YOUNG midfielder Jesse Crichton is steadily building form at Peel Thunder in his first WAFL season and showing signs that he could make his Fremantle debut before the year is out.

Crichton, pick No.48 at last year’s NAB AFL Draft, has impressed this season with his work-rate, pace and defensive focus and he was rewarded with this week’s WAFL player of the round award.   

The young Tasmanian won 23 possessions and kicked two goals for Peel, despite his side being on the end of an 86-point drubbing.

Dylan Roberton was impressive across half-back for East Perth, while Tim Ruffles continued his push for senior football with a versatile performance for the Demons.  

Ahead of this week’s fixtures, senior development coach Simon Lloyd shared his WAFL notes with fremantlefc.com.au. 

East Perth 25.12 (162) d Peel Thunder 12.4 (76)
Hamish Shepheard
Hamish played centre-half forward until the last quarter when he was moved to centre half-back. He played the lead-up role and continually created space for the forwards behind him, and he got involved in a number of contests once he was moved to the backline. He’s got a fair attack on the contest, so we’re just working on his starting positions and leading patterns.    

Dylan Roberton
Dylan played a pretty good game deep in defence and found himself free a couple of times. His run was very good and he provided an option. His possessions for the most part were positive and he won a couple of contested marking situations. There are some real highlights in his game, particularly when he runs off half-back, and he was a very effective player for East Perth.

Jesse Crichton
Jesse played wing most of the day, although his starting point for centre bounces was the backline. He linked up a lot in play off half-back and his work-rate was terrific, always following up after a disposal. His change of speed is AFL-like and he kicked two goals. He played a very good game in a beaten side and kept trying all day.

Swan Districts 17.19 (121) d Subiaco 11.10 (76)
Clayton Hinkley
Clayton played on a wing opposed to Shaun Hildebrandt, who had a fair bit of the footy. Clayton did push back deep into defence to get the ball and generally used it well. He kicked a good goal on the run and we’d like him to continue playing a creative, offensive game.

Clancee Pearce
Clancee started at half-back on Reece Blechynden before moving onto Phil Read and then Adam Cockie. It was a solid game for Clancee, he worked hard all day and finished with 24 possessions. He constantly switched the play, showed good run to win the footy, hit some long targets and ran back hard defensively.

Michael Walters
Michael rotated between half-forward and on-ball and overall had an okay game, without having a huge impact. A number of times he managed to get behind his opponent in dangerous spots and was smart with his leading for most of the day. He showed good smarts and anticipation playing up forward

South Fremantle 17.19 (121) d Perth 10.5 (65)
Ryan Murphy
Ryan had a good start to the game, getting on the end of a few passes. He played full-forward all day but worked very high, which is what we wanted him to do. He was a strong target and took six marks, finishing with 3.3. He made some good second efforts at ground level and continued to show improvements in his forward pressure.

Casey Sibosado
Casey played mainly down back on Callum Wilson and went forward for 15 minutes in the last quarter and did a good job. He used the ball very well, was clean, made good decisions, and made a very good kick back into the corridor, which is what we look for. He was caught out a couple of times on the lead where he’d just dropped off his man, but he’s going well.

Tim Ruffles
Tim played on a wing and at half-forward and then spent the second half at half-back. He played a lot of different positions and kicked a very good goal from 60m out with a strong breeze behind him. He did some really good things and some of his kicks inside 50m were very good.

Justin Bollenhagen
Justin played mainly forward where he kicked two goals. He showed his evasive skills and pace at times and he also went in and got his own football, which is what we’ve got him focusing on. He laid a good tackle in the forward line and kicked a goal from it, which was a real positive.

Joel Houghton
Joel wasn’t as good as he was last week in his league debut, but he still kicked 3.1 and showed some very good leading patterns. He was able to follow up after dropping some marks and win a free kick and laid some nice tackles. He missed an easy shot in front of goal, but set shots are one of his strengths. Between now and the end of the year he should end up kicking a bag at some stage.

West Perth 19.13 (127) d East Fremantle 13.15 (93)
Ben Bucovaz
Ben’s been going along well, but he had a quieter day compared to last week, with his work-rate not where it’s been. He kicked a good goal early, but it wasn’t where he’d want his game to be at. Both teams played strong defensive zones, so he was leading up into a fair bit of traffic.

Chris Hall
Chris played mainly on the wing and half-forward and we asked him to run and carry and break the lines, which he did well in a couple of passages. That’s something he’s been working on, so it was good to see that coming through. He kicked a really good snap goal from the pocket as well, which showed a bit of class.
Steven Dodd
Steven played in defence on both talls and smalls, having a solid game defensively. He didn’t run off as much as he has in the past, but West Perth made sure he was accountable for his direct opponent, limiting his opportunities to create. He used the ball pretty well and made the right decisions.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.