A four-goal haul from Jake Riccardi has lifted the GIANTS to their third win of the VFL season, defeating Port Melbourne by two-points at ETU Stadium.

Riccardi was the stand-out performer for the GIANTS, who held on to claim a 10.11 (71) to 11.7 (73) win.

Wade Derksen continued his strong VFL form, registering 27 disposals playing in the ruck. Josh Fahey (20 disposals, one goal) and Cameron Fleeton (24 disposals) are also pushing for senior selection.

GIANTS VFL coach Wayne Cripps credited the win to his side’s work rate throughout the contest.

“Our effort and willingness to work from contest to contest was a focus area all week,” Cripps said. 

“We thought if we did that, we were a chance and we did that really well for all four quarters.”

AFL Listed Players: 

24. Harry Rowston 

12 disposals, 2 marks

Awesome effort to back up after featuring in the Sydney Derby on Saturday afternoon. He’s that point of difference for us inside, he’s a contested beast. He really helped us minimise the impact of their really dominant ruckman.

26. Jake Riccardi

19 disposals, 4 goals 

They struggled to match up on him. He was a really strong presence forward and ended up kicking a bag of four. He took some big marks in some big moments and converted well.

29. Cameron Fleeton

24 disposals, 5 tackles 

I thought it was his best game of the year. He was our only AFL-listed defender, so he was surrounded by a lot of young VFL players, but I thought he showed great leadership all afternoon. His willingness to keep getting involved offensively is improving every week.

31. Toby McMullin

11 disposals, 2 marks

Another new role for Toby this week, starting in the midfield. Once again for his own development it’s just learning that midfield craft, but when he gets the ball in hand, he does good things with it.

34.  Josh Fahey

20 disposals, 1 goal

We gave him a new role on the wing this week and I thought he did a really good job from a system and structure point of view. He obviously gave us some great drive into our forward half with his lethal left foot.

35. Max Gruzewski

2 goals, 4 marks

The numbers might not suggest it, but he just gives us a great target up forward. He competes every single time and very rarely gets out marked. He’s another one who took some big marks and was able to convert from them.

45. Wade Derksen

27 disposals, 9 marks

Once again really good. He had to play ruck this week and lined-up against an ex-AFL ruckman in Sam Naismith. His work around the ground and defensive marking was first class. He had a lot of the ball and was almost like an extra midfielder for us throughout the afternoon.

VFL Listed Players Stats:  

Coaches Call Out: Jakob Anderson

It was by far the best game Jakob’s played for us so far. Just the way he’s able to come off his direct opponent and intercept mark across half back is crucial. He had a really good balance between his offensive and defensive work, and I think that’s the standard we can come to expect of him.

Jakob Anderson in action for the GIANTS.

47. Ryan Hebron (c)

5 disposals, 3 marks

48. Jaelen Pavlidis

10 disposals, 4 tackles

49. Mitch Ryan

16 disposals, 4 marks

50. Darcy Edmends

18 disposals, 5 marks

51. Jakob Anderson

21 disposals, 8 marks

52. Barry O’Connor

16 disposals, 4 tackles 

53. Tom McCaffrey 

13 disposals, 2 goals 

54. James Creighton

9 disposals, 3 tackles

55. Will Shaw

12 disposals, 5 marks

56. Billy Clark

11 disposals, 1 goal

57. Mitchell Conn

10 disposals, 1 goal

58. Andrew Mathieson

13 disposals, 3 marks

59. Brodie Romensky

6 disposals, 3 tackles

61. Brad Rauter

3 disposals

63. Ronald Fejo

8 disposals, 3 tackles

66. Will Sabolch

2 disposals