Richmond’s VFL coach Tim Clarke provides an exclusive form summary of the Tigers’ AFL-listed players who appeared in last Saturday’s loss to Williamstown at the ME Centre’s Punt Road Oval.

Matt Thomas
30 disposals, 15 contested possessions, 10 tackles

Played his best game for the year.  Had around 30 touches again and 10 tackles. Used the ball much better this week, and is really starting to come into some form. After having a tough year with managing his knee injuries, we’re really excited about what he can offer over the next couple of weeks.

Matt McDonough
24 disposals, seven clearances

Played a good game for us offensively. Defensively, he let us down a little bit at times. But he continues to find the ball around stoppages, and some of the work he’s doing in close is AFL standard, we just need to keep his game on the outside coming along.

Ben Lennon
18 disposals, three tackles

Played wing most of the day. Still learning the role, which is going to add another string to his bow. Every time Ben gets the ball, something happens with our side. He didn’t hit the scoreboard, but he did contribute to two or three goals. Hopefully Ben can keep improving the wing role over the next two or three weeks.

Sam Lloyd
Three goals, 16 disposals, five contested marks

Continues to win contested ball and hit the scoreboard. He kicked three goals on the day and took five contested marks. Sam keeps showing that his ability to win one-on-ones is AFL standard.

VFL Round 11: Lloyd highlights

Jayden Short
Three goals, 16 disposals

Played close to his best game of the year offensively. Hit the scoreboard three times and had 15 to 16 touches. We expect Jayden to provide more defensive pressure as a small forward. Things like tackling and chasing - they are the sorts of things he’s working on at the moment, and we need to see that coming out in his game.

Matt Dea
14 disposals

Played his role but didn’t do much more than that. Contributed well in regards to chop out marks and helping to set up our defence, but we expect Matt to play a more impactful game at VFL level.

Liam McBean
14 disposals, five tackles, eight hitouts

Played well in patches in the ruck and as a key forward, but didn’t impact the game as well as we would have liked. His critical contest work is getting better and better each week. But we expect a better performance this week from Liam against North Ballarat.

Steve Morris
13 disposals

Played forward and midfield. Came back with a great attitude and his commitment in the contest was terrific. We expect Stevie to have a bit more of an impact at VFL level. But for his first game at VFL his attitude was good, and that was what was important.

Matt Arnot
12 disposals

Played a defensive role on Anastasio, one of Williamstown’s key small forwards. Played really well, restricting his player to two goals, one of which he had no influence on. Continues to learn the role of a small defender and we will keep playing him there over the next few weeks.

Reece McKenzie
12 disposals

Continued his form from last week. Took three or four really strong marks and competed well in the contest, which is what we expect from Reece. He’s developing really well in that role.

Dave Astbury
Nine disposals

First game back in a while. Dave was really good in the air and the critical contests. We expect him to use the ball a bit better, but that will improve with the games that he plays. Played three and a bit quarters - three quarters back and one quarter forward. He showed when the ball is in the air he can impact well.

Connor Menadue
Nine disposals

Was disappointing coming back from the AFL. Didn’t really influence the game at all in the way that we know he can. We expect a better performance from Connor, both offensively and defensively.