The rookie listed player had 32 touches in South’s loss to Claremont.
Senior development and assistant coach said his running patterns showed signs of an AFL player.
“His defensive run resembled Fremantle’s patterns and he demanded the football, which was evident as he gathered 32 disposals,” he said.
“The biggest positive for the day for Haiden was that he did not fade, he showed solid run over four quarters.”
Haiden Scholithe (SF) 32 disposals, (17 kicks, 15 handballs)
Haiden played back in the first half on a variety of smalls in Davies and Richardson against a quality opposition in Claremont. In the second half he went into the midfield with some brief spells forward. He ran really hard both ways whenever South won the football. He ended up having 15 handball receives and that tells you he was running and heavily involved around the contest. When he went into the midfield he had impact around the contest. He ended up having seven clearances, four from center square bounce clearances.
Viv Michie (PT) – 24 disposals (15 kicks, 9 handballs)
Viv played inside mid opposed to some experienced players in Wulff and also Cripps. He was impressive around stoppages where he consistently found the body and then got to work. As a club we were very happy with his run, both offensively and defensively. His tackle and contested ball efforts reflected a really professional attitude and Viv's playing a consistent level of WAFL football week in, week out.
Tom Sheridan (PT) – 19 disposals (7 kicks, 12 handballs)
Tom played inside mid on the best opposition mid in Lee. He demonstrated strong effort with his ability to get inside his opponent and win the clearances. He showed a strong desire to tackle and win first possession. It was a positive day for Tom and we will look at building on this performance in the coming weeks.
Matt Taberner (PT) – 9 disposals (7 kicks, 2 handballs) 8 marks
Matt's game time was restricted to 60 minutes as he was listed as an emergency for Fremantle’s game against Adelaide on Sunday. He got to the right spots on most occasions, competed well in the air and constantly presented as an outlet option. We were pleased with his positioning and work rate and, in limited time, he took eight marks, positioned well and worked hard.
Alex Forster (PT) – 16 disposals (8 kicks, 8 handballs) 5 marks
Alex played well in defence, showing some attacking run and good ball use. He tried to run off which allowed Alex to run his, which meant that he was running his opponents out of position. He was also composed with the football and showed strong leadership down back where he communicated well with his teammates in regards to structures. We will look at Alex doing this over four quarters.
Tanner Smith (PT) – 12 disposals (7 kicks, 5 handballs) 1 goal
Tanner played deep forward, it’s been a really good learning for Tanner playing consistently up forward. He got to the big man spots and competed well and bought the ball to ground. We were really pleased with Tanner’s work rate. One of his strengths is his endurance and he constantly worked his opponent over. Around stoppages at forward 50 he came third man up using his initiative. We need to keep working on his timing in the aerial contest and getting lower with his tackling technique.
Craig Moller (PT) – 6 disposals (1 kick, 5 handballs) 13 hit-outs
Craig had not played for seven weeks and he went into the league team and rucked for 80 minutes, competing against two big men in Johnson and Lycett. Whilst statistically his game wasn't high, Ash Prescott was very positive about Craig's performance in that he followed up his post-stoppage work well and gave first hands every time. He also showed good football intelligence around the ground and showed that he is really competitive.
Josh Mellington (WP) – 23 disposals (16 kicks, 7 handballs) 12 marks, 4 goals
Josh played mostly as a high forward and in the second half went in as an inside mid for periods. His pressure around the ball was very good, in particular his tackling and pressuring at the front of the stoppage. His use in general play was also very good. He ended up getting a lot of the football and having it 23 times. He kicked 4.3 that could have quite easily been a couple more. After half time he constantly got into the line of play and presented as a hit up lead target for the day, taking 12 marks. It was a good day for Josh.
Max Duffy and Alex Howson both played in a scratch match for East Fremantle under 23’s against the Western Australia under 18’s state team.
Max Duffy
Max had restricted game time due to not having played in four weeks. He played the first half forward and the second in the midfield. In a team that struggled against the state 18's we found that there was some positive passages of play where he won several clearances in tight and ran some good patterns particularly around boundary throw-ins. A good positive piece of play was where he came off the bench and ran really hard to space to take a strong contested mark, which resulted in a set-shot goal. There were several passages where he gave two to three efforts to pressure the ball carrier. This week he’ll look to go back into the league team against South Fremantle in rivalry round. It’s good to have him back playing football again.
Alex Howson
There were several passages where Alex found space as an outlet on kick-ins. He had a positive passage of play in the second quarter where he showed real hard release run into the forward 50. He just needs to finish it off by taking the mark. Alex adjusted his game after quarter time, where he got to a lot more contests by leading up at the ball carrier. Overall, Alex had minimal impact on the game.
WAFL LEAGUE
West Perth 17.13 (115) def Perth 12.7 (79)
Peel Thunder 13.13 (91) def East Perth 10.13 (73)
South Fremantle 9.11 (65) lost to Claremont 20.12 (132)
Swan Districts 10.12 (72) lost to Subiaco 12.13 (85)
