Bradley spent most of the game against Carlton at centre half back while Thomas played deep in defence. They both know they have improvement to make but Lloyd was impressed with the endeavour of both players.
""Early in the game Kepler backed into a pack, took a mark and got cleaned up by (Brendan) Fevola and that took a fair bit of courage,"" he said. ""Paul (Thomas) just worked hard all night and his endeavour will ensure he plays a lot of senior football this year if he keeps improving.""
""And these players will only improve with more experience around them and that improvement can be quite dramatic. You only have to look at what Adam McPhee did last year across half-back bouncing off the likes of Sean Wellman and Dustin Fletcher. Hopefully some of these blokes can take similar strides.""
Lloyd said a number of the senior player had commented on the attitude of 22-year-old Paul Thomas. Thomas, a former Adelaide rookie, has missed being picked up at five drafts but he is determined to make the most of this opportunity.
""His preparation and attitude at training has been first rate,"" Lloyd said. ""Sometimes players can arrive at a club and think they have made it but you can tell he won’t be satisfied unless he plays a lot of senior football. He was really good in the heat of battle on the weekend when our defence was under pressure. He turned the ball over once or twice but he will be much better for the experience.""
""Kepler will eventually hold down a key position for us and he did well on Sunday because he hasn’t played in that position a lot,"" Lloyd said. ""He is getting there physically and doing all the right things to play senior football.""
Lloyd is now fully recovered from a bruised calf and it is now just a matter of when the match-committee feel the time is right time to cut him loose. Essendon travels to Morwell this weekend to take on Richmond.
