Two weeks ago it was Sam Mitchell. This week it was Adam Treloar. They are the big jobs Alan Richardson has handed Seb Ross across the first month of 2017 and they are two big jobs the emerging midfielder has taken and run with.

At Etihad Stadium on Easter Sunday, the 23-year-old went head-to-head with the Collingwood star and while Treloar still had an impact, Ross found 36 disposals of his own, 12 contested possessions, seven inside 50s and five clearances.

Richardson praised the young leader in his post-mortem and indicated that the signs were bright for the younger wave of midfielders coming through, after Jack Newnes (32 disposals) and Jack Billings (28 disposals) made a significant contribution in the absence of reigning best and fairest winner Jack Steven.

“It was really pleasing in the absence of Jack Steven and we didn’t have Dave last week to see Seb Ross play such a strong game,” Richardson said in his press conference following the 14-point win on Sunday night.

“He’s been able to go to the oppositions best and work off them for most of this year and I thought he was really positive today.

“Dunstan had moments, I thought Newnes was really positive for us; I thought Jack Billings played a really strong game in terms of both midfield and forward.

“It’s good to see this next generation of midfield start to really have an influence on a game as opposed to it just being Dave or just being ‘Joey’ or just being Jack Steven. We think they are heading the right way.”

Richardson said he expects Steven to return against Geelong next Sunday after the star midfielder missed his second game with the punctured lung he suffered in the loss to West Coast in Round 2.

“We expect him to play. He was nice and grumpy when he was ruled out by the doctors so we’d expect him to come in and play. It will be good to have him back,” he said.

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