Thompson was best on ground against Essendon with 19.5 points. He took seven intercept marks and was credited with 14 intercepts in total, six of which led to North Melbourne scores. Of his 24 disposals, 21 were effective. Thompson also tallied seven inside 50s and gave two score assists.

Baguley had a career-best game of 17.4 points and was Essendon’s second-best player behind Brendon Goddard. Of his 20 disposals, 19 were effective. He was also credited with 11 contested possessions, nine intercepts and five spoils. He also laid a game-high three tackles in his defensive 50.




Joel Selwood (Geelong)
The Cats' skipper tallied three goals, three score assists, 16 contested possessions and six tackles in his team's loss to Hawthorn. His effort equated to a game-high player ratings score of 27 points.




Lewis Jetta (Sydney Swans)
Jetta had 756 metres gained in the Swans' win over Fremantle, which was 140m more than anyone else on the ground. He also had seven inside-50s, one score assist and kicked a goal. Jetta currently sits at 128th overall. That is 100 places off his career-high of 28th overall, which he achieved near the end of 2013.


Jake Neade (Port Adelaide)
Neade had the best game of his career with 22.1 points. He was involved in nine scores against the Tigers, including two assists and three goals straight. His three shots at goal were all from outside 30m and had expected accuracies of 80 per cent, 65 per cent and 35 per cent.


The Freo veteran was the highest-scoring player for the round with 28.7 points, which was his third-best score since the player ratings began in 2010. He finished the game with four goals and one score assist. Pavlich currently sits at 121st overall – 11th of key forwards – but he peaked at 30th overall earlier in his career.



Pyke was the highest-scoring ruckman of the round with 17.0 points – the third-best player ratings score of his career. He won 10 contested possessions and also kicked a goal, had three spoils and five intercepts.

Ben Brown (North Melbourne)
Brown was the second-highest-scoring first-year player on the opening weekend of the finals with 11.5 points. He kicked four goals, including three in the space of eight minutes to get North Melbourne back in contention against Essendon.