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

2017 Peter Jackson VFL
Saturday, July 1, 2pm
Port Melbourne 16.9 (105) d Casey Demons 5.10 (40)
North Port Oval

From the coach …

“After five weeks of consistent, strong football, we were clearly outplayed by Port Melbourne. We’ve been strong in contested ball, but we were certainly beaten at our own game. We struggled with the opposition’s pressure and weren’t able to get any momentum or connection forward of centre in our game. The positive out of the past month was our ability to get our game back on track, but we let ourselves down on the weekend. It was a game where we certainly weren’t near our best and we’ve identified those areas.”  – Justin Plapp 

Dion Johnstone: Dion had 15 disposals, including 10 contested possessions, six tackles and five clearances. He continues to show a lot of intensity around his game. Dion does a lot of work around the contest and the next part of his game to develop is on the outside of his game and his finishing in front of goal.

Declan Keilty: He had 10 disposals, including seven contested possessions, four tackles and four rebounds. Declan has some inconsistencies in his game, so the challenge for him, as a young, developing player is to improve on his consistency across four quarters.  

Ben Kennedy: Ben had 30 disposals, including 14 contested, plus 12 tackles. He also had five clearances. Benny continues to play well at VFL level. His intensity around the ball and contest has been a highlight. We just need to get some more value with some of his possessions. He needs to be more damaging when he gets the ball.

Jay Kennedy-Harris: Jay had 25 disposals, including 15 contested possessions, plus eight tackles and kicked one goal. The opposition put a lot of work into him and he struggled in the early part of the game, but he worked through it. We’ve challenged him to get more value from his possessions – he was a little rushed at times – so we want him to work on his composure, his inside 50 finishing and goalkicking.  

Dean Kent: Dean had 27 disposals, including 14 contested possessions, five tackles and seven clearances. He also kicked 1.1. Dean’s had a pretty good three or four weeks at VFL level. I felt his game on the weekend, particularly around the ball and his ability to win critical contest, was good. He hasn’t been able to hit the scoreboard as much as we’d like in recent weeks, but he’s certainly a player that we feel is ready to go at AFL level.

Mitch King: He had 10 possessions, three marks, 16 hit outs and four inside 50s. Mitch played a really strong back-up role to Jake Spencer in the ruck. He’s a young ruckman – and it can be challenging playing two rucks at times – but the one thing I’ve liked about Mitch’s game is that he tries hard. His follow-up work and his ability to involve himself in the game has been good. We’re challenging Mitch to influence those contests around the ground more.

Corey Maynard: Corey had 32 disposals, 16 tackles and eight clearances. I thought he was outstanding on the weekend. He was one of a few players that really competed and played the way that we need our players to be playing. Corey continues to show good improvement and he had a strong willingness to compete. I thought he was a standout.

Joel Smith: Joel had 21 disposals, eight marks, four tackles and five rebounds. He returned to football after 13 weeks off. I thought he showed some really positive signs. He looked lively, showed a lot of intensity and took us forward with the ball. Although a little rusty in some areas, it was an otherwise good return by Joel.

Jake Spencer: Jake had eight possessions, six tackles, 37 hit outs and kicked a goal. His stuff around the contest was pretty solid. We felt he could’ve impacted more around the ground. He’s got to become a player that becomes a threat forward and he had an opportunity to kick a goal. Jake’s been patchy since coming back from his shoulder and knee injury, but he’s building his game time and confidence. He’s certainly working hard on those areas though.

Jack Trengove: He had 20 disposals, five marks, including two intercept marks. Jack continues to play really good VFL football – he has done for the past five or six weeks. He’s putting his case forward to play in the AFL and I thought his ball use in tight situations was very good. But he also had some wasteful moments at time. Other than that, he continues to impress in the VFL.

Sam Weideman: Sam had 15 disposals, including 12 contested possessions, five tackles and 14 hit outs. He also missed two goals. After a really positive game the week before, Sam found it difficult as a forward on the weekend. We found it difficult to connect forward and get some marks inside 50. Sam was probably a reflection of how the team was going. He did some really good work around the ground, but was unable to finish his work in front of goal.

2017 AFL Victoria Development League
Saturday, July 1, 11am
Port Melbourne 13.13 (91) d Casey Demons 12.5 (77)
North Port Oval

Liam Hulett: Liam went back and played in the Development League, after being left out of the VFL team. He played with a good attitude, even though it can be tough going back at times. Liam was able to compete pretty well, even though it can be tough for a key forward at times. He probably didn’t get a lot of reward for effort.