Following North VFL’s disappointing loss to Essendon on Saturday afternoon, North Media spoke with senior assistant coach Gavin Brown about some of the more notable performances.

Chris Jansen (VFL-listed) | 23 disposals | 10 tackles | 4 clearances

“It was a very good game. He’s had a really good month of footy.

“His inside work has been exceptional, particularly his ability to pressure.



“His tackling numbers been quite good actually, he had 10 tackles on the weekend, as well as a high number of disposals.

“He provides really good leadership in there, he’s a good organiser, gets plenty of the footy and uses it well.”

Nick Rippon (VFL-listed) | 20 disposals | 5 marks | 7 tackles

“He played somewhere near where we expect him to play.

“He’s a J.J. Liston Medallist and a pretty experienced VFL player.

“He was good, he got his hands on the footy a fair bit, and he provides a fair bit of grunt.

“He’s got a bit of power about his game, he’s hard at the contest and I thought he was really solid actually.”

Ben McKay | 15 disposals | 7 marks | 2 rebound 50’s

“Ben was good in the air.

“He controlled the air and defensively he was really strong, and he would have taken six or seven really strong contested marks.

“He also used the footy well by foot.

“He’s actually turned into a really good decision maker and executor, which is a good thing to add to his game. A really solid performance from Benny.”

Sam Durdin | 17 disposals | 6 marks | 4 rebound 50’s

“A very similar performance to Ben McKay, he probably got a bit more of the footy.

“He might have had 18 or 19 touches, so for a key back they’re pretty solid numbers, but basically he’s there to defend, and I thought he did that very well.

“His ability to come off and support his teammates was excellent, pretty much like what the seniors are doing at the moment.

“His marking has also been really sound in the past two or three weeks.

“He’s had a really good month of footy, and he’s going about it really well.”

Tom Murphy | 15 disposals | 4 marks | 7 rebound 50’s

“Murph had some really AFL-esque moments out there playing on Orazio Fantasia in the second half, which is really good experience for him.

“It was just fantastic for his own personal development to play on an AFL player and learn how to control him.

“Losing Wrighty creates a fantastic opportunity, because all of a sudden Murph gets that job and you can’t buy that sort of experience.

“He probably didn’t get as much of the footy that he’s had in the past because he had his hands full trying to defend, but he’ll learn a lot from that.”

“To be able to get AFL players to come back and play in the VFL, and get our young players to play on them, is just invaluable.”

Individual player stats

Nash Holmes | 20 disposals | 4 marks | 3 inside 50’s

Luke Davies-Uniacke | 18 disposals | 4 tackles | 5 clearances

Tyrone Leonardis | 16 disposals | 5 marks | 5 rebound 50’s

Jordan Harper | 16 disposals | 4 marks | 1 tackle

Will Walker | 15 disposals | 3 marks | 3 tackles

Josh Williams | 14 disposals | 4 marks | 3 rebound 50’s

Fraser Cameron | 13 disposals | 6 marks | 5 rebound 50’s

Nathan Hrovat | 12 disposals | 3 marks | 3 tackles

Mitch Rodd | 12 disposals | 4 marks | 2 tackles

Oscar Junker | 10 disposals | 3 marks | 3 tackles

Braydon Preuss | 9 disposals | 3 marks | 47 hitouts

Alex Morgan | 9 disposals | 1 tackle | 3 rebound 50’s

Steve Stroobants | 9 disposals | 4 tackles | 4 inside 50’s

Kyron Hayden | 8 disposals | 1 tackle | 2 clearances

Michael Close | 8 disposals | 6 marks | 3 tackles

Nick Larkey | 7 disposals | 4 marks | 2 tackles

Tom Jeffries | 5 disposals | 3 tackles | 8 hitouts

Daniel Nielson | 5 disposals | 3 marks | 1 tackle