VFL Senior Coach Blake Caracella reviews the performances of Essendon's AFL-listed players from Sunday's match against Sandringham.

Elijah Tsatas

24 disposals, five marks, five tackles, five clearances

Elijah found a fair bit of the footy and used it pretty well.

He’s been played mostly on the wing at AFL level so far this year, but on the weekend we used him as an inside midfielder – we wanted him to get a lot of exposure to the contest in there and we felt like his overall game was a good result.

Sam Weideman

Eight disposals, six marks, two goals

‘Weids’ copped a pretty nasty cut to his head early in the game from a collision with Nate Caddy, so he had to miss the first quarter and get it bandaged up.

He played really well once he came back on and did a great job up forward, especially after that kind of disruption.

He was involved in (and created) a lot of scoring opportunities when we got that run going in the second quarter and finished with a couple of goals, so it was a fantastic effort from him. 

Lewis Hayes

25 disposals, seven marks

‘Hayesy’ had his work cut out for him against some of Sandringham’s tall forwards and got challenged early.

Our backs fought back pretty hard after quarter-time and he would’ve had a career-high for disposals, it was fantastic to see him use it well and look to move it up the ground. We were really pleased with that aspect of his game.

Nick Bryan

40 hit-outs, 11 disposals, one goal

‘Bristle’ had a really good duel with an experienced ruck in Tom Campbell, and we felt he won the battle for the most part.

He gave us some really good looks from stoppages at stages, but the area we’re looking to keep improving with him is to get his hands on the footy more around the ground and maximise his impact.

Alwyn Davey Jnr

Seven disposals, three tackles

It was a frustrating day with the wind going down the ground and it made it quite difficult at times for the small forwards to get involved.

Alwyn usually shows his creativity when he has the ball and we’ve seen that a lot, but we’re keen for him to get his hands on it more, especially forward of centre. He laid a few tackles on the weekend and his pressure has been good so far. 

Luamon Lual

21 disposals, six marks, three tackles

Short sample size, but that was definitely the best game ‘Luey’ has played for the club so far.

He’s growing in confidence every week in terms of his ability, but also knowing he’s capable of holding his own against experienced guys. To have the ball more than 20 times was pleasing and he used it a bit better than the week prior, so we’re loving how he’s growing at the moment.

Jayden Davey

Eight disposals, three tackles, one goal

Jayden was exciting in bursts around the ball.

He kicked a really nice goal from a set shot in the second term and unfortunately missed an easy one, but he’s obviously still working his way back into things after a long time away from the game and he’s picking up the pace week-to-week. 

Archie Roberts

23 disposals, eight marks, three tackles

For a smaller winger/midfielder, Archie’s really up for the contest and loves getting his hands dirty, which is great to see for us.

He’s been tidying up different elements of his game in recent weeks and we’re starting to see that translate into games, which is the kind of learning we want from a first-year player. He’s becoming more well-rounded with each game he plays and we’re keen to see how that looks over the coming weeks. 

Vigo Visentini

Six disposals, four marks, two goals

Vigo was our second ruck option this week and one of the keys in that role is to be able to influence around the ground.

Playing forward for the majority of the day, he kicked a couple of goals against the breeze and took some nice marks, so hopefully that’ll be a sign of things to come for him this year as he keeps developing.

Nate Caddy

Nate lost a tooth in a nasty collision in the opening minutes of the game and unfortunately had to miss the remainder of the game as a result.

He successfully had the tooth put back in after dental surgery and will be available to play this week.