St Kilda Development Coach and Sandringham Senior Coach Jake Batchelor runs through each AFL-listed player's performance following this weekend's VFL practice match against Port Melbourne.

On the game

We did some good things, but Port Melbourne’s pressure and contest work was very good and we just didn’t seem like we were ready for it from the start. It’s a good learning curve compared to last week where we were the initiators, and it was timely just to get a little reminder about the expectations for next week.

We gave them some opportunities and they beat us through the corridor a bit early on. We rectified that and got the game back on our terms, but their ability to run and outwork us was pretty glaring from the sidelines. We kicked nine behinds before we kicked our first goal, so that didn’t help either.

SANDRINGHAM 8.13 (61)
PORT MELBOURNE 10.5 (65)

Tom Highmore

Tom only played 40 minutes of footy. He copped a cork just above his kneecap with about five minutes to go in the first quarter and just couldn’t get going again. He went back out and tried to keep going, but corks above the knee aren’t very nice and inhibit all movement.

It was a bit disappointing as Tom was looking pretty good.  He was proactive, was taking some good space and reading the play pretty well to get his hands on a few balls early for us, so it looked like he was going to be in for a good day.

It’s quite hard to get a game when the back-six are playing well and have a pretty clean bill of health. The boys that are in the backline at the moment, their attitudes have been great with that. It’s not ideal (being out of the senior side), but it gives them a good opportunity to focus on what they can control and, on the flipside, they can play really well and start putting the pressure on the AFL boys. That’s how success builds.

Darragh Joyce

Darragh did some good things defensively. He was a leader in the backline and he led really well, just a couple of times he was a bit aggressive with his positioning and the help up the field wasn’t as good as what it needed to be, so he got caught out a couple of times out the back. As always, his attitude was great, and that’s the number one thing you need to have playing for the VFL team.

Ben Long

Benny Long played as a high half-forward and looked pretty good, he just fumbled at some costly times so cost himself a few times getting the ball. His contest work was pretty good playing up high and he ran a fair bit for us. Adding that to his game, it’s given him some more opportunities to show his strengths and speed, but he just needed to be a bit cleaner over the ball and it would have panned out better for him.

Dean Kent

Dean was the same as Longy and he looked really dangerous a lot of times. We were looking a bit slow in the midfield and we chucked him in a few centre bounces, won three in a row and thought ‘this is great!’, but we needed him at half-forward to be that next connector. He had a couple of fumbles at critical times which could have seen us get a few better looks inside-50, but all in all his game was fairly good. He’s another one that you could argue could be playing AFL and he’s just waiting in the wings. I’m sure when he gets his chance he’ll be ready to go.

Tom Campbell

Tom was good for us, he competed really well in the ruck and he gets his hands on a lot of clearances despite being the ruckman. We’ve spoken about his connection with Max Heath and the big keys down in the forward line, which does need to improve, but he’s ramped up pretty quickly after not playing much footy in the last couple of weeks to playing a few minutes against Carlton and then a full game this week.

He's in a good headspace at the moment and he’s really adding to the leadership, especially for the young team at Sandy at the moment. Tom's another one who’s waiting in the wings and when his opportunity comes he’ll grab it.

Max Heath

Heathy was probably 70 per cent forward, 30 per cent ruck on the weekend and he got his hands to a lot. The number one thing for a key forward down the line is contesting the ball; sometimes you mark them, and sometimes you don’t, but he clunked a few for us this week which was really promising and pleasing to see because he’s put a lot of work into that.

He’s tracking in the right direction and will be a good long-term prospect for us. He’s got the good basis of what a ruck-forward is and he's a bit of a protector of the midfielders which I think is really important for a ruck to do. I know if I was a midfielder and he was my ruckman, I’d feel really safe around him and that’s what you want.

Leo Connolly

It was Leo’s first game back in three weeks and he looked ok. He had a couple of good contests in the back half for us. The thing for him is just to get that confidence back to want the ball in his hands as much as possible, because he’s a lovely kick and we need his drive off half-back for us. When we see that, we know that he’s on. The first one (game back) is out of the way and now he’s just got to find his rhythm.

Matthew Allison

Matty played half-back for the first half and then went onto the wing for us and showed some good signs in both positions. He didn’t have a great game last week and went into his shell a little bit against opposition, but he looked a bit more comfortable and relaxed this week. He’s got elite running capabilities and that’s why we felt comfortable moving him there to the wing and he didn’t look out of place. I think it was a step forward for Matty.

Jarrod Lienert

Lieno was the opposite as Matty, first half on the wing and second at half-back, so they swapped roles. He’s a good size, he makes good decisions and he’s a great person who wants to get better, so he did pretty well, especially for a bloke who’s only been around for three or so weeks.

Oscar Adams

Oscar was the same as Leo in that he didn’t play last week. He’s going to be a good player for us, but we just need him to keep communicating and keep organising with his teammates because he’s got some good strengths.

As an intercept defender, he got caught out a few times because our pressure in the midfield wasn’t good enough, so there’s no reference point for hm to work off and feel really confident that he can take some space and use his marking strengths. He’s another one that’s pretty young and raw, so the expectation isn’t to turn into a superstar in the next 10 weeks, it’s to gradually build and develop while still showing what he’s really good at.

Josiah Kyle

Josiah’s pressure was very good, that’s the hallmark of his game and the attacking side of things just comes after that. It’s a really good basis for him to work off; his first half was really good pressure-wise and he didn’t stop after one effort and just kept chasing and harassing.

Sometimes as a high half-forward it’s really hard to get into the game and also very easy to get bypassed, so whenever you get to put on pressure and contribute to the team that way, that’s really important and he buys into that. That’s the standard now for him and the other stuff will just come from that.

Jack Peris

Jack had some really good contested moments in the middle off the ground for us when we looked pretty vulnerable. They got the ball in the corridor a few times but he managed to fight and scrap and use his speed to help us get an extra number to the contest. Similar to Long and Kenty, he just needs to spend a bit more time over it and take the ball cleanly to get himself into the game more that way.

Eventually he’ll be a high running half-back, but we might see some stuff halfway throughout the year where we think ‘this guy is a great forward’ or something else will naturally evolve, but at the moment he’s learning and improving down back.