Casey coach Brad Gotch gives his player review of the Scorpions’ second qualifying final against North Ballarat

Matthew Warnock: Matty was the standout again. He played full-back and was on either Josh Smith or David Hale. He had a goal or two kicked against him, but the ball was down there more than 50 times. So, he was under the pump, and made a couple of blues. He also switched the ball and gave away a couple of free kicks, but he was under siege. He still had a good crack at it, and had 26 touches.

Kyle Cheney: Kyle got a bit of the ball, but it wasn’t like his normal running and destructive style of play. The opposition had a player assigned to him, and they tried to drag him deep and curb his influence. We moved him to the wing in the last quarter, just to try and get him in the game. He had a lot of tactical moves made on him, but still had 24 possessions. I still thought he was good.

Addam Maric: I don’t think he got a goal, but he did a lot of work and got a lot of inside 50s. He used it really well to Brad Miller a few times. His kicking has been really good in the past few weeks. He was a bit sore, so I took him off. He’ll get assessed later in the week. He was good, considering he pushed through that.

Rhys Healey: I thought Rhys did a good job. He played on Myles Sewell, the Liston Trophy winner, and kept him reasonably subdued. He also got a bit himself. I also put Rhys on Stephen Clifton in the last quarter. So, he did his job.

Tom McNamara: I started him back because of North Ballarat’s structure - we needed to do something different. I moved him forward after half-time, and he kicked two goals. He gave us a bit of a target and moved around a bit. He accepted what was going on and found a way to stay in the game, which was really good. It was a good return.

Danny Hughes: Worked hard as usual. Hughesy tried to find some space in their structure, but it was hard on a smaller ground. He still took nine marks and kicked a couple of goals, so he still had a good impact on the game.

Paul Johnson: He wasn’t as dominant as he was against Werribee. I was expecting him to have more impact on the game, due to his presence. That’s a credit to North Ballarat’s Orren Stephenson, who is a good ruckman. They had a good duel. Johnno worked hard and moved forward, but I thought he’d have more of a presence.

Brad Miller: Millsy kicked four goals and took seven or eight marks. He looked dangerous when they got it into him one-on-one. They did double-team him a bit, but when we moved the ball quickly he was very good. He tried really hard.

Sam Blease: I thought Sammy struggled a bit to find a way into the game. We didn’t see any of that trademark breaking the lines or good skills. A couple of weeks ago, he was good against the Northern Bullants, but he got injured the other week. That game under his belt will help him.

Jamie Bennell: JB came back from the seniors, and he just struggled to make an impact at all. He kicked one goal in the last quarter and kicked another in the second quarter, but it wasn’t paid. The umpire said he ran too far, but I thought he was a bit stiff with that - I thought he had 13 or 14 steps. He couldn’t have the impact and struggled to find the rhythm of the game, after playing senior footy. He’s only played one other game with us during the year - earlier in the season - and he just couldn’t make an impact, which was a bit of a shame.