By Jonty Ralphsmith<\/p>\n
Vic Country clinched a 14.10(94) to 9.10(64) victory against Vic Metro at RSEA Park, Moorabbin on Sunday afternoon, lifting its carnival record to 2-2.<\/p>\n
Gippslander Willem Duursma was awarded the squad\u2019s MVP, while Brodie Atkins and Tairon Ah-Mu were other locals who played key roles throughout the four games. <\/p>\n
Star News Group spoke to Vic Country coach Rhett McLennan, who provided insight into the performances of every squad member.<\/p>\n
Willem Duursma<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, utility<\/p>\n
Games: 4<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 24 disposals<\/p>\n
\u201cHe showed ability as a midfielder but it\u2019s fairly unlikely he\u2019ll start at the middle in round one so it\u2019s about showing what else you can do to stretch an opposition and cause headaches. We see him as a guy who can do that down back and be accountable, but also run off and be creative and also go forward and stretch an opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brodie Atkins<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, midfielder<\/p>\n
Games: 3<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 7 tackles<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you talk to Brodie, it\u2019s just another game of footy. He attacks every game the same way whether it\u2019s in the ones for Drouin, for Vic Country or Gippy Power, he hunts the footy and hunts the man and is incredibly difficult to play against which is his weapon. He\u2019s a good midfielder and developing run and spread from the contest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jobe Scapin<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, utility<\/p>\n
Games: 3<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 4 tackles<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought his defensive pressure was really good for a winger and his ability to get to the outside and show his acceleration, speed and ball use by foot was pleasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zach O\u2019Keefe<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, utility<\/p>\n
Games: 3<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 4.7 marks <\/p>\n
\u201cZach\u2019s understanding of the game is really really high so wherever he plays, he finds a way to get involved. I think he continues to find a way to get better. He hasn\u2019t had a heap of continuity this year but he was influential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darcy Szerszyn<\/p>\n
Dandenong Stingrays, defender<\/p>\n
Games: 3<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 12 disposals<\/p>\n
Bottom-aged<\/p>\n
\u201cI really liked Darcy\u2019s form and as a coach he\u2019s a player you love because he\u2019s really good athletically, he can play taller and smaller than he is so I think he\u2019s got a lot of benefits as a footballer to an AFL list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cal Smith<\/p>\n
Dandenong Stingrays, midfielder<\/p>\n
Games: 4<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 16 disposals<\/p>\n
\u201cCal\u2019s hands and decision making is really sure. His work output is steady and once he found his feet in the forward position yesterday, he showed he has something else too so I\u2019m really happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tairon Ah-Mu<\/p>\n
Dandenong Stingrays, forward\/ruck<\/p>\n
Games: 4<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 1.8 goals per game<\/p>\n
\u201cHis ability to provide ruck relief and be a presence was really good \u2013 if he does make it to AFL level, that\u2019s where people see him: someone who can go forward, but also provide presence, especially his around the ground stuff. He competes, he\u2019s explosive off the mark and beautiful kick and his middle two games were really good so I\u2019m excited by what the future holds for Tairon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toby Sinnema<\/p>\n
Dandenong Stingrays, winger<\/p>\n
Games: 4<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 13 disposals<\/p>\n
Melbourne Next Generation Academy<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s neat by foot and had some moments in the different games. He showed he had some defensive aspects to his game and showed what he could do against Metro\u2019s small forwards and played to his strengths when he got the ball which was his run, carry and left foot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitch Stevens<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, halfback<\/p>\n
Games: 3<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 6 marks<\/p>\n
Adelaide father-son<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Stevo\u2019s\u2019 going well. His ability to be hard to play against is his strength. He wants to win every contest or halve ones he isn\u2019t favoured to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wil Malady<\/p>\n
Gippsland Power, key forward<\/p>\n
Games: 2<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 1 goal <\/p>\n
Bottom-aged<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an exciting player; I think we\u2019re only scratching the surface of what Wil can do. He can play higher up with his speed and agility and his willing to defend, tackle and get contested footy. It\u2019s not only nice marks and goals for Wil, I think there is more to his football ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves<\/p>\n
Dandenong Stingrays, wing\/half forward<\/p>\n
Games: 4<\/p>\n
Standout stat: 1.5 goals<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Noah\u2019s ability to stand up and produce in pressure moments is excellent and he had some moments in all of his games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dandenong pair Jasper Russell, Max Lee and bottom-aged smalls Marlon Neocleous (Gippsland) and Marcus Prasad (Dandenong) were also rotated through the squad throughout the carnival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Jonty Ralphsmith Vic Country clinched a 14.10(94) to 9.10(64) victory against Vic Metro at RSEA Park, Moorabbin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-10358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}