Amid the disappointment of Saturday’s loss to Port Adelaide, two young Lions stood out in their performances against more seasoned opponents: Ben Keays in his 19th AFL game and draftee Jarrod Berry in just his 4th.

Berry was given a run-with-role on Power midfielder Brad Ebert and Keays went head-to-head with former Lion Jared Polec on the wing.

Assistant Coach Danny Daly said it was important that the Club’s younger players played on good opposition in order to learn.

“One thing with young players is it’s always good to get them to play on the best players in the competition and learn what it’s like in terms of work rate and how they go about it,” said Daly.

“We got Berry to go to (Brad) Ebert who’s been in terrific form this year. The first quarter Ebert had nine possessions but to Bezza’s credit he fought back and he (Ebert) only had 25 for the rest of the game.

“It’s great for a younger player like Jarrod Berry to be able to play on these players, see what they do around stoppages, see their work rate in terms of their spread and how they work to get the footy and work to defend.”

Keays shared honours with Polec in their battle.

“It was valuable learning for Keaysy who for the last two weeks has had a role,” said Daly.

“He played on Lachie Hunter against the Doggies and then on the weekend Polec against Port Adelaide.

“It’s a great learning experience and down the track it will help them valuably in terms of them becoming good midfielders for us, but more importantly they did a great job for us on the weekend.”