St Kilda Development Coach and Sandringham Senior Coach Jake Batchelor goes through the key discussion points following yesterday’s VFL practice match win over Carlton.

On the players:

We played 28 players all up, with 12 of those AFL-listed. Ben Long, Ryan Byrnes, Jack Hayes and Jarrod Leinert all played in the AFL game beforehand and then played two thirds with us.

We had a fair few players ready to go and rotated eight off the bench in the first half and when those blokes dropped out, we managed to bring in a few extra players that helped the exposure of our VFL list. It was a really good opportunity for our VFL and AFL teams to connect.

On the game:

We started really well and made it a really clear focus to gain territory straight up against a good team. Early on in the season, you don’t want to stuff around with the ball too much, you want to try and get the ball forward and then put the opposition under a bit more pressure than what’s perceived. We did that really well.

We kept the ball in our forward half most of the time for the first part of the game – when they changed their tactics and tried to challenge us and go around us a bit, we were defensive. 

One of the most pleasing things to see as a coach is that when the momentum shifted (it went against us in the second and third quarter) we were able to take it back in the last quarter and run with it.

On Mitch Owens:

In his first practice match with us he was really good, really tough. He looked like he was holding back a little bit over pre-season, but he finally got his chance to play against an opposition and he just wanted to hurt them. 

On Marcus Windhager:  

He finished out the game strongly. He played high-forward, but mainly inside the midfield. It's really important for us to really focus in on his forward craft and his ability to get up the ground.

He can run all day so we’ve got to utilise that strength of his. When we can get him to pinch in the midfield, it’ll round him out. His work-rate, understanding of where and when he needs to run and his contest work was definitely a highlight. 

On Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera:

He started really well. When he gets the ball in his hands – things happen. A couple of times in the box we were amazed at a few kicks he was able to hit. He’ll be better for today.

On Jack Peris:

Peris got an opportunity to play on Ed Curnow, which would’ve been a great experience for him playing on a really good runner who’s mentally engaged a lot of the time. Jack played half-back on him, got him a few times and got done a few times, so there’ll be some really good learnings there.

He’s progressed over the last few weeks and to see that against an opposition was really good. Obviously some things to work on, but he's tracking in the right direction. 

On Dean Kent:

Dean Kent was a standout (on his birthday as well). He looked like he was playing a bit freely, his contest work was good and he looked like his explosive self.

The work he’s done on his body in the off-season looks like it’s shown some rewards. I know it’s only a practice match but with him you can start to see some habits forming already.

On the key takeaways:

There were really good signs from all but especially the young ones we’ve picked up during the draft. 

The good thing is there’s a practice match next Saturday, the boys get a nine-day-break to recover and bounce back. 

Most players played their role really well and the boys seemed connected at both levels. It was a good start to our pre-season matches.

CARLTON VFL             2.0     4.2      7.3       7.6 (48)
SANDRINGHAM          3.1     6.3      7.4       11.6 (72)