Playing for North Ballarat's reserves in his first official game of football, the man called 'The Beast' had a promising outing in the ruck and up forward.
"He did very well. He kicked a goal which brought the Eureka Stadium fans to their feet. He had a free kick for holding the ball with a good tackle and banged it through from about 40 metres out," development coach Josh Drummond told NMFC.com.au.
"He spent a fair bit of time in the ruck which is good for his fitness and understanding of the game. His follow up work after his tap work was really good and he laid three or four very nice tackles."
Roo fans also got a first look at draftees Taylor Garner and Mitch Wilkins as they had their first competitive match on Saturday in the seniors.
Garner and Wilkins have had a less-than-ideal start to their time at Aegis Park recovering from shoulder surgeries. However in blustery conditions, they also impressed.
"Both Mitch and Taylor came on and had an impact straight away with the footy. They'll learn a lot just from being out there and learning the structures of the club," Drummond said.
"Mitch is pretty smart. Whether he's playing on the wing or half-back he naturally knows when to drop off his man to good effect. Taylor played in the midfield, out on the wing and also in a small forward role so it was good for him to get out there and get some experience playing against men."
Reprising their partnership from stages in 2012, the Delaney brothers battled together in the defensive half for the Roosters. Against a Port Melbourne side that will most likely be hard to beat again in 2013, it meant both Cam and Luke had a lot of work to do.
"Some of Cam's body positioning, body work and how he was reading the play was really good. He was one of our best on the day and very solid.
"Luke played a bit deeper than Cam but he also stood up strong in defence and I can't remember his man taking a grab all day.
"At times they were both under a fair bit of pressure so they had to withstand a fair bit. It was hard for players to stand out in the conditions but the two Delaneys were pretty good."
In North Melbourne's second NAB Cup match against Richmond, Brad McKenzie found himself playing across half-forward. It was a different role to what he was accustomed to in 2012 as he played the majority of his football across half-back. Yet another change-up confronted him on Saturday.
"Brad played more through the midfield. It's a new challenge for him and something to wrap his head around. He was a little quiet early but worked his way into the game the longer it went.
With the improvement of Majak Daw and recruitment of Daniel Currie, Ben Mabon has more competition than ever before to earn a senior spot. He spent almost the entire afternoon in the ruck.
"With the ball going in all sorts of different ways from the boundary throw-ins and ball-ups it was a challenge for Mabes and all the ruckmen to judge the footy. He competed well at the stoppages and his work in the contest was quite good."
On a day almost as far away from being suited to key forwards as possible, Tom Curran was starved of the footy.
"Tom spent the majority of his time playing deep forward. Given that Port Melbourne played some good football throughout the day he didn't get a huge amount of opportunity.
"However he battled really well when he did get a chance and he even spent some time in the ruck which was a good experience and something we might do at different stages in the year."
Second year player Max Warren flew under the radar in his rookie season but impressed in his first outing of 2013.
"Max stood out a few times just being able to orchestrate some offensive ball movement for us. On a day where the ball was hitting the deck a lot and there were some skill errors, Maxy did some things that were very clean and got the ball moving for us with his run and carry. There were some good signs for Max."
Cam Richardson started on a wing before moving to half-forward in the second half. Drummond was pleased with the positive effect the rookie-listed Richardson had on the team after his positional shift.
