DEVELOPMENT coach Brad Miller reviews the Melbourne-listed players who played in the VFL and the AFL Victoria Development League at North Port Oval on Saturday

THE weekend’s game was really disappointing. After a solid start, we went into quarter-time just one goal down. For the remainder of the game, we were completely outplayed all over the ground and ended up going down by 108 points. Our ball use was poor on the day, as was our ability to transition away from a contest and play on our man, when the ball turned over – Brad Miller

VFL: Port Melbourne 23.18 (156) d Casey Scorpions 7.6 (48)

Mitch Clisby: Mitch played wing and a little bit half-back. He had 19 disposals, four tackles, zero missed tackles and one fumble. We thought Clis started the game brightly, winning a one on one contest and hitting Jack Fitzpatrick inside the first minute of the game. But unfortunately after that, he went back to playing an uncontested style of football and was a little shaky with his disposal. We’re really encouraging Clis to make beating his man in a contest his number one priority.

Michael Evans: Michael played wing and then in the second half had a run-with role on Toby Pinwell. He had 18 disposals, three tackles, four missed tackles and two fumbles. Unfortunately, Michael had a day he’d rather forget. His disposal was ordinary on the day, turning the ball over on a number of occasions, resulting directly in goals. His ability to play on and beat a man just isn’t there at the moment, as he ball watches and gets drawn into the contest, often allowing his man too much space. When he ran with Pinwell in the second half, his focus should have been to simply beat Toby for the remainder of the game. But Pinwell continued to have influence and was a really damaging player on the day.

Jack Fitzpatrick: Jack played ruck and key forward. He had two tackles, two missed tackles, one fumble and kicked two goals. With Max Gawn going up to the seniors, Jack had to shoulder the majority of the ruck load in the centre bounce. After taking the centre bounce, he would go forward and play as the key forward target. What we liked about Jack’s game was his leading at the ball carrier – he again took eight marks, which was positive. Unfortunately this week Fitzy made some critical errors by foot and hand, going at only 50 per cent disposal efficiency. This isn’t at the level required and he needs to improve this area of his game. We thought he competed OK in the ruck.

Alex Georgiou: Alex played key back. He had seven disposals, three tackles, one missed tackle and zero fumbles. Alex had the role on Adrian Bonaddio and was giving away quite a lot of weight and height in the contest. I thought Alex competed really well, early in the game. He was often right up on Bonaddio and was getting under his skin. In the third term there was an incident that left Georgiou concussed and he couldn’t continue in the game.

James Harmes: James played inside mid and had a run-with role with James Magner. He had it 16 times, 12 tackles, zero missed tackles and zero fumbles. We’re really pleased with the job Harmesy did on Magner. His concentration to see out the task was really good on the day. There were only a couple of times, where he gave Magner a metre at a stoppage or tried to guess where the ball was going, rather than starting right on him. They were the times he was exposed. Laying 12 tackles was a really good effort. He cramped badly towards the end of the third quarter, but continued to fight through it and played his role until the end. We’re pleased with James’ development and will work hard to see that it continues.

Daniel Nicholson: Dan played half-forward and half-back. He had 18 disposals, two tackles, zero missed tackles and one fumble. Nicho is a great competitor, who will keep trying until the final siren and you can rely on him to give his all throughout the game. However, there are times that Nicho needs to play with more composure rather than playing on blindly as he can run himself into trouble. This affects his disposal and he went at 55 per cent efficiency by hand and foot. When he uses his run and dash, and strength to drive through tackles to hit predictable options, Nicho plays well. It’s when he tries to do the impossible or hit the more difficult target that things come unstuck.

Christian Salem: Christian played inside mid and on the wing. He had it 21 times, had four tackles, zero missed tackles and one fumble. The area most pleasing about Christian’s game on the weekend was his cleanliness at ground level. He often won the ball, taking it really cleanly and giving it to a teammate in a better position. He also made sound decisions by hand and by foot. The area that needs attention in Christian’s game at the moment is his ability to locate a man, when the ball turns over and he has to defend. At the moment, he ball watches a little bit too much, when the ball is in dispute and he’s getting caught out when the ball goes the other way.

James Strauss: James played half-back. He had 16 disposals, three tackles, zero missed tackles and zero fumbles. Straussy was far from his best on the day. He allowed his man to lead up on him on a number of occasions and didn’t give himself a chance to spoil by being too far away. His ball use was at his usual high standard. He went at 100 per cent efficiency by hand and foot, but again, it was his contested ball and ability to defend that needs to improve.

Dean Terlich: Dean played inside mid and half-back. He had 15 disposals, two tackles, two missed tackles and three fumbles. Dean had a really disappointing game, after being left out of the senior team. We expected him to come with a sharp focus to tidy up his defensive game. Unfortunately on the weekend, he paid his direct opponent little-to-no regard, when the ball turned over. He trailed his opponent a too much around the ground and wasn’t running anywhere near hard enough. When he moved to half-back late in the game and decided to play right up on his man, he looked OK and took a couple of nice marks and made some nice spoils. 

AFL Victoria Development League: Port Melbourne 21.20 (146) d Casey Scorpions 4.10 (34)

Max King: Max played full-forward, ruck and centre half-back. It was his first game back from a fair layoff from injury. The plan was for him to play 80 minutes, which he was able to do without reinjuring his knee. We could clearly see that he was a bit rusty without playing for such a long time, so he needed the run. He should be much better for the run this week.

Maia Westrupp: Maia played down back and we had him up forward at one stage. He had minimal involvement unfortunately, but when he chose to inject himself into the game, he was able to help us move the ball and get into scoring areas. On a day where the opposition dominated, he was very opponent focused and had his hands full on a quality player.