Xavier O’Halloran is thriving as captain of the Western Jets.
O’Halloran produced yet another best-on-ground performance for the Jets in a 32-point win over Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup at Trevor Barker Oval on Saturday.
The 17-year-old midfielder showed his full bag of tricks, collecting 25 possessions, 10 tackles and capping his game with a goal.
Jets coach Torin Baker described O’Halloran’s start to the season as “outstanding”.
“He’s a strong leader and he’s playing good all-round footy at the moment,” Baker said. “Not only has he been a good clearance player, but he’s been really damaging with the ball.
“He’s a great pressure player and also provides that run and carry.”
O’Halloran has not been burdened by the added responsibility of the captaincy. In fact, you could say he is relishing the chance to lead the Jets.
“He played a lot of footy with us as a bottom-ager last year, but he’s taken his game to another level, there’s no doubt about that in terms of what he’s shown early in the season,” Baker said. “He’s got a strong work ethic, whether it’s at training or in games, he’s our best GPS runner and he’s a super citizen off the field.”
Western Jets smashed Sandringham. It was O’Halloran and Jaden Rice who did most of the damage. Rice is another player who has taken another step in his game this season.
“He’s been another consistent performer for us and his form has even been building as the weeks go by,” Baker said. “We’ve had really good strength around the ball, whether it’s our clearance numbers or our contested possession, and it’s largely due to them.”
Despite the Western Jets domination in the middle and their 62 forward entries to 29, Baker was not overly happy with his team’s display forward of centre.
Acknowledging that the Jets got the Dragons on a good day when the hosts had a number of its private school players out, Baker felt as though his side did not take full advantage.
“It’s not like we got them at full strength,” Baker said. “There was some strong foundations in our game with our pressure and our contested ball and our clearance work … but we probably just didn’t execute the way we’d like to.”
Steve Kyriazis was the most dangerous in the Western Jets attack. The mid-sized forward attacked the ball with vigour and used his smarts to good effect, finishing with two goals.
“He’s just a crafty player, he’s able to sidestep players, take a contested mark or snap one over his shoulder,” Baker said
Western Jets are sixth on the ladder.
