Sandringham senior coach and St Kilda development coach Paul Hudson runs a ruler over the individual performance of the Saints-listed players following Sunday's loss to Northern Blues.
MATCH REPORT: Sandy loses to Northern Blues in a close.
Tom Simpkin
Tommy played as a high half-back. We know that he can play deep but we were looking for him to be aggressive and run off and be more offensive. We put him into the middle for the last quarter and he kicked a goal too, so we were pleased with his output on the day. He had some impact.
Tom Lee
Tom got himself in good positions and had three or four opportunities to take some marks and kick goals. Unfortunately things didn’t quite go his way but we were pleased with his work rate and how he performed when we chucked him into the ruck.
Brenton Payne
Payney took a little while to get going. He only had a couple of touches up until half-time but then got himself into the game and finished with two goals. His goal on the run was especially beautiful. It was his first game so I reckon he was a bit nervous early on because he wanted to impress, but once he settled he looked more than comfortable at that level.
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Hugh Goddard
Hugh played down back. He didn’t get beaten in many contests and generally had the better of his direct opponent. We’re still working with Hugh on his positioning at stoppages but the rest of his game – tackling, marking, spoiling – looked first class.
Josh Saunders
Josh played on the wing, in the midfield and even forward for parts of the game. His disposal wasn’t as clean as it normally is, but what we were really impressed with was his follow-up work. When he made a mistake he was determined to rectify it and that was great to see.The defensive side of his game was really good. Josh got through the game fine and ran it out, showing that he’s over any hamstring tightness he may have had. He’ll be fine for round one.
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Daniel McKenzie
There isn’t much of him but Daniel really cracked in on the weekend. He’s lightly built but that didn’t stop him burrowing in and laying seven tackles for the game. Daniel coped with the pace of the game fine playing on the wing and half-back, for him it will be just about getting used to the bigger bodies.
BEHIND THE GUERNSEY: Daniel McKenzie
Jason Holmes
Holmesy dominated in the ruck, kicked a goal, and had another chance to kick a second. I thought he was our best player and he gave us first use. His ruck work was terrific all day. He got involved on the spread a lot more and he’s consistently improving this aspect of his game.
Spencer White
Spencer had a couple of great highlights. He took the game on out of defence, took about five bounces and then kicked it inside 50. He was often outnumbered but I was really pleased with the way he competed. There are signs there that if he can just continue to build and show that same endeavour, that he can make big improvements this season.
