Northern Blues coach Josh Fraser assesses the performances of every Carlton-listed player who featured in the Northern Blues' 84-point loss to Richmond at Punt Road Oval on Sunday:
49. Dennis Armfield
Stats: 13 disposals, 4 marks, 3 inside 50s
From the coach: Dennis split his time between wing and forward, and he didn’t impact the game as we’ve been used to. He provided valuable leadership in setting up our structure. He needs to keep working hard on running patterns and his offensive involvement.
7. Dylan Buckley
Stats: 21 disposals, 8 handball receives, 5 inside 50s
From the coach: ‘Bucks’ had a slight change of role this week, spending more time up the ground. He gave us some run and carry at different stages of the game. He needs to keep a hard focus on running patterns in both offence and defence.
59. Ciaran Byrne
Stats: 15 disposals, 6 handball receives, 5 tackles
From the coach: He continues to build form after a long layoff. On the weekend, he got back hard to defend at the right times and found the ball in offence a bit more. He’s continuing to build good habits.
56. Andrew Gallucci
Stats: 11 disposals, 4 marks, 1 goal
From the coach: He played a role as a small forward, so it was a tough day for him. He had some opportunities forward of centre and snapped a nice goal. He needs to continue to bring that manic pressure and build his game off the back of that.
34. Jesse Glass-McCasker
Stats: 7 disposals, 3 marks
From the coach: He found himself in the one-on-one contests and competed okay. He needs to continue to adjust in the contest, while he showed some improved composure with ball in hand.
48. Kristian Jaksch
Stats: 17 disposals, 6 marks, 4 rebound 50s
From the coach: He played as a defender, and needs to narrow his focus to a defensive mindset and defending hard when he needs to. He found some ball in the back half but didn’t impact the game offensively.
31. Patrick Kerr
Stats: 5 disposals, 1 goal
From the coach: He tried really hard up the ground to present, but he was starved of opportunities. What was pleasing for us was that his work-rate didn’t waver.
80. Matthew Korcheck
Stats: 8 disposals, 3 clearances, 1 goal, 25 hitouts
From the coach: Matty competed hard, kicked a nice goal and possibly should’ve kicked a second. We saw good growth in his game after taking on the challenge as first ruck.
76. Kym Lebois
Stats: 4 disposals
From the coach: He probably lacked opportunities and didn’t make the most of chances he had. He needs to be clean with his touch and keep working hard to assess his options and opportunities in front of the ball.
19. Harry McKay
Stats: 9 disposals, 4 marks (2 contested)
From the coach: Harry presented well: he dropped some marks we’d expect him to take but also grabbed onto a few. The mindset of working really hard when things aren’t happening was a good learning curve for him: he’s building good habits on both sides of the game.
70. Harrison Macreadie
Stats: 9 disposals, 3 marks
From the coach: He plays our system really well: he got in good positions defensively but needs to develop more conviction in the air. The basis of his game was sound.
5. Rhys Palmer
Stats: 23 disposals, 8 tackles, 6 clearances, 5 inside 50s
From the coach: Around the contest he found the ball, and that came off the back of an improved method at stoppages. We need him to work hard away from the contest which he’s working on. He put together a strong performance.
Rhys Palmer continued his strong VFL form on Sunday. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)
67. Cameron Polson
Stats: 13 disposals, 4 clearances, 3 tackles
From the coach: His stoppage method at centre bounces and around the ground was much-improved — he continues to focus on the basic things, and we saw some good growth in different parts of his game. We’ll keep challenging him to improve.
47. Ciaran Sheehan
Stats: 14 disposals, 5 rebound 50s
From the coach: I thought his game was really honest again: he finds himself in a lot of the contests because he defends with speed and knows when to commit himself. He used the ball well for the most part and he’s someone who his teammates love playing with. He’s a great competitor.
Ciaran Sheehan was an honest performer against the Tigers. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)
55. Liam Sumner
Stats: 6 disposals, 5 tackles, 1 goal
From the coach: He didn’t have the impact on the game with ball in hand that we would’ve liked, but he applied good pressure and kicked a goal on what was a difficult day for forwards.
Liam Sumner takes an impressive grab on Sunday. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)
43. Simon White
Stats: 22 disposals, 7 marks, 6 tackles, 5 rebound 50s
From the coach: Again, it was a really honest contest, which is what we’ve come to expect. He showed good leadership and went into the centre bounce late in the second half to give us something different. He played with great effort and put together a strong game.
Simon White worked hard against Richmond. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)
