St Kilda Assistant Coach and Sandringham Senior Coach Lindsay Gilbee provides his insights into who impressed in the Zebras' final practice match ahead of Round 1 this weekend.

Sandringham opens their season against Essendon at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday afternoon.

Ben Long

“Longy was excellent, especially in the second half where he played forward-midfield. He just throws himself at every contest and when he does that something usually comes of it. He’s a talented kid, he knows how to find the footy. He will be a lot better for the run. I don’t see him being in the VFL system for too long.”

Koby Stevens

“Koby had his first hit-out since JLT 3 against Sydney. He had a little bit of a layoff with salmonella and lost a fair bit of weight. He had his first game back on the weekend and was really solid in challenging conditions. He had the ball 30 odd times, was really clean with ball in hand and made some really decisions. He showed why we got him to the footy club with his toughness around the ball. Koby was the standout mid on the day.”

Darren Minchington

“Darren had a really promising start on the back of winning his clearances, which Bully [Longer] gave him so good looks in there. He had it close to 20 times, kicked a couple of goals in really challenghing conditions. His speed an impact around the contest was really noticeable. To finish off his work with a couple of goals on the back of crumbing and second bounce was really good.”

Jack Sinclair

“Jack did the warm-up with the main team at Etihad and once there was no injuries and everyone got through the warm-up unscathed he jumped in the car and came to Williamstown. So he went from an indoor warm-up to pretty challenging conditions on the outside, but Jack equipped himself really well straight away. He’s a class above at the level, had it close to the mid-teens in a half and was clean, broke the lines and used the ball really well.”

Bailey Rice

“I thought Bailey Rice was probably our second best player on the day – he was really positive. He did some really good things defensively, especially in the challenging conditions. You wouldn’t have known it was wet by the way he was kicking the ball, marking the ball. He won his contest, won about 20 touches and was really tough out there.”

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