VFL Senior Coach Leigh Tudor assesses the performances of our AFL-listed Bombers from the loss to the Blues.

Nick Bryan

25 disposals, 31 hit-outs, nine marks, seven clearances, one goal

The contested marking was really important for the way Nick is growing as a footballer. He’s really working hard on getting in the right positions as a ruckman to help on the attack, and even got forward himself to kick a goal for us this week. He took some strong marks in the backline, and again his rucking was enormous for us, so he’s playing some really good footy currently.

Alwyn Davey Jnr

16 disposals, 10 contested possessions, nine tackles

Alwyn’s played predominantly in the midfield (over the last two games), so it’s really good to see him learning some new patterns. I liked his defensive pressure, he really enjoys the tackling and when the ball was in close, he showed he was really good around the contest for a young fella against some bigger bodies. A really good game for his development going forward.

Jaiden Hunter

12 disposals, nine marks, four goals

Jaiden presented well to the ball-carrier and the timing for his leads were really good, he took some strong marks in big contests. He also showed what a smart footballer he is when he didn’t win the contest, getting back to goal and showing good understanding of where the space is as a forward. He got good value out of it with four goals, so there was a lot to like about his game.

Elijah Tsatas

25 disposals, seven clearances

We played ‘Lij’ predominantly on the wing this week, with a bit of inside stuff in the midfield as well. He got a fair bit of the ball and was under pressure a lot, so he had to really think his way through some situations against a good Carlton midfield. He had a nice mix of winning his own ball but knew when to get it on the outside as well, so it’s been a good start for him in his first two weeks back.

Kaine Baldwin

20 disposals, six marks

Kaine was fantastic for us again. He’s been such a solid defender down there taking intercepts, rebounding out of defensive 50, beating his man one-on-one and helping our other defenders in the air. I thought Kaine was definitely one of our better players on the day.

Pat Voss

13 disposals, seven tackles, three marks

‘Vossy’ presented pretty well, but I really liked his game on the turnover. When Carlton looked to exit, he put enormous pressure on, and we got quite a few turnovers in the forward half on account of his tackling. Even when it wasn’t quite working for him when we had the ball, he never gave up, and that showed with his defence actually creating scoring opportunities for us.

Nik Cox

15 disposals, three tackles

‘Coxy’ was used as an inside mid again this week, with a decent mix of contested and uncontested work. He’s obviously learning a new role and the patterns of where to run on attack and defence, and he had a couple more tackles which we really liked. It was a good learning game for him in a new position, and we’re just really happy to see him out there playing full games again.

Alastair Lord

17 disposals, two marks

‘Lordy’ had some big moments in this game. At one point we had to put him back on one of Carlton’s more dangerous medium forwards, and I thought he did a great job. He read the play and put himself in some tough situations where he had to dig in, so it was a game where he saved us quite a bit with some crucial one-on-one wins.

Lewis Hayes

14 disposals, eight kicks

I thought it was a really good effort from ‘Hayesy’ to even get through the game, given how crook he’d been throughout the week. We tried to rotate him and get him some breathers, but I loved the grit he showed under duress, giving it his all for us out there.

Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti

11 disposals, four clearances, four inside 50’s

‘Walla’ had a mix of forward and inside mid play, and he looked really classy with his opportunities. We know he’s a good decision-maker, and he set us up quite a few times with ball in hand, also laying some big tackles for us which has been important over the last few weeks.

Cian McBride

Six disposals, three marks, four hit-outs, two clearances

Cian played key back and did a little bit of work for us in the ruck as well, which I really like because it shows his competitiveness. He was often going against taller opponents, but provided some really good contests, so seeing his versatility start to shine through is a big positive.

Image: Mallia Shots.