Northern Blues coach Josh Fraser rates the performances of every Carlton-listed player who featured in the five-point VFL win over Geelong at Ikon Park on Saturday:

49. Dennis Armfield
Stats: 15 disposals, 4 rebound 50s, 1 goal
From the coach: Dennis once again played a number of roles for us: he defended well in the back half and was able to hit the scoreboard at an important time. As always, he provided great leadership in big moments.


Dennis Armfield celebrates his solitary goal against Geelong. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)

62. Blaine Boekhorst
Stats: 14 disposals, 3 tackles
From the coach: It wasn’t the same impact we’ve been used to from Blaine, who probably didn’t work as hard as he has done in previous weeks. He needs to get back to that gut-running ability which we know he’s got that allows him to find the ball and be a really damaging player for us.

56. Andrew Gallucci
Stats: 15 disposals, 4 tackles, 1 goal
From the coach: I thought he was quite lively as small forward. He needs to be cleaner with the ball under pressure, but he made enough opportunities through his pressure and also managed to hit the scoreboard.

34. Jesse Glass-McCasker
Stats: 6 disposals, 4 rebound 50s
From the coach: He had some good moments where he bodied up on tall forwards and impacted in the air, while there were other moments where he didn’t position himself quickly enough. We keep seeing signs from him and he’s building his craft, we just need to see it consistently now.

50. Daniel Gorringe
Stats: 11 disposals, 23 hitouts
From the coach: I thought he competed extremely well before he was injured in the second half. His ruck-work and follow-up with his aggressive tackling made for one of his better halves of footy in quite a while.

32. Nick Graham
Stats: 34 disposals, 11 clearances, 7 tackles
From the coach: He was prolific through the midfield, where he had a lot of contested ball and his tackling was a feature. He also used the ball pretty well in difficult conditions. He had a real presence.


Nick Graham had "real presence" against Geelong, but copped a two-game suspension in the aftermath. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)

48. Kristian Jaksch
Stats: 10 disposals, 4 goals
From the coach: Pleasingly, I thought his aerial contest was much better and he applied pressure at ground level on his way to finishing with four goals, which was a good reward for him. We need that as a base-line game for him.


Kristian Jaksch stood tall for the Northern Blues with four majors. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)

80. Matthew Korcheck
Stats: 4 disposals, 36 hitouts
From the coach: When Gorringe went down, big Matty handled the responsibility really well and got his hand to a number of ruck contests. The added responsibility and game-time will only make him better and he stepped up for us. 

76. Kym Lebois
Stats: 6 disposals, 3 inside 50s, 3 tackles
From the coach: I think his last two weeks have been encouraging. He was a lot more lively as a small forward and sharp with his movement. He needs to continue to be really clean with his handling, but he’s building some form and showing some of the talent he’s got.

 
Kym Lebois has taken a step forward in the past two weeks. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)

24. Rhys Palmer
Stats: 22 disposals, 5 clearances, 5 inside 50s, 1 goal
From the coach: Rhys was quite solid, he kicked a really important goal for us and had about seven tackles but a few more which were broken that he could’ve impacted. As an experienced player, he was solid and we need him to keep raising the bar and setting the standard for us.


Rhys Palmer's experience proved vital on Saturday. (Photo: Tim Murdoch)

38. Jarrod Pickett
Stats: 9 disposals, 4 inside 50s, 2 goals
From the coach: His game was quite exciting. He was the best of our small forwards and showed real dash while being clean with the ball. He had a number of score involvements and some craft aspects which came to the fore: it was definitely something to build on.

47. Ciaran Sheehan
Stats: 16 disposals, 4 marks, 3 rebound 50s
From the coach: He was a lot more proactive, where he defended aggressively and with speed. He took four intercept marks so his reading of the ball was good and he used the ball well in tough conditions, which is something he needs to be more consistent with. I liked his game.

5. Billie Smedts
Stats: 15 disposals, 4 inside 50s, 3 clearances, 1 goal
From the coach: What he did was good but didn’t do enough of it: he needed to find more of the ball as an inside midfielder and impact the game off the back of that. He had a great passage of play where he burst out of a stoppage and set up a goal while he kicked one himself. We’re looking for him to really own his position at VFL level. 

55. Liam Sumner
Stats: 8 disposals
From the coach: He had some good patches, but other patches where he needs to work harder of the ball to find himself in a position to be used. Again, he suffered from conditions on the day with the ball not getting to him when he worked well into space.