Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Unheralded: The players who deserve more credit for Round 8
Andrew Slevison, Lachlan Geleit & Jaiden Sciberras • May 5th, 2025 7:39 pm
We always know who the stars are in a particular game.
But what about those who played a pivotal defensive role or were influential without stuffing the stat sheet? They may have had an important assignment or have simply just flown under the radar.
These players might be spoken about amongst the supporters of their clubs, but not discussed as widely around the competition.
Below are the players we believe deserve more credit for their Round 8 performances.
Career-best Powell
Tom Powell is putting together a nice little season.
Much of the North Melbourne talk usually centres around the likes of Harry Sheezel, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jy Simpkin and Nick Larkey, but Powell must be singled out for his showing against Essendon.
In Thursday night’s narrow defeat to the Dons, Powell went about his business in an unflinching manner to finish with 28 disposals, an equal game-high nine tackles, a team-high seven inside 50s and six clearances.
Powell’s was a solid shift which hasn’t been spoken about much - the perfect unheralded candidate.
The 23-year-old is compiling his best season to date, averaging career-highs for disposals (23.4), tackles (5.2) and clearances (4.6).
Miserly Dog
James O’Donnell did a very good job in keeping Port Adelaide’s Mitch Georgiades under wraps in the Bulldogs’ dominant win in Ballarat.
Georgiades entered the contest in hot form having booted 17 goals and taken 43 marks in his previous six outings.
When the Power were up and about early, Georgiades had six touches in the opening term before he was blanketed to finish with just 11. He touched the ball just three times in the second half.
The two marks Georgiades took is his lowest tally since Round 11 last year, and that’s due to O’Donnell’s defensive efforts.
The Dogs defender made life very difficult for the in-form Port forward while cutting everything off with eight intercept possessions.
Pencil him in
Henry Hustwaite has slotted seamlessly into Hawthorn’s midfield.
With Will Day going down for a majority of the season, Sam Mitchell has put his faith in the club’s young crop to fill midfield minutes in his absence.
Hustwaite has grabbed at his opportunity with both hands since his call-up, collecting 19 disposals at 84 per cent efficiency, to go with eight tackles and five clearances in the engine room alongside the usual suspects in Jai Newcombe and James Worpel.
Across his two games, the 20-year-old has managed 21.5 disposals, four clearances and five tackles a game, proving a classy addition to Mitchell’s midfield.
Josh Ward and Finn Maginness also played very well in the middle of the park, showing signs of an elite young crop of potential top-quality midfielders.
With rumours surrounding a Worpel exit come season’s end, Hawks fans can expect plenty more of 'The Pencil' in their future.
Payne-ful watch
Jack Payne’s performance against the Suns flew entirely under the radar.
Working in tandem with All-Australian Harris Andrews, Payne held the Coleman Medal leader to practically zero involvement.
Two disposals, one mark and one goal in over 90 per cent game time for Ben King, Jack Payne’s involvement in keeping the league’s most in-form forward as silent as ever should not be understated.
11 one-percenters, three tackles and six marks without giving away a single free-kick, Payne was vital in the Lions’ Q-Clash win.
The Lions defence as a whole deserves credit, holding one of the competition's highest scoring teams to just 49 points. While the weather played a major role in the low-scoring affair, the effort in the back half was top-notch.
Disco dances after forward switch
Daniel Turner had easily the best game of his career against the Eagles on Saturday night.
The key tall was flipped forward in the second half after Harrison Petty went out of the game with concussion and immediately impacted, kicking three goals.
While he kicked four goals in a game in Round 23 last season against Gold Coast, his 19 disposals also smashed his previous career-high of 13.
He also enjoyed a player rating of 24.0, easily the highest of his career. He was also the fourth-ranked player of the entire round behind only Ed Richards, Chad Warner and Max Gawn.
Could he be Melbourne’s answer inside 50? Or was this another example of a player filling their boots against the Eagles?
Time will tell, but there’s no doubt he still deserves a shoutout.
Versatile Cat does another job
Geelong could have been in trouble once Rhys Stanley went down with a hamstring injury in the first quarter.
Luckily for the Cats and Chris Scott, they have the league’s best Mr. Fix It of the last decade in their line-up, Mark Blicavs.
While his opponent Darcy Cameron was brilliant, Blicavs’ efforts helped ensure the Cats broke even on-ball and he’d be pleased with his one goal, nine disposals and 20 hitouts.
If Stanley went down and the Cats had to look elsewhere for a ruck replacement such as Shannon Neale, that could have swung the game well in Collingwood’s favour.
Instead, they didn’t lose much thanks to Blicavs’ ability to slot in anywhere his coach needs him.
