WHEN Neil Craig took over from Mark Neeld as coach, one of the first priorities was development for the rest of the season.

In recent weeks, a handful of Demons have made inroads in their game.

In round 15, it was Jack Fitzpatrick’s turn to step up, and he did so with three goals against the Sydney Swans. He played his best match yet, and showed genuine progress in his game.

Against Geelong at Simonds Stadium on Saturday, two young Demons - Jimmy Toumpas and Max Gawn - continued their development in a strong way.

Toumpas, who claimed a career best 20 disposals in his ninth match, earned plaudits from Craig post-match. He was particularly impressed with Toumpas’ ability to play in the wet conditions, and his recent growth.

“He clearly had trouble adjusting to the speed of AFL earlier on in the year, but in his last month of footy, he’s adjusted to the speed and looks a lot more comfortable out there,” Craig said about the 2012 No. 4 NAB AFL Draft pick.

“He plays to win really well, and his approach to the ground ball in particular has improved immensely, so we’re pretty pleased with the way Jimmy’s coming along.”

Toumpas said he gained plenty of belief from playing against the Cats. 

“I’ll definitely get some confidence out of this game, especially in the wet. It’s not my conditions – I’m more of an outside player – but I changed to play more of an inside role,” he said.

“It was raining the whole game, but what I got out of the game was just the experience of playing against a quality team like Geelong. [Joel] Selwood and [Steve] Johnson - I learned a lot from playing around those players.

“It definitely builds my confidence building into next week, and hopefully the boys deliver against Brisbane next week.”

Although Gawn has spent longer in the AFL system – he is now in his fourth season – he has already had two knee reconstructions and didn’t play last year.

The fact that he has now played nine of his 13 AFL matches in 2013 – and some impressive ones at that – has been most encouraging.

Gawn amassed a career best 48 hit outs against the Cats, and although he was eclipsed in that statistic by his opponent Dawson Simpson (55), his performance was not lost on Craig.   

“Max Gawn, in his second quarter, started to wane a little bit, but I was really pleased with his response in the second half,” he said.

Gawn said it wasn’t easy to play in the wet, cold conditions, but he made the most of his opportunities.

“It’s never easy when there are 130 stoppages [in the match],” Gawn said.

“When Fitzy (Fitzpatrick) got subbed off in the third quarter, it meant that I had a quarter and a half to do it on my own.

“I thought I drew even with [Geelong’s] Dawson [Simpson], he’s a pretty good ruckman as well.”

Craig said the likes of first year Demon Dean Kent and the versatile Jack Watts, who is still only 22 years old, were examples of others players still developing, albeit in different stages of their career.

“Kent got to play against a really tough side in those conditions, so he’ll know that there is another level out there in AFL footy,” Craig said.

“Jack Watts continues to impress, in terms of the mentality that he’s playing with.

“As they get better, we won’t be talking about individual efforts, we’ll be talking about a team effort, but that’s just where we’re at, at the moment.”