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

2016 Peter Jackson VFL

Sunday, August 14, 2pm, Casey Fields

Casey Scorpions 21.25 (151) d Werribee 7.4 (46)

From the coach …

“It was a fantastic win. Our past month has been really good. We’re getting consistent teams running out on the field, so we’re getting a lot of consistency around players, which creates good synergy between our VFL and AFL-listed players. We started really poorly in our first two or three minutes and then as the quarter went on, we were able to get our hands on the ball. We were able to start playing the way that we needed to. Our ball use, physical pressure and ability to win contested ball was a highlight. Halfway through the first quarter, we went from strength to strength, so it was a good result. We’re just looking forward now and looking to play at a high level and with a high level of accountability with our players.” – Justin Plapp 

Chris Dawes: Chris had eight possessions, three marks and kicked three goals. We were really happy with Dawesy’s output on the weekend. He was able to compete really strongly and it was his ability to tackle and put a lot of defensive pressure on the opposition, when the ball was at ground level, which impressed. After our slow start, I thought Dawesy was the one that really led the way in us being able to get back into the first quarter. He provided some good tackles, which helped create opportunities. I thought he was very good.

Lynden Dunn: Lynden had 10 disposals, including five contested possessions and three inside 50s. Our back six has certainly been a real strength of our team all year and to have the players like Dunny, Col Garland, Jack Hutchins and Declan Keilty holding it up – we certainly have a lot of trust that those players can deliver. Even though Lynden didn’t have big numbers on the weekend, we felt he was able to play his role and provide some strong defensive actions. He also provided some strong leadership and direction, which we really benefit from.

Colin Garland: Colin had 13 possessions, five marks, five tackles and five rebound 50s. He started slowly, but as the game went on, some of his defensive efforts, intercept marks and close out on his direct opponent were real highlights. He’s led the way in that area and continues to play well, but we know what he’s capable of when he’s at his best. We’re really challenging him to get back to that level.

Jack Grimes: Jack had 42 possessions, 10 marks, three tackles, nine inside 50s and kicked 1.2. I thought Jack’s game was really workmanlike. He continues to play at a really high level and standard at VFL level. His work-rate and ability to be involved in the game, from a defensive point of view and from a contested point of view, enabled him to get his hands on the football and make really good decisions as well.

Matt Jones: Matt had 41 possessions, six clearances and five inside 50s. Jonesy, for the second week in a row, has been huge. He seemed to be everywhere on the weekend and he certainly provided us with a lot of run and quality ball use. Matt played with real speed and played like an AFL player at VFL level. It was a high quality performance.

Ben Kennedy: Benny had 24 disposals, including eight contested possessions, four tackles and six clearances. A little bit slow to get started, Ben had a really good second half. He got into more contests and was able to win them. His presence around contests was very noticeable.  

Jay Kennedy-Harris: He had 26 disposals, including 13 contested possessions, five tackles and kicked 3.2. Jay was very busy on the weekend after a full game back from a lengthy layoff with his hamstring injuries. He improved again on the weekend with his conditioning. Jay’s speed was definitely there and his overall work-rate to get to the drop of ball and play as a small forward was fantastic. His ability to get back up the ground and reset again, allowed him to play his role well. His return back to football has been at a very high level.

Viv Michie: Viv had 36 possessions, four tackles, eight clearances and 14 inside 50s. He continues to really dominate VFL football and the one thing that stands out about him at the moment is that he’s such a quality user of the ball. Every time he touches the ball, something seems to happen and we benefit off his possessions. Playing off half-back, he was really dominant in his position and was able to provide us with a lot of quality ball use.

Alex Neal-Bullen: Alex had 35 disposals, including 17 contested possessions, and 10 clearances. He also kicked 2.2. Over the past three weeks, Alex continues to improve and he’s playing some different roles at the moment. The most pleasing thing about his game was his ability to get to a number of contests as he did. Around the stoppages, he was excellent and he continues to embrace new roles and improve.

Christian Salem: Christian had 21 possessions, five clearances and kicked 2.1. He played an inside mid role and spent some time forward. We had more than 500 possessions and several had 30-plus each, so you could look at Christian’s game and think ‘he hasn’t had much of the ball’, but the one thing that I was really pleased about his game on the weekend was his ability to fulfill and play his role. But when he got the ball in his hand, he really hurt the opposition and always seemed to manufacture an inside 50 or help set up a goal. Every time he touched the ball was huge for us on the weekend.

Jake Spencer: Jake had five marks, 37 hit outs and kicked a goal. He was very dominant in his position on the weekend. We won the clearances – plus-32, so that gives an idea of the dominance around stoppages. We were able to kick four goals off some of his ruck craft. He’s in pretty good form at the moment and he’s leading the way on the ground.

Joel Smith: He had 19 disposals, including 15 contested possessions. He had three tackles and four inside 50s. Joel started a lot slower than what he had in recent weeks, but the thing about him is that his speed and agility to win the ball in a tight situation, and then get him out of traffic and into space, and then to release other people into space, is very good. He’s been pretty consistent in all of the games that he’s played as a first-year VFL player. We’re looking at him just continuing to get back to play at full fitness.

Dean Terlich: Dean had 22 disposals, including 10 contested possessions, four tackles and kicked 0.3. He’s really embraced that smaller forward role, since moving from half-back, and the pleasing thing about Dean’s game, which has been a trend over the past month, is his ability to put the opposition under pressure, when the ball’s in the forward 50. He created a lot of opportunities off that, but the downfall of his game was that he kicked three behinds. That’s been a bit of trend in the last few weeks, so we’re looking at him to improve his accuracy.

Jack Trengove: Jack had 29 disposals, including 15 contested possessions, nine clearances and kicked 1.1. I thought Jack was one of our best players and I thought it was his most rounded game of the season, where he looked like he was playing with a bit more speed. His decisions, from a defensive and offensive point of view, were as good as I’ve seen in any of his games this year. He showed really strong leadership and was able to win critical contests and provide some very good ball use to our players on the outside.

Josh Wagner: Josh had 16 possessions, two tackles and two rebound 50s. He’d be the first to admit that he wasn’t up to the standard that he would’ve thought on the weekend. It wasn’t through a lack of effort – it’s just that he’s in his first year of AFL footy and was probably a little bit flat. The challenge now is to freshen up and get himself up and going again. His second half was much improved than his first half, and while he would acknowledge it wasn’t his best performance for the year, we know what he’s capable of doing. He’s played a lot of AFL football this year and we know that he’ll bounce back to the level we need.

Mitch White: He had 29 possessions, 12 marks and six inside 50s. I was really pleased with Mitch’s game on the weekend. He played his role as a high defender and had four intercept marks, which is a strength of his game. Mitch turned some fantastic intercept possessions into quality inside 50s for us. To go inside 50 six times for a defender is a very good game. He was able to use the ball really well and defend in a manner we needed him to. Mitch was a big performer.

AFL Victoria Development League
Sunday, August 14, 2pm, Casey Fields
Casey Scorpions 19.15 (129) d Werribee 2.4 (16)

Max King: Kingy had 26 possessions, 10 marks, six inside 50s, three tackles and kicked 3.3. I thought he showed some pretty promising signs on the weekend. He lacked a bit of confidence in going back to the Development League. The strategy was to get him to get his hands on the ball, and get him jumping at the football a bit more. I think the signs on the weekend were really positive, but now it’s about trying to back it up over a few weeks and he’ll certainly push for the VFL team at the right time of the year. There were some positive signs there.