In a game played between the arcs for much of the night, Gold Coast rebounding defender Kade Kolodjashnij steered the ship for the SUNS from behind centre. He gathered 27 possessions, eight marks, seven rebound 50s and three inside 50s, as well as gaining 522 metres on Saturday night. In the absence of Nick Malceski, the Tasmanian has performed the quarterback role with aplomb, despite the difficult circumstances of the last couple of months.
Tom Nicholls registered another scalp in Saturday night, this time in Sydney’s Mike Pyke. The SUNS ruckman did his work around the ground, particularly deep in defence in the second half where he plucked a couple of telling intercept marks. Nicholls finished the night with 22 hitouts, an equal career-high 18 possessions, six marks and six clearances to continue his rich vein of form.
For the second week running, versatile big man Tom Lynch spent large patches of the game in defence with Rodney Eade sending his key forward down back to help quell the influence of opposition spearheads. Lynch took the majority of his ten grabs behind the ball, and also accumulated 17 possessions at 82.4 per cent and five rebound 50s. Whilst Lynch does his best work in attack, he has demonstrated in the last fortnight how damaging he can be at both ends of the ground.
Inside specialist Mitch Hallahan rounded out a strong month with another consistent performance against the Swans. The former Hawthorn midfielder collected 22 possessions, 15 contested and eight clearances to once again do his damage around the stoppages. His synergy with Nicholls around the ball continues to grow by the week, with the pair starting to build a formidable partnership.
In difficult circumstances at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night, midfielder-cum-defender Jesse Lonergan produced the finest performance since he’s been sent down back, and maybe even the best effort of his career to date. The Tasmanian finished with a career-high possession count of 23, 12 contested disposals, six marks and five tackles.
Who was your best player in round ten?
After nine rounds, Michael Rischitelli continues to lead the Fans Player of the Year award on 168 votes, injured ball-magnet Dion Prestia is in second place on 114 votes, with Adam Saad in third on 110 votes.
