Coburg coach Tim Clarke provides his exclusive summary of how the Richmond-listed players performed at VFL level in last Sunday’s loss to Box Hill.

Jake Batchelor

Had a down day.  It wasn’t so much that he was beaten by a Box Hill opponent, he just didn’t have a big impact on the game, like he’d had in the previous two weeks.

Ben Darrou

Made some uncharacteristic errors.  Defensively, he allowed a few lead-ups, which was a focus for us going into the game.  Offensively, he had a bit of the ball, but turned it over a few times.

Matt Dea

Was pretty good offensively, picking up 26 disposals and providing plenty of run off half-back.  Needs to be better defensively, however, as he allowed the Box Hill forwards to have a few lead-ups and was beaten in several one-on-one contests.

Tom Derickx

Split the ruck duties with Orren Stephenson and battled well throughout the game.  Was better around the ground, with three contested marks and 17 disposals all-up.

Aaron Edwards

It was a quiet day all round for our forwards, due to the strong wind and the team’s poor ball movement.  Aaron found more of the ball when he played as a spare defender late in the first and third quarters.

Todd Elton

Didn’t have much of an impact on the game, finishing with just six disposals.

Ben Griffiths

Competed really well all day and hit the scoreboard with 2.2 in a tough day for forwards.

Brad Helbig

Was terrific offensively, winning plenty of contested ball and working really hard back to support our defenders.  Just needs to work on the defensive side of his game.

Liam McBean

Again was very lively up forward, but was inaccurate in front of goals, kicking 1.4, before being carried off due to an ankle injury.  Will most likely be sidelined for 3-4 weeks with ligament damage.

Robin Nahas

Accumulated a lot of the footy, finishing with 31 disposals, playing across half-forward, through the midfield and across half-back.  Provided plenty of run and carry, however was a bit wasteful with the ball, which is unlike him.

Orren Stephenson

Shared the ruck duties with Tommy Derickx.  Rucked really well and his follow-up efforts were good, but he didn’t have much overall impact around the ground.

Steve Verrier

Had another fairly good game off half-back, picking up 22 disposals, but again let himself down with his decision-making and skill execution by both hand and foot.

Match details

Coburg                 2.1          3.8          3.13        5.17  (47)                                                        
Box Hill                7.7          11.7        13.13     20.14  (134)

Goals – Coburg:  Griffiths 2, McBean, Venditti, Maric. 
Best – Coburg:  Thomas, Nahas, Dea, A. Edwards, Darrou, Uysal.