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

On the game

It was a tale of two halves. They got a jump on us, we got punched in the face. It took us until the start of the second half to kick into gear and fight back. Inconsistency is going to be common with an inexperienced team but that first half was unacceptable, and we know that. The lads were disappointed but to their credit, they fought back. We never give up as a footy side, it is a great trait and I’m proud of that, but we got to start taking it to other teams right away, we can’t play catch-up footy.

Jack Bytel

29 disposals, 14 clearances, 10 tackles

Bytel was solid, another four-quarter performance from him. He has been putting in some good form and great work over the past few weeks. He’s finishing the season strongly. He is running well out of contests and his output is great. 

Tom Campbell

22 disposals, 42 hitouts, 11 clearances

It was another strong game from Tommy. He probably didn’t finish some contests and goal-kicking like he normally would. He got to some great spots but then dropped a couple of marks and missed a shot at goal. There are some finer touches at the end that would have capped off a big game, but he still played like a bull for us.

Ryan Byrnes

26 disposals, nine tackles, seven clearances

Ronnie had a good game, he played as an inside midfielder as well as a high half forward. He just ran all day, he got back and helped us with some ground balls in defensive-50. He was tough and clean around the footy. His running stands out, you can see how hard he is working and the speed he has.

Leo Connolly

20 disposals, five marks

Leo looked good. He got the ball for us a fair bit in the back half and he’s always running to receive, the next part is now to focus on his decision-making live and not premeditating what he is going to do, because the game is always moving and that decision you make three seconds earlier may not be the right one once you get the ball. He has awesome evasive skills and deception, so we are just challenging him to keep doing that. It was a good progression for him.

Darragh Joyce

16 disposals, six marks

Darragh was under the pump in the first half. He was leading a pretty inexperienced backline and our team defence was completely set. He got caught in between going up for the footy versus staying down at times, but he improved in the second half with ball in hand but leading from the front too.

Max Heath

10 disposals, one goal

Moose didn’t start amazingly. He was out of the game in the first half but just fought back so well and I’m proud of that. His ability to help us as a team and that impact came in the second half. He now will have a focus on starting the game strongly next week and finding ways for him to impact the game other than taking big marks or slotting goals, because he can’t necessarily control that. was a great teammate on the weekend. When he rose, the boys rose.

Dean Kent

13 disposals, three goals

Kenty was solid, he took a fair while to get into the game but had a big impact once he got going. He ended up finishing the game with three goals and was massive in the last quarter. He went from kicking 1.3 last week and booted three straight this week so it was good to see that improvement.

Matthew Allison

Six disposals

Matty had an okay game. There wasn’t a huge amount of impact, but we chucked him up forward and onto the wings throughout the game. He got to a few contests, and he wasn’t as aggressive as he has been the past few weeks, but we’ve challenged him to be the absolute best teammate he can be, and he is doing that. The results will go his way when he’s putting in that kind of work.

Onto next week: Seagulls at Williamstown Oval

Sunday at Williamstown. There is going to be a big focus for us to start the game well. We have to put ourselves on the line instead of just playing catch-up footy. We need to get on the front foot early, not wait for something to happen but be the aggressor and set the tone of the game.