When Ryan Bastinac was sent back to the VFL after being dropped from the North Melbourne side, he knew he had to play himself back into form quickly, in order to be any chance of a recall in the second half of the year.
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The 23-year-old knew he’d be in for some attention playing for North Ballarat, but he didn’t expect to cop an old-fashioned hard tag from his Casey opponent.
“I haven’t been tagged like that before and hadn’t been tagged at all since under 18s so I’d forgotten what it’s like”, Bastinac told NMFC.com.au.
“I didn’t expect the tag to be that strong to be honest but was told to expect someone to play on me. It was far worse than I thought it was going to be. His whole focus was me and what I was doing.”
North development coach Gavin Brown said the Scorpions’ tagger was “all over” Bastinac and was “wrestling him from go to woe”.
“It was a good challenge for me to work through. He did a pretty good job in the first quarter and kept me to three touches but I worked my way through the game and got a lot better after that,” Bastinac said.
“It’s hard when your team is playing a zone and you’re being tagged. It was something different for me but I got through it and enjoyed the challenge.”
Playing as an inside midfielder, Bastinac rolled up the sleeves and went to work, racking up a game-high 29 disposals, 5 clearances and 6 tackles.
To his delight, Bastinac shook the tag and gained some much needed confidence.
“When he (the tagger) came to me I thought, ‘Gee this could be a long day.’ After the first quarter I knew I had to work a lot harder and really take it up to him,” Bastinac said.
“That’s what I went back to the VFL for. Every challenge that got thrown at me, I wanted to overcome and take head-on. To have to find some form under a heavy tag was good for my football and confidence.”
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Told of his VFL demotion by interim coach Darren Crocker just before the start of the main skills session last Thursday, Bastinac said he didn’t spend too much time dwelling on his disappointment.
“It was hard getting that news but I just tried to move on straight away from it and have a great training session,” he said.
“As soon as Crock explained what I needed to do, I wanted to get straight back to the VFL, find some form and do the things I need to do in order to get back into the AFL side as soon as possible.”
Averaging 17 disposals a game so far this season, Bastinac has struggled to impact games at senior level but hopes the run with the Roosters will spark a form turnaround.
“There are a few things in my game that I need to work on and improve and I know what they are. Part of it is having confidence in my ability and you can only get that by playing some good footy so hopefully that’s what I will achieve in my time back with North Ballarat,” he said.
Bastinac said he also gained a greater appreciated for what his teammate Brent Harvey has had to endure for the majority of his 396-game career.
“Being tagged like that makes you realise how hard guys like Boomer and Gary Ablett have got it,” Bastinac said.
“Now I can understand why they get frustrated from time to time but most of all it just shows why they are such great players being able to work through a hard tag each week and still be able to impact games.”
