North Launceston product Tarryn Thomas continues to reach new heights as an evolving AFL player.
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Relishing his fresh role in North Melbourne's midfield, the 21-year-old notched up career-high figures in disposals, clearances and goal assists in Sunday's 29-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.
His haul of 24 disposals, eight clearances and three goal assists saw him named in the Kangaroos' best and earned him praise from coach and fellow Tasmanian David Noble.
"He's learning how not to drop out of games completely, there's some effort we're seeing in his game pretty consistently," Noble said.
"I thought he was able to stay in the game in the first half with some pretty good defensive run, he ended up with five centre-bounce clearances so he's becoming a pretty integral part in that area.
"I thought Jy Simpkin was fantastic, 'LDU' (Luke Davies-Uniacke), I thought Luke's game was really solid and you throw Tarryn and Ben (McKay) into that, that middle-tier group has been really impressive in the last month.
"I wouldn't necessarily say they're leading the way but their level of consistency is a new height for us."
After a slow start in the first half, with only six disposals to his name, Thomas more than doubled his output in the third before amassing 11 touches in the last, proving Noble's point.
The efforts marked the third time this season that the two-time State League premier had eclipsed his career-high in disposals.
Coming into the 2021 season, Thomas' 19-disposal effort against Carlton in his fifth match was his strongest, but this year he's put together showings of 20, 21 and now 24 to show his development at AFL level.
Another Tasmanian whose development is coming along swimmingly at the Kangaroos is North Hobart's Patrick Walker, with his VFL body of work also drawing credit from Noble.
The defender, who turns 19 this week, was selected with pick two of the 2020 rookie draft and collected 20 disposals and six marks as the Kangaroos' three-game VFL winning streak was snapped.
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
