Get the latest insight from Sandringham Senior Coach and St Kilda Development Coach Jake Batchelor following Sandringham's Round 12 match on the road against Sydney.

VFL MATCH CENTRE: Get all news, stats and videos from Round 13

RICHMOND  2.2  7.8  8.8  12.15 (87)
SANDRINGHAM  2.7  3.8  7.12 7.13 (55)

GOALS
Richmond: Olden 2, Coulthard 2, Bradtke 2, Melville, Legaue, Johnson, Hicks, Faimalo, Banks
Sandringham: Seaton, Peris, Lohmann, Heath, Harms, Gown, Bytel

BEST
Richmond: Olden, Brown, Street, Soldo, Dow, Banks
Sandringham: Heath, Paton, Milne, Adams, Bytel, Seaton

Max Heath

17 disposals, 11 hit-outs, nine marks, one goal

Very good game by Moose. He’s impacting in the air - four contested marks - and his follow-up work  is becoming really consistent in his game, whether it’s around the midfield or inside forward-50. He’s still got some exciting growth ahead of the ball with his patterns, but he’s becoming really hard to play against and opposition are starting to take a lot of notice.

Ben Paton

35 disposals, eight rebound-60s, six marks

Pato showed good improvement on last week. He had some clear intent to come forward and pressure the opposition when they were running at us, which we knew they were going to do. He got to some really good defensive positions for us, especially down the line, and was clean with the ball which is what he’s been focussing on.

Jack Bytel

30 disposals, seven inside-50s, six clearances, one goal

Jack’s come back from concussion protocols and we gave him the task of going to Tyler Sonsie at stoppages. He quelled his performance there to just two clearances, so he did a good job there for most of the game. At times he was a bit inconsistent hands with our focus really wanting to challenge them going forward, but he showed good leadership and communication on-field which Jack always brings.

Oscar Adams

10 disposals, seven intercepts, four intercept marks

Oscar played really well. Stats don’t show that, but that’s fine. He ran really hard, played our system on team defence and the pleasing thing was he made a real conscious decision to work on folding back. He got some good return with seven intercepts, four intercept marks, and he’s improving. He’s just getting to work on the general skills on the game which everyone needs to work on.

Leo Connolly

19 disposals, six tackles, four inside-50s

Leo played midfield again and it was good to have his mate Jack Bytel out there with him. It wasn’t a huge game for Leo impact-wise, their mids ran really hard and we struggled to keep up at times. He got a few clearances which is good, he’s been working on his striking at the ball and being aggressive with his opposition. Six tackles as well is a good growth for him, just he just needs to keep working on consistency and that four-quarter effort.

Tom Campbell

25 hit-outs, 14 disposals, four clearances

Tom had a really good battle with Ivan Soldo who’s an AFL quality ruckman. He ran some really good defensive patterns for us and got back really well for no reward on the stats sheet, but our team really appreciated it. There were a couple of frees he gave away in the ruck which was frustrating for him, but he’s getting back to being his best.

Zaine Cordy

14 disposals, four marks, three rebound-50s

With no Tom Highmore, Zaine was working really well with Oscar and James. He had a good match-up against Bradtke, and although he had five shots on goal, I think Zaine more than held his own. He’s a good rock down back and his experience allowed him to know when to play behind versus play in front with the wind. Some good contest work again and we always seem to maintain possession when he’s got the ball in his hands. He doesn’t kick it far, but he’s a great decision-maker and gives us good composure in the back half.

Jack Peris

13 disposals, five tackles, one goal

Once again, five tackles for Jack Peris. He’s rocking up front and centre and got rewarded this week with a goal for doing it. We’ve got him back playing to a high half-forward role which suits his strengths of his running power. A little area of improvement would be his stoppage set-up; we gave them two spares at times because he got a bit too high, but it’s an easy fix and we’re looking forward to going again next week against Brisbane.

Isaac Keeler

10 disposals, four marks, three behinds

Isaac started like a house on fire, just unfortunately couldn’t finish his work. He is putting in the work though and that will come. It’s amazing the contested work you do throughout the week can shine on the weekend. All four of our young key position players did that on Thursday after main training and it got to work on the game as well. He’s still learning when to lead up, when to run backwards, where to pressure from, but his intent was better this week and his GPS numbers were his best for the year by a mile. 

James Van Es

12 disposals, seven marks, two inside-50s

Jimmy performed really well. He got the best position on his opponent really quickly, was really aggressive in the contest - probably the most aggressive he’s been all year against some big, strong key forwards - and had a good mix of physicality and taking dangerous space. He should be really pleased with that as we were. There’s the general skills we need to work on now; we’ve put so much time and effort into the system and contest work, so now we need to make sure they’re making the most of it when they do get the ball.

Olli Hotton

12 disposals, one tackle, one clearance

Olli played a bit of a mixed role this week, mainly as a high half-forward but also as an inside mid which goes to his strengths. He got tired pretty quickly which he’d admit himself, but when he did catch up to the play he looked lively. He seems like he’s going to be that type of player who gets to the right spot at the right time, which is pleasing for a second-gamer, but he’s got good self-awareness, knows what he does well and knows what he needs to do to improve.