A number of players put their hand up for a recall to the senior side in the WSU GIANTS’ blowout win over Redland on Saturday at Spotless Stadium.
NEAFL coach Brad Miller found it hard to pick his best players from a GIANTS side that featured 16 AFL listed players, but he took plenty of positives from the 26.18 (174) to 3.6 (24) victory.
“The most pleasing aspect was their selfless attitude,” Miller said.
“When you’re beating a team by a lot it’s easy for guys to put themselves before the team but I don’t think they did that at any stage.
“We probably had 10 to 13 guys put their hand up to be considered for senior selection and that’s really positive.”
Jack Steele, Rhys Palmer and Jacob Hopper did their chances no harm with all three playing a key role throughout the match. Steele collected 43 disposals and kicked two goals while Palmer had 40 touches, 12 inside 50s and 10 clearances.
In his second game back from injury, Hopper showed glimpses of the form that saw him receive a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in his AFL debut. He finished with 37 disposals, 12 clearances and also kicked two goals.
Jeremy Finlayson (30 disposals), Matt Buntine (33 disposals) and Nathan Wilson (29 disposals) all played their role in the backline, holding Redland to just one goal after halftime as the GIANTS booted 16 second half goals to push the final winning margin to 150.
Despite the margin, Brad Miller was still able to pick out areas that his side can work on heading into the finals.
“There were times when our decision making going forward let us down,” he said.
“We will work on that through the week, we just need to get a better connection between our midfielders and our forwards.”
The WSU GIANTS play host to the Brisbane Lions Reserves in a NEAFL curtain raiser at Spotless Stadium this Saturday, before a likely elimination final against Sydney University in the first week of the finals.