Casey Coach Brad Gotch gives his player review of the Scorpions’ ten point loss to Collingwood’s VFL side.

Kyle Cheney - Kicks 12, Handballs 8, Marks 9, Tackles 4
I rated Kyle as good contributor. He had twenty touches and provided some rebound and attack.  He keeps knocking on the door.  He’s been the emergency for the last few weeks, and he’s just got to keep raising the bar with the way he plays, and that’s what he’s trying to do.  He is getting good opportunities on playing on a variety of types of forwards, which is good for him.

Jordan Gysberts - Kicks 14, Handballs 7, Marks 4, Tackles 3
Jordan started on the wing, but was moved into the midfield and he became a very important player.  His first hand possessions were really good, especially in the third quarter, when we put a gap in there, he was the instigator from the engine room.  He had three clearances in that third quarter, and then started to use the ball well. He’ll be better for the outing - he bounced back and ended up having a good game.

Rhys Healey - Kicks 4, Handballs 6, Marks 2, Tackles 2
Rhys had another tagging assignment and kept his player reasonably under check but at the same time he did some really good stuff himself. His handball was really constructive, he did six or seven really good advantage handballs that set up the play for us.  Rhys had a couple of good roles in two weeks, now.

Danny Hughes - Kicks 15, Marks 14, Tackles 2, Goals 1
Danny was a very impressive forward.  He had fourteen marks, so he really provided a good target.  He kicked a nice long 50 metre goal, and he worked really hard.  He ran himself ragged, he was just so keen to be out there again.  I reckon he tired a bit in the last quarter, which was partly because he was playing so well, and he wasn’t as destructive as he was in the first three quarters.  It was a very impressive game first up after a bit of a lay off.

Neville Jetta - Kicks 13, Handballs 1, Marks 4, Tackles 2, Goals 2
It was good to see Neville back - it was his first game back, and we had to be mindful of his game time.  We couldn’t run him into the ground for his first game back.  But, he kicked two goals, and had fourteen touches. He’s a good player.  To show that sort of thing first up after a fair while out was really promising.  He had a fantastic crunching tackle on O’Bree at one stage, which is what we want to see from him - that forward pressure.

Paul Johnson - Kicks 15, Handballs 4, Marks 6
We started Paul forward, and he was looking pretty dangerous down there.  Then we lost Tommy McNamara with an injury, so we put Johnno down back, and that worked really well.  He ended up with about nineteen disposals.  He did a really good job in bringing the ball to ground, and then running off, using his agility and mobility, and his good use of the footy.  He became a very important defender for us.  So, I left him there for most of the day in the end.

Addam Maric - Kicks 14, Handballs 3, Marks 9, Tackles 1
Addam had a much better attacking game.  He had a lot more of the ball, he had four shots at goal and took nine marks.  He ran to get involved a lot more, and he applied a lot of chasing pressure, which is good, and that’s what we want to see from him.  It would have been nice for him to finish off with goals rather than behinds but its was certainly a much improved performance from him.

Stefan Martin - Kicks 11, Handballs 4, Marks 6, Tackles 1
Stefan was good again - he provided a good focal point, and kicked three goals.  He took  six marks, two of them contested.  He had a stint in the ruck a couple of times per quarter, and once he settled in there, he did some really good ruck work.   He’s really athletic, and the last couple of weeks have been pretty good for him.

Brad Miller - Kicks 9, Handballs 8, Marks 9, Tackles 2
I was pretty happy with Millsy.  I thought he and Stef were our two best forwards.  He took nine marks, but he kicked two behinds.  So that probably detracted for him a bit on the scoreboard but his work rate was good.   

Tom McNamara - Kicks 7, Handballs 3, Marks 3, Tackles 1
Tommy got injured - he got a knock early - and was off for a fair while.  To his credit, returned - I thought it was a gutsy effort to come back on and still have some impact later on in the game.

Jake Spencer - Kicks 3, Handballs 7, Marks 3, Tackles 3
I thought Jake was good, considering that he had to go to the MCG first as an emergency.  He had plenty of time to prepare, but it was not ideal.  It was just a little bit rushed, so we started him on the bench, which gave him an extra ten to fifteen minutes to settle himself and get ready.  I thought his ruck work was good.  He followed up on the ground well, he got a bit of the ball and used it fairly well. He took a couple of marks around the ground, and kept going to the contest, which was really impressive.

James Strauss - Kicks 24, Handballs 3, Marks 6, Tackles 2
James had a good game.  He got plenty of the ball - 27 touches - and when he gets its in his hands he’s pretty good. It was really pleasing, and he also had a bit of a hard job with the kick outs.  He’s the designated kicker on the kick outs, and Collingwood played a compressed zone, which made it really difficult for him.  But I thought that he worked his way through it pretty well.  From that perspective, he’d be pretty pleased with that game.

Jack Watts - Kicks 7, Handballs 5, Marks 2
Collingwood rolled a lot of numbers back, which made it hard for Jack to find the space that he needed.  To his credit, he worked really hard to push up the ground - to find that space - and he set up some nice attacking phases for us, which we capitalised on the scoreboard with.