Richmond’s VFL coach Craig McRae provides an exclusive summary of the AFL-listed players who featured in last Sunday’s Round 1 loss to Williamstown.
Adam Marcon
24 disposals, 16 contested possessions, eight clearances
Adam continued his good form at this level. He led the team in clearances with eight, just driving out of contests. He’s really important for us and he’s ready for AFL opportunity when it presents.
Andrew Moore
24 disposals, 15 tackles, 16 contested possessions, seven clearances
Andrew played his best game for the club with 24 disposals, 15 tackles and seven clearances and also the way he went about it. He played as that big-bodied, strong midfielder and was important to us winning clearances on the day. It was a really good performance from him.
Taylor Hunt
23 disposals, ten handball receives, 13 uncontested possessions
Taylor continues to show great leadership at this level. He had a lot of the football, playing wing mainly; his ten handball receives was a highlight. He tried to get our game up and going. I thought he was important on the day.
Jason Castagna
17 disposals, two goals, nine contested possessions, nine tackles
He played mainly forward and didn’t impact the game at all in the first quarter, and then from quarter-time onwards, he was one of the main contributors keeping us competitive. He kept us in the game with his 17 disposals, nine tackles and two goals, and he showed everyone what he’s capable of with the drive in his legs out of a stoppage and looks AFL-ready.
Steve Morris
15 disposals, five tackles, seven contested and seven uncontested possessions
He’s such a competitor, and everyone can see that when you come and watch him play, and he’s an important role model for our younger players with his attack on the ball. He played off half-back and many times gave us great drive from there.
Jake Batchelor
12 disposals, eight marks, nine uncontested possessions
Jake played his best game in a number of weeks across half-back, directing and you can continually see his leadership on the field. Led the team with eight marks across the game, in what was an important step forward for his footy this year.
Ivan Maric
11 disposals, 16 hit-outs, nine contested possessions, five clearances
Ivan played his first game for the season, he played in the ruck and also played forward so 50 per cent in each position and only played three-quarters of the game. He looked like he was moving well, and was really important in the end in winning clearances with his big body and leadership around the ground.
Oleg Markov
11 disposals, eight uncontested possession, five tackles
Oleg played on a wing and wasn’t as influential as what he’s been in recent times. He ran really hard and has great athletic ability, and in difficult windy conditions, made it difficult to get the ball to him on the open side of the ground, but when we did we benefited from that.
Nathan Broad
Ten disposals, eight uncontested possessions, three uncontested marks
Nathan played across half-back, he hasn’t shown what he’s capable of as yet, but there’s little signs each week that he’s getting better. We need him to run harder when we’ve got the ball in hand and get on the end of those chains and defend fiercely when he’s down back as well.
Ivan Soldo
20 hit-outs, one goal, ten disposals, four clearances
Ivan showed he’s improving every week, he kicked a goal and had 20 hit-outs, and played ruck only. He competed fiercely in the contest with seven contested possessions. He’s certainly got some upside about him.
Mabior Chol
Nine disposals, eight uncontested possessions, four marks
He’s floating in and out of games at the moment. He’s finding it hard to have consistency of effort for four quarters. When he plays to his strengths, we’re better for it and we’ll continually look for him to be able to do it for longer periods.
Todd Elton
Eight disposals, five contested possessions
Played as a key-back, he showed signs of getting back to his strengths in going for his marks, but he’s still learning the craft and we’re looking for improvement every week in what he’s doing.
Ben Griffiths
Five disposals, three tackles
Unfortunately he rolled his ankle early in the third quarter, but he had little impact up to that stage of the game. It was hard to judge his game due to injury.
Liam McBean
Two goals, five disposals, three contested possessions
He’s struggling a little bit with his form, we’re really asking him to get to more contests. He started the game on fire, with two goals against the breeze which really set us up for the day, but struggled to have an impact for the rest of the day.
Richmond VFL will host Footscray at Punt Road Oval this Saturday, April 16 from 12pm