The Tigers were at their attacking best, mauling Port Melbourne by 64 points (20.20.140 to 11.10.76) during a practice match.
Kangaroos’ rookie Ben Speight played a blinder, kicking four goals in the lop-sided affair. The 19-year old finished with 28 possessions, 11 of those coming in the fourth term.
“He (Speight) had a huge last quarter. We were able to get him forward after he spent three quarters on the wing,” Tigers’ coach Simon Atkins said after the match.
“He is really smart, he’s improved his running strength and is certainly a good finisher…to finish with four goals is a good result.”
Also catching the coach’s eye was Robbie Tarrant who moved back into a familiar role after recently attempting to make a name for himself as a defender with North Melbourne.
“Taz (Tarrant) has been planning the whole pre-season to play down back…he obviously was a forward prior to that but his opportunity now exists at the Kangaroos to play forward with Petrie out for maybe a little bit. One thing you don’t doubt is his work rate…three goals three…you’d take that any day from a centre half forward.”
Nathan Grima put the disappointment of not making the Kangaroos’ round one side behind him and played full-back and centre half-back throughout the afternoon. The tall defender had 19 disposals and took two marks.
“Nathan’s work rate was excellent today,” North Melbourne development coach Jason Lappin told kangaroos.com.au.
“Defensively he was really good.”
Grima played close to Jamie MacMillan in the back-line who collected 15 touches and 10 handball receives.
“Jamie ran very hard today and had no goals kicked on him which was a great result,” Lappin said.
Nathan O’Keefe also booted a goal and will be looking to have more of an impact on Thursday when the Tigers play against Box Hill at home at Chirnside Park in another practice match.
Earlier in the day the Werribee reserves played and North was represented by Ayden Kennedy (12 disposals), Matthew Scott (21 disposals) and Conor Meredith (16 disposals, 3 goals).
It was also a good day for North Ballarat after a 7-point win (16.8.104 to 14.13.97) over Geelong. The Cats had 12 AFL listed players while the Roosters fielded nine Kangaroos.
North’s Aaron Edwards grabbed all the headlines with a superb effort up forward at Eureka Stadium.
The 26 year-old had 18 possessions, 10 marks and kicked five goals.
“Aaron played as a leading forward today and really stood out,” Kangaroos’ development coach John Lamont reported.
“He played in front and presented exceptionally well pulling down five contested marks. He didn’t miss in front of goals and led really strongly all afternoon.”
Josh Smith (11 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals) and Aaron Black (12 disposals, 2 goals) also played well up forward.
Ben Cunnington took another impressive step and again proved he’s not too far off a debut at AFL level after racking up 24 touches and finishing with a goal.
“Ben played as an inside-mid and worked pretty hard. He’s still gaining valuable fitness because he missed so much of the pre-season but he won the ball around the stoppages and brought others into the game,” Lamont added.
“He’s definitely on the right track and also worth mentioning was his tackling. He laid nine impressive tackles and was very hard at it and lived up to his reputation.”
Luke Delaney seems to have embraced his move to the Roosters from Werribee and made a solid start down back.
“It was a great game for Luke and he spoiled well and earned every one of his 14 possessions. He also helped out in the ruck and competed well. There was some really positive stuff from him I thought.”
Daniel Pratt (14 disposals), Warren Benjamin (9 disposals) and Brayden Norris (13 disposals) also played important roles for the Roosters but Marcus White had a day to forget after coming from the ground in the first quarter with a corked thigh.
