DEVELOPMENT coach Daniel O'Keefe analyses the performance of the 12 Blues who featured in the reserves scratch match on the weekend.

2. Paddy Dow

He came off a really good game against West Coast the week before and played midfield and a little bit of forward again. In the contest, his ability to win the ball and tackle was a strength of his. Defensively, he’s growing in this area so it was nice to see some progress. If we can get him going earlier from an offensive reaction point of view, he could’ve got in the game a bit more but his output was still really strong: he had five clearances and his seven tackles were a game-high.

4. Lochie O’Brien

Without wingers in the first and third quarters, Lochie played on-ball again for us. He’s been working on his contest which is growing every week, and his running capacity is still there (19 disposals, six marks). He’s got a lethal left foot which he used quite well early, while his defensive runs to help out defenders were strong. Because he has generally played on the outside, his tackling has been great but some of his body work is what we’re working on: he’s growing in this area.

16. Darcy Lang

Darcy Lang played on-ball for the majority of the day, but swapped with ‘Philpy’ and went forward at times. He balances our inside mids up really well at stoppages, he’s composed with ball in hand and plays with a selflessness about him. From a stoppage point-of-view, he needed to refine a bit of his body work but he got forward and had some quality inside 50s for us: he used the ball really well.

22. Caleb Marchbank

‘Marchy’ was in his second game back and his skills were really good. He generally played on Jesse Hogan, which was good for him to get some AFL habits back in his game playing on a quality opponent that moves really well. He lost his man on a few occasions at defensive 50 stoppages but apart from that, it was good to get more runs on the board for him. He also went up onto the wing so he could get some run into his game and he found a fair bit of the ball.

26. Harrison Macreadie

‘Creads’ only played for 30 minutes so he didn’t get a whole lot of game time. He ran some really good patterns to receive the footy which was pleasing, because we love the way he uses the ball. His reactions were a little bit late on occasion in terms of owning dangerous space which is something he’ll work on.

29. Cameron Polson

Cam Polson was one of our better players on the ground again. His ability to run and burst from half back and take the game on was brilliant. His ball use was fantastic: even though there was a bit of space on the ground, he used it really dangerously but his ability to find a target even when under pressure set us up.

33. Sam Ramsay

He didn’t play last week and we didn’t have a game the week before, so it’s been three weeks since he’s played. He looked fresh in the 50-odd minutes he played. His ability to get into the contest but also use his feet to get out of the contest was super, and he’s a great ball user: he finished with two goals and his link-up running was strong. We’re still working on things like numbering off on an opposition player, but he had a really good game.

34. Sam Philp

I’ve said a few times that he’s goes through games a bit unassuming: he does have some flair about him, but he just gets his job done every week. We’re still working on some defensive awareness and filling in gaps in our defensive 50, but he nailed his ground balls and his ability to spread from the contest was fantastic. His pressure was also outstanding.

39. Fraser Phillips

I think Fraser played his best game since being here, which is fantastic. He led up at the ball really well and reacted to the ball when it went over the back quite often. He kicked 1.3, which is a shame because normally his finishing is one of his strengths. If he has a bit of polish towards the end, it would’ve been a nice return.

44. Matthew Owies

Again, it was one of Matty’s better games: he’s in some good form. He worked on his leading patterns from last week which was a growth area for him. He balanced up between coming up at the footy and getting back with his speed, which got him on the end of three goals.

45. Hugh Goddard

Some of his competitive one-on-ones, even running back with the flight, were sensational. His ability to get back and help out his fellow defenders down there was super. We’re working on defending some lead-ups on some good forwards with Hugh, but apart from that he had a really solid hitout. We were really pleased with him.

47. Callum Moore

He played 90 per cent of the day in the ruck and was comfortably outsized by another big ruckman in Lloyd Meek. We didn’t expect him to win the tap and he didn’t as much, but what he did outside of that was unbelievable. He kicked five goals and two spring to mind instantly, where no-one else touched the ball from the centre bounce. He cleared it himself and kicked it from inside the square. His ball use was good - some of his kicks around the ground were sensational - and he had eight clearances for the day.