Banner, band of youngsters standing up

SOUTH Fremantle's 2013 season might not have quite gone to plan but there have been plenty of encouraging signs and among them has been the outstanding form of recruit Mitch Banner, and the development of a band of youngsters led by Jacob Martinez and Tim Kelly.

South Fremantle might have won just the two games this season heading into this Saturday's clash with the second-placed West Perth at Arena Joondalup, but without doubt there are exciting signs for the future with the group that is coming through under coach Paul Hasleby.

Youngsters like Martinez, Kelly, Haiden Schloithe, Mitch Carter, Nick Borovac, Adam Carter, Sam Lowrie, Jason Maskos, Justin Monaco, Shannon Burnett, Brendan Verrier, Tom Vandeleur, Zac Strom and Kaiden Matera are among the young players to have shown exciting signs for the future.

Then there is one of the recruits this season Banner who came from Port Adelaide in the AFL where the hard-running midfielder played 19 matches.

The 23-year-old has had an outstanding season for the Bulldogs as a damaging, goal kicking and prolific ball-winning on-baller and is the club's leading possession gatherer and goal kicker.

Banner is averaging 26.3 possessions a game this season with a high of 35 against Swan Districts in Round 14 and never picking up less than his 17 disposals against West Perth under lights at Fremantle Oval in Round 4.

Banner has also gone forward to kick 24 goals for the season including bags of three on three occasions, and two in seven other matches this season.

Hasleby knows that Banner still has some work to do on the defensive side of his game, but couldn’t be more impressed with what he has been able to bring to South Fremantle in an attacking sense this season.

"His work rate is phenomenal and he gets himself into good spots to receive the ball, and he's an elite decision-maker and disposer of the ball. To kick 24 goals up to this point of the season is outstanding," Hasleby said.

"There are areas that he needs to work on and he's aware of that with his defensive game, but you do need those guys who can finish really well in your team.

"Offensively there's no doubt he is good enough to be an AFL player, but he knows that the area that cost him at Port Adelaide was his defence and we've seen improvement throughout the year in that area, which has been pleasing but he can still go to another level.

"When he does that, no doubt clubs will look at him again."

Martinez is one young midfielder who has cemented himself as a permanent on-baller in the league side largely because of his enormous defensive capacities.

He is the Bulldogs' leading tackler and Hasleby has been giving him big jobs on the opposition's key midfielders, but Martinez is also showing that he can win his own ball averaging over 17 possessions a game.

Kelly has also now played the last six games for South Fremantle averaging almost 18 possessions while Verrier, Matera and Strom are among the youngsters to receive opportunities in recent weeks.

"Jacob has been in the system for two years now and he is one of the hardest midfielders going around defensively. I've given him tagging roles and he's done that for me most weeks," he said.

"Tim Kelly has been sensational and his ability to pick up a ball below his knees is as good as I've ever seen, and around clearances he is going to be an outstanding player whether with us or at the next level.

"'Freshy' Verrier has come in and shown that he can play league footy. He certainly knows how to get the ball so there has been encouraging signs from him. Matera and Strom came in for their first games against Claremont and it's tough against the best team in the competition, but they will learn from that."

South Fremantle's last two games prior to the bye were good performances with narrow losses against top-four teams Claremont and Perth.

While they were good performances and showed good signs, Hasleby knows his team now must take the next step and start winning games like that where they are in winning positions during the final quarter.

"It's the story of the year. When we apply the right pressure and put our best foot forward we're not that far away from the top teams in the comp," Hasleby said.

"To do it two weeks in-a-row was pleasing in that sense, but they are the games going forward that we need to start to win if we are going to be a successful side in the future. We need to get consistency of effort.

"In both of those games, we did it for three quarters but we need to do it for all four. To be 34 points down against Claremont at half-time was disappointing because we weren’t playing the style that we wanted to, but as I said to the guys after the game, most 2-10 sides would juts chuck it in when 34 points down against the top side in the competition."

By Chris Pike