. Were certainly felt we had the right game style to match up with Williamstown, but they were able to sustain it for longer. For our players, there were more positives than negatives to come out of it. We’ll saddle up again this week.” – Justin Plapp

Colin Garland: Col had 19 possessions and seven marks. Like a lot of our players on the night, he wasn’t able to maintain four quarters of football that we needed. There were areas of Col’s game we were really happy with and there were areas where we would’ve liked him to maintain a higher level of intensity, being a senior player. He was very good for half a game, but was inconsistent for the other half in some of his defensive actions.

Jack Grimes: I felt Grimesy was one of our better players on the night. He had 21 possessions and kicked a goal. Grimesy spent a lot of time through the wing and on the ball. He gave us a bit of body around the footy. We were comprehensively beaten around the stoppages and I thought that Jack was probably one of the blokes that continued to get back to the ball and cracking in and providing a pretty good contest for us. There were a couple of moments with his ball use, where we would’ve liked him to be a little bit better, but I think his overall effort and ability to play his role was very sound.

Liam Hulett: It was probably his best performance for the VFL team this year. He’s building each week and he started the game really well, when he took a couple of really strong contested marks in the first quarter. He kicked four goals on the night and I thought his intensity around the contest was fantastic, so I was really pleased with his effort.

Max King: He came up against a pretty good ruckman, but the pleasing thing for Max was that he jumped for the ball more and was more consistent in his aerial contests – we wanted him to do that and we felt he did that. When he went forward, he took two really strong, contested marks and he kicked two goals. Clearly he’s got a lot of work to do with his ruck craft and his body, so he can compete against those bigger ruckmen, but I thought it was a pretty even effort. The pleasing thing is that he started to mark the ball better, which is an area he needs to keep improving in.

Viv Michie: Viv was solid on Saturday night. He’s probably been our most consistent player over the past three weeks. We’re playing him in different roles at the moment, but his output is very pleasing. He ended up having 28 possessions and went inside 50 seven times. He’s giving us a lot of mid-forward connection. There was some stuff with his ball movement, where we would’ve liked him to be a little bit cleaner. His effort around his role and his intensity around the game was really solid. He’s been in really good form in the past three weeks.

Ben Newton: It was Benny’s second game back from a fairly decent layoff. He improved again on the weekend and had a lot more of the ball. Benny had 21 possessions and went inside 50 four times. He won a lot of the ball, but was a little bit fumbly and went at the ball with two grabs. That’s part of his game that’ll come back in the next few weeks. The good thing is that he’s getting involved with the game and we need him playing well because he’s a good player. We felt he made some improvements from the week before. His work rate around the ball was pretty solid.

Christian Petracca: Tracc continues to improve. He had 26 possessions and spent a lot of the time through the middle of the ground and ended up having three inside 50s. We know Christian is a really huge talent. To see him run around and enjoying his footy is really pleasing. Now, moving forward, we’ve got to get some consistency around his roles and being really clear on what we need from him. It’s not that he’s not choosing to do that – it’s that he is a young player and it’s part of our role to make sure he’s clear on his role. His game was really good.

Billy Stretch: It probably wasn’t Billy’s best performance. Over the past few weeks, he’s played wing and on ball. He had 20 possessions, but just turned the ball over at critical times. He wasn’t able to find the space and his strength is that he’s good speed and he uses his legs really well. He struggled to find some space on the weekend and he got himself in situations – and some of his teammates didn’t help him – where there were some inconsistencies in the way we wanted to play him. It was probably a reflection of the way the team was playing. He’s a ripping kid Billy and knowing him, he’d be pretty disappointed with his game on Saturday night. But he will bounce back because he’s a terrific young man and he’s pretty proud of his performance.

Dean Terlich: We were really happy with his first quarter. He probably got away from what he did the previous week in playing his role as that smaller defender. A bit of his body work and defensive work was not where we needed it to be. He also turned the ball over at critical times and we didn’t get the ball use out of him – or that connection from our defensive 50 through the middle of the ground. It wasn’t his greatest game. It was a strong first quarter, but after that, it was probably a reflection of the rest of the group. We had a lot of passengers and inconsistencies with players.

Jack Trengove: I was really pleased with this kid since coming back to the team. I felt it was his best performance since coming back from injury. He had 30 possessions and three inside 50s and kicked two really classy goals. His stuff around the ball, his cleanness and contested work was really pleasing. I thought he was one of players who could’ve walked away from the game that showed really genuine effort. He was a four quarter player.

Sam Weideman: You talk about teams that you want to measure yourself on and Sam came up against some really strong and seasoned VFL defenders. I felt early in the game that he struggled with a few of the bodies, but as he started to compete more – it was a real highlight of his game. Over the last three weeks, he’s got himself into the game and he’s ended up kicking two goals and had 12 possessions. Some of his marking craft in one-on-one situations was really pleasing. He’s a kid who hasn’t put a foot wrong. He learns every week and he’s playing the sort of football we need him to play. Sam’s a fantastic kid who wants to do the best thing for the team. He’s improving each week now.

Mitch White: Whitey did some really good stuff – his ability to halve contests, press-up and close opponents out was really, really good. Then there were areas of his game with his ball use that didn’t quite connect with some of the decisions he was making and they were really costly turnovers. Mitch has got areas of his game, where we are challenging him to improve in, but he’s a good kid to coach and he listens. He’s on the right track though.

AFL Victoria Development League

Saturday, April 23, Casey Fields, 4pm

Williamstown 16.8 (104) d Casey 10.9 (69)

No Melbourne-listed players featured in the Development League