The talented 25-year-old had missed a month of football, but senior development and assistant coach Simon Lloyd said Lower had recovered and was back to playing his best football.
“Nick had an excellent return game, where he was clearly the best mid on the ground,” Lloyd said.
“To play over 90 minutes of football and have no symptoms, and to go about the game the way he did, was a great sign.
“The fact that he ended up having 10 tackles and five clearances, shows that he had an influence in heavy traffic and played a big role in Perth winning the game.
“Nick has really good bodywork and positioning around stoppages. He has really good hands in close where he handles it cleanly and gives you first use.”
Lloyd shared his WAFL notes on all Freo's midfielders
Nick Lower (P) 34 disposals (22 kicks, 12 handballs) 6 marks, 4 handballs, 1 goal
Nick played a big role in Perth coming from behind. He showed throughout the day strong contested efforts at the stoppages, he won plenty of clearances and gave the Perth forwards plenty of opportunities. His contested efforts were excellent and he tackled with a lot of intent. We were also pleased with his spread, and that he ran hard both ways.
Jay van Berlo (WP) 18 disposals (12 kicks, 6 handballs) 6 marks, 10 tackles, 2 goals
Jay played inside mid and also on the wing. He had seven possessions in the first quarter, five of those being contested. He finished with two goals, one from a great 80 meter run from defensive mid where he finished up marking it in the forward 50. At different times Jay ran really hard to open up the opposition. His impact around stoppages through his tackling and grunt was really positive and he hit a couple of good targets inside 50.
Sam Menegola (EF) 23 disposals (14 kicks, 9 handballs) 8 marks
It was a positive game for Sam as he showed effort to keep working for the entire game. We were really pleased with some of the quality of his ground ball and hard ball gets. He got more involved through overlap running and worked hard defensively. Despite a slow a start he showed that he was willing to work his way through the game and became a solid contributor.
Tom Sheridan (PT) 17 disposals (10 kicks, 7 handballs) 4 marks
Tom played as an inside mid and high forward. His defensive run was a feature of his game, he showed some really good bodywork at stoppages at times and he used his leg speed to get through traffic. The positives for Tom were his run to get involved and his change of pace, and his organisation around center bounces. He showed good effort over the four quarters.
Jesse Crichton (PT) 19 disposals (10 kicks, 9 kicks) 3 marks, 4 tackles
Jesse played on the wing on Kane Mitchell, and also had stints as an inside midfielder. We were pleased with Jesse’s intensity at the football and on his opponent. He showed some good tackle pressure and there was a lot more movement around stoppages. Overall, defensively he ran pretty hard, and offensively he attacked the ball hard. He had a good week on the training track and that transferred in to parts of his game.
Cam Sutcliffe (EF) 15 disposals (9 kicks, 6 handballs) 5 marks
Cam started on the wing where he played for the majority of the game. Whilst he started a little bit slow, as the game progressed, particularly in the third quarter he was more productive with touches. There were several instances where he won the hard ball gets.
Haiden Schloithe (SF) 23 disposals (11 kicks, 12 handballs) 4 marks
Haiden started in the midfield opposed to Koby Stevens, who is generally a ball magnet and managed to keep him to two touches in the first quarter. At that period of time Bradd Dalziell was becoming damaging where he had 12 touches in the first quarter. Haiden moved on to Bradd, and for the remainder of the game Dalziell had 13 touches. Haiden played as a defensive mid, but was also able to win his own clearances. He had a great second half around the ball where he was able to get some quality touches. He played on his opponent with real intent and won the contest. In a big derby game, Haiden was one of South Fremantle’s best players.
Jordan Wilson King (SF) 14 disposals (11 kicks, 3 handballs)
Jordan started at half-back. His first half was quiet, where he didn’t seem to have too many involvements although he did keep his opponent quiet. In the second half he moved to the wing, where he looked to run aggressively and be the over lap runner. When the game was in the balance, Jordan was a lot more productive. Overall we are looking for Jordan to play consistently over four quarters.
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League
Subiaco 15.10 (100) defeated West Perth 14.14 (98)
Claremont 20.12 (132) defeated Peel Thunder 7.9 (51)
South Fremantle 16.13 (109) defeated East Fremantle 15.15 (105)
Perth 19.12 (126) defeated East Perth 17.7 (109)
Reserves
Subiaco 20.16 (136) defeated West Perth 9.5 (59)
East Fremantle 25.19 (169) defeated South Fremantle 4.1 (25)
Perth 14.10 (94) defeated East Perth 6.5 (41)
