North VFL fell agonisingly short of Collingwood in its clash at Avalon Airport Oval on Sunday, but despite the loss, there were some standout performances.
North Media speaks with senior VFL coach David Loader and senior assistant coach Gavin Brown about the players who caught the eye.
Daniel Nielson | 15 disposals | 5 tackles | 3 rebound 50s
“Dan played on Jamie Elliott, and I thought he was really good.
“Elliott only had about ten touches for the game. He (Elliott) did his hamstring late in the half, but Nielson was very, very good overall.
“We wanted to give him the opportunity to play on an AFL-listed player and test himself.
“Doing that is a really good way to help his development and he stood-up.” - Gavin Brown
Declan Mountford | 20 disposals | 12 tackles | 4 rebound 50s
“Declan was pretty good, he brought a lot of pressure.“He made 12 tackles and only missed three which is a good sign of how outstanding his pressure was.
“He looked to be getting forward at times to get even numbers to the contest.
“His return to footy has been very impressive, and Sunday was a pretty good game for him.” - Gavin Brown
Luke Davies-Uniacke | 23 disposals | 6 tackles | 6 clearances
“His lateral movement and ability to get space and spread from the stoppage was really good.
“He looked lively on his toes, his ball handling wasn’t quite as clean as it has been in the past given he’s been impeccable with that.
“Coming off one of his lower games in the AFL, it was good to see him step up at times and look better than that level.” - David Loader
Chris Jansen (VFL-listed) | 32 disposals | 9 tackles | 8 clearances
“He was very good.
“He’s becoming a bit of a tackling machine of late, he had nine on the weekend.
“Not only does he get a lot of the footy but he uses it well. He’s led really well this season.” - Gavin Brown
Louis Cunningham (VFL-listed) | 13 disposals | 1 mark | 1 tackle
“Louis played on Josh Smith and did an outstanding job.
“He kept him to 11 disposals and zero (goals) which is really impressive given Smith is an AFL-listed player.
“He normally gets a fair bit of the footy, but he gave some of that up to play his role on Smith.” - Gavin Brown
Individual performances:
Nick Rippon (VFL-listed) | 31 disposals | 9 tackles | 7 clearances
Mitchell Hibberd | 23 disposals | 12 marks | 9 rebound 50s
Tyrone Leonardis (VFL-listed) | 21 disposals | 4 tackles | 5 inside 50s
Nash Holmes (VFL-listed) | 20 disposals | 7 tackles | 5 clearances
Matt Northe (VFL-listed) | 18 disposals | 3 tackles | 2 inside 50s
Quintin Montanaro (VFL-listed) | 16 disposals | 6 marks | 2 tackles
Braydon Preuss | 15 disposals | 3 clearances | 62 hit-outs
Fraser Cameron (VFL-listed) | 13 disposals | 4 marks | 3 inside 50s
Nick Hogan (VFL-listed) | 13 disposals | 3 marks | 5 inside 50s
Nick Larkey | 12 disposals | 4 marks | 1 goal
Steven Stroobants (VFL-listed) | 11 disposals | 2 marks | 3 tackles
Ben McKay | 10 disposals | 2 marks | 2 tackles
Tom Hotchin (VFL-listed) | 10 disposals | 3 tackles | 2 rebound 50s
Oscar Junker | 9 disposals | 3 marks | 7 tackles
Gordon Narrier | 6 disposals | 5 tackles | 1 inside 50
Lachlan Mirams (VFL-listed) | 4 disposals | 1 mark | 5 hit-outs
Josh Williams | 2 disposals | 1 tackle
Jordan Mangan (VFL-listed) | 2 disposals | 1 tackle
