Several Kangaroos have put their hands up for a place in the North Melbourne side with strong performances for Werribee.
In windy conditions at Craigieburn, Nick Larkey kicked three goals, while Aaron Mullett and Jed Anderson found plenty of the ball.
Larkey’s three goals came in windy conditions not suited for a key-forward.
“It was impressive because he was able to get his looks in different ways, which for a big bloke is an important thing,” Development Manager Ben Dyer explained.
“He’s really good at ground level with some nice lateral movement at times. There was one real special goal where he sidestepped a couple and snapped from a distance.”
In the midfield, Anderson (24 disposals) continued his comeback from injury by completing another full game.
“He’s come back and been really clean in the last couple of weeks,” Development Coach David Loader said.
“He’s looked aggressive around the footy and looked to take the ball forward at every opportunity.
“It was another really solid performance from him, and he’s working on his endurance side of the game because he’s been out, just to get his body up to speed.”
Mullett was equally as impressive in the back half.
“I thought he was our best defender,” Senior Development Coach Gavin Brown said of his performance.
“He’s had 29 (disposals), used it really well by foot and ran off half-back exceptionally well. He gave us real run and drive which is one of his real strengths.”
Also down back, Ed Vickers-Willis caught the eye with his efforts in the contest.
“He mixed and matched, so he played a little bit tall and a bit of small and medium,” Brown said.
“He came forward really strongly, tackled aggressively, won the ball in the contest well and used it well.”
Majak Daw is one player in line for a recall to replace the injured Jarrad Waite, and he did his chances no harm.
“He was able to present well, took a few good contested marks and was able to get a bit of time in the ruck with Preussy [Braydon Preuss] playing in the AFL game,” Dyer said.
“It was good to see him timing his jumps and taking it at the highest point.”
Taylor Garner completed his second full game on his comeback from injury, able to run out the game well.
“He had a really solid work rate,” Dyer said.
“He was able to give an overlap number through his work rate sometimes.
“When it looked like ‘how are we going to get out here?’, he was able to run and provide, so that was a real feature of his game.
“He’s tracking well conditioning wise and building his fitness. He’s had two full games now so he wouldn’t be too far off.”
Werribee’s last practice match is on April 8, before starting its VFL season on April 16 against Geelong in Torquay.
North players in action
- Jed Anderson (24 disposals)
- Majak Daw (12 disposals)
- Sam Durdin (9 disposals)
- Will Fordham (21 disposals)
- Taylor Garner (18 disposals)
- Nick Larkey (10 disposals)
- Aaron Mullett (29 disposals)
- Ben McKay (6 disposals)
- Daniel Nielson (8 disposals)
- Matt Taylor (7 disposals)
- Ed Vickers-Willis (15 disposals)
- Declan Watson (12 disposals)
- Josh Williams (14 disposals)
- Corey Wagner (26 disposals)
- Cam Zurhaar (16 disposals)
