Check out what the assistant coaches thought of every Melbourne player this year in the first of an exclusive nine-part season review

Nathan Jones
Nathan played 22 games and had a very consistent season, showing improvement in all areas of his game which were required by the coaching staff.  I was really happy with the way Nathan handled being tagged, particularly in the latter part of the season.  Again, it was a credit to him for getting tagged, because opposition teams only tag good players.  I thought from a leadership point of view that Nathan was outstanding - obviously he was elected in the leadership group, and some of his leading, particularly by example, and allowing others to follow from his attitude and the way he worked, was excellent. - Brian Royal (midfield coach)

	G	Rank	K	H	D	DE %	CP	UP	M	G	SA	I 50	T	C
2012	20	65	12.6	12.0	24.6	76.4	10.3	14.5	2.1	0.8	0.9	3.5	4.5	5.6
Career Average		73.8	10.6	10.1	20.7	73.3	7.1	13.8	3.1	0.5	0.8	3.3	3.2	3.1

Clint Bartram
Clint played the first eight rounds, and was very consistent.  He was able to defend, he was able to play long minutes, and his ball use was effective in that period of time.  He succumbed to a knee injury which is taking a long time to rehabilitate, but he’s a very popular member amongst the group, highly respected and part of our leadership group. - Jade Rawlings (backline coach)

	G	Rank	K	H	D	DE %	CP	UP	M	G	SA	I 50	T	C
2012	8	67	8.5	5.3	13.8	76.4	5.4	8.4	5	0.1	0.4	0.3	3.6	0.6
Career Average		57.6	7.1	6.4	13.6	75.4	4.5	9.3	3.8	0.2	0.4	0.3	3.2	0.9

Jack Watts
Jack was thrust into the backline in Round Eight against Sydney, and had an immediate impact.  He was able to grasp the requirements and fundamentals of playing down back very quickly, and was No. 1 in the AFL between Round Eight and Round 15 for winning the ball back off the opposition.  He suffered an ankle injury against Richmond in Round 15, from which he played the game out, but it cost him six weeks.  Jack’s last three weeks were below the standard that he’d set earlier in the year, but we were very pleased with the mentality of his wanting to get back and play and not just write the season off.    He has shown major gains in his approach to being an AFL player, and we have very high hopes of what he can achieve as an AFL player.  The pre-season is critical for Jack being able to command his spot in the team, being able to play 22 rounds plus finals, and playing long minutes. - Jade Rawlings (backline coach)

	G	Rank	K	H	D	DE %	CP	UP	M	G	SA	I 50	T	C
2012	15	85	9.9	8.6	18.5	80.9	7.5	10.5	5.5	0.3	0.4	1.4	1.5	0.7
Career Average		69.5	8.7	6.7	15.4	76.4	5.9	9.8	5.2	0.7	0.7	1.7	1.7	0.5

Jordan Gysberts
Jordan had a really tough pre-season last year.  He worked really hard to get up to an AFL level of conditioning and strength, and then unfortunately developed a broken jaw and a quad injury in the first half of the year, which really impacted the amount of games that he played.  He came back in Round 11, and started to put together a good block over four or five weeks to put himself back into contention to play AFL footy again, and was rewarded with a game in Round 19 against the Gold Coast.  Gyssie’s really improved his running, which has again helped with him playing consistent footy in the second half of the year.  He’s a very good stoppage player, very good inside player, and just needs to keep working on that balance to become an inside/outside player.  Pre-season is going to be really important for Gys, to make sure that he can try and get through uninterrupted from injury - if he does that, he’ll keep progressing to being the AFL player that he’s capable of being. - Aaron Greaves (midfield development coach)

	G	Rank	K	H	D	DE %	CP	UP	M	G	SA	I 50	T	C
2012	1	28	5	4	9	55.6	2	7	4	0	0	1	4	1
Career Average		72	8.9	10.2	19.1	70	7.3	12	3.6	0.2	0.5	2.2	3.8	3.5

Matthew Bate
Matthew Bate played twelve AFL games this year.  He just brings a real professional and high performance approach to his footy, week after week, and consistently works to get the best out of himself.  Bater’s played some really good roles for us through the midfield, wing and half forward area, and has just used his offensive spread and his ability to get out in space on a turnover.  He’s also given us a strong body around the footy, and helped us in the contested area.  Bater just needs to keep working on his efficiency with the footy, making sure that he’s clean at hitting targets.  When he can do those things, he’s going to go to the next level with his footy. - Aaron Greaves (midfield development coach)

	G	Rank	K	H	D	DE %	CP	UP	M	G	SA	I 50	T	C
2012	12	57	9.1	4.7	13.8	70.9	5.1	8.7	5.3	0.7	0.4	3	2.4	1.3
Career Average		71.3	8.8	6.8	15.7	71.5	5.6	10.2	5.4	1	0.9	3.3	2.8	1

Games = G, Champion Data Ranking = Rank, Kicks = K, Handballs = H, Disposals = D, Disposal Effeceincy = DE %, Contested Possession = CP, Uncontested Possession = UP, Marks = M, Goals = G, Score Assist = SA, Inside 50 = I 50, Tackles = T, Clearances = C