The Lions Reserves fell just 10 points short of Sydney University in Sydney on Saturday.

Coach Shane Woewodin gives his appraisal of each of the listed Lions who played.

“A much improved result this weekend in our ability to start the game well, put a lot of pressure on Sydney Uni and set the scene for the day –particularly in the first quarter when the team kicked five goals and we were up at quarter time.

“It was off the back of some really good play and adherence to instruction. The boys played their role which was really good to see in the coaches box. We probably went away from doing those things for parts of the second term and certainly the third. But when the game was in the balance at three quarter time, and Sydney Uni kicked the first couple of the last quarter – for our group to respond and be challenged to stay in the game and their ability to fight their way to the end was a real credit to them and something that probably hadn’t been done in previous weeks.

“This week was a pleasing result, even though we didn’t get the chocolates and there is still a lot to learn, there was a lot of effort from the group.”

  NEAFL Match Report: v Sydney Uni

Billy Evans

Individually Billy Evans I thought was our best player on the weekend. He had a big last quarter, his ability to win the ball, be really clean inside, he had a good balance of contested and uncontested and topped it off with seven tackles, kicked three goals and had 9 clearances. He certainly put his hand up for senior selection if required against the Demons this week.

Nick Robertson

A new role for Nick this week. We gave him the job to play on Young who is probably their best player and the reigning MVP Medallist. We got him to tag him and go with him all the way. When Young went forward, Robbo went with him. Young had a bit of the ball, he probably wasn’t as effective with the ball. Nick had his fair share as well, we just need to find the balance with him winning it and stopping his opponent. He certainly gave it a crack, played really well, was clean himself, had a good balance of uncontested and contested and some really time-saving efforts back in defensive 50, particularly with the one v. two at one stage. He was pretty good.

Jackson Paine

Solid, without being as outstanding as previous weeks again he led the way down back for us with such a young group. He was solid in the air, rebounding the footy six times. Took his marks and a couple of mocks for the day. Had a couple of big jobs on some key forwards for Sydney Uni. He’s certainly been in really good form.

Jarrad Jansen

Getting better every week. He only found it the 18 times as a mid but his ability to go forward and hit the scoreboard and kick two goals was really good. He had six clearances, laid 7 tackles all that inside contested work is going really well for Jarrad. He’s probably just got to find a little more ball on the outside, more the uncontested footy but we’ve seen a big improvement. His GPS numbers are improving and he’s become an important cog in the midfield.

Reuben William

A new role this week – we pushed him down back. He gave us a lot of ping off half back, particularly early in the game but probably faded away as the game wore on due to fatigue. He was certainly lively there for us with ball in hand and gave us a lot of run off half back and created a lot of opportunities for us. It’s something for him to continue to work on and find the balance of what he does defensively as well.

Eric Hipwood

Hit the scoreboard with four goals this week which was a much improved result. He had a couple from the 50 metre penalties but it’s all scoreboard pressure. He had it 16 times, again for Eric it’s still that – engage, separate timings with ruck stuff but his ruck pressure was outstanding for a key forward. He probably fatigued as the game went on and fell off a little bit but certainly put it on the line early when needed. It’s good to see our key forwards hitting the scoreboard.

Matt Hammelmann

Much better from Hamma down back. Still a couple of things to work on defensively but he certainly gave us a lot of run. It was good to see him have seven marks for the day. He had four re-bound 50s and 16 touches. Again for our backs it’s all about finding that balance but the drive they gave us was really impressive and important from our defenders, particularly early in the game when the game was up and about.

Jono Freeman

Good to see from Jono this week ball in hands. He had it 14 times this week for a key forward. The ability to take five or six marks, three contested – which he’s been working really hard at at training. He hit the scoreboard with four goals as well. What was really pleasing for Jono’s game was his ability to work hard – his work rate was so much higher this week. His GPS was really good with the sprint metres, his second and third efforts with his tackling and his intent for a big man in a forward half was really important for us. I thought he took a real big step forward in what he did in that area. We’re looking for him now to build on that.

Josh Clayton

Again a different role. We pushed Clayto back forward again this week. Hopefully the past month has been a great learning curve for him down back. We played him as a high forward, he didn’t hit the scoreboard but certainly improved in some aspects of his game. His GPS and his ability to run and work, he topped the game with high speed metres which was fantastic. He pushed the footy inside 50 six times, laid three tackles and won a couple of clearances in his role in what he did up and around stoppage. It was an improved performance.

Archie Smith

Probably one of the best games I’ve seen Archie play for our football club. He was certainly up and about early, he probably spent more time forward than he did ruck this week. The 12 times he won it he was dominant around stoppage, particularly centre square bounce. I think he had 8-9 hit-outs and most of those to advantage in that area. More importantly he’s taken those six marks, one or two contested particularly forward of the ball and hitting the scoreboard in that area. As a resting ruckman to go forward and hit scoreboard pressure was really good from Arch.

Trent West

Another solid display. I think he had 27-hitouts and thirteen of those to advantage. Again he was really dominant around the ground with his ruck work and ability to give our mids first service. He didn’t hit the scoreboard when he rested forward so that’s something we can work on and have him push forward for the following weeks. I thought his ability to work around the ground and get on the spread and find some contested marks around the ground was important for him and our midfield. Our rucks certainly had a dominant display on the weekend.

Josh Watts

First game back for Wattsy after 8-9 months. It was great to see him back out on the paddock. He hurt himself early in the first quarter with a seized back. He fought through that for the remainder of the match until three quarter time where we didn’t take any more risks with him for the last quarter. It was too painful and too sore to be able to continue on. He probably spent all of his tickets in the first quarter with what he was doing with his run off half back but it was certainly great to have Josh in the team and providing some good leadership and run and experience around our back half. Hopefully with a week of recovery he’ll be back up and about and ready to go again.