BOXED IN by KC from Casey

[Demonland 64,513]

The Casey Scorpions' promising start to the 2013 is stalling. After winning the first four games of the season in impressive fashion and then coming close to ending Port Melbourne's long undefeated run of home wins, they crashed to earth at Casey Fields on Saturday.

Casey kicked the opening goal of the game against the Box Hill Hawks when Mitch Gent roved a pack and kicked truly, but then conceded two by way of frees in front of goal and, after that, were never allowed back into the game apart from a brief flutter early in the second term when Jake Best kicked truly to reduce the gap to two points.

The breeze that had been nothing more than a mere zephyr at the start of the game had stiffened by the start of the second term and this was to be of great significance for the contest. After Best's goal it was all one way traffic as the Hawks combined brilliantly and moved the ball with pinpoint accuracy as they ripped the Casey defence apart kicking eight unanswered goals in the space of less than twenty minutes to go to a 50 point lead before a Dominic Barry goal stemmed the flow a little.

To compound matters, Casey was extremely wasteful when its turn for the use of the wind came after half time. They kicked 3 goals 8 behinds in the third term, the inaccuracy snuffing out any hope of a major revival. The visitors cantered away in the final quarter to win by 60 points and delivered a crushing blow to Casey's prospects for the season.

With Melbourne's growing injury list and the Demons' policy of holding back two emergencies for their games, the Scorpions were down to just ten Demon listed players plus youngster Jesse Hogan who was quiet and restricted to just a single goal.

Cam Pedersen was a tower of strength all day and Tom Couch worked hard despite a tag while Jake Best and Mitch Gent were the best of the Casey listed players.

The Scorpions face another tough test under lights at Skilled Stadium on Friday night against ladder leaders Geelong who will be smarting after their first loss of the season at the weekend.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Dominic Barry 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 1 goal

Sam Blease 17 kicks 5 handballs 22 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles

Thomas Couch 15 kicks 15 handballs 30 disposals 2 marks 7 tackles 1 goal 1 behind

Jack Fitzpatrick 10 kicks 3 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 10 hit outs 1 goal 4 behinds

Thomas Gillies 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks

Jesse Hogan 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 4 hit outs 1 goal 1 behind

Joel Macdonald 11 kicks 7 handballs 18 disposals 4marks 1 tackle

Cameron Pedersen 13 kicks 9 handballs 22 disposals 10 marks 4 tackles

David Rodan 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 7 tackles

Jake Spencer 5 kicks 11 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 29 hit outs

Rory Taggert 10 kicks 1 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks

Casey Scorpions 2.2.14 4.3.27 7.11.53 9.12.66

Box Hill Hawks 3.4.22 12.8.80 13.9.87 19.12.126

Goals

Casey Scorpions Best 2 Barry Couch Fitzpatrick Fowler Gent Hogan Page

Box Hill Hawks Anderson Savage 3 Grimley Lock 2 Cassidy Frank Hallahan Iles Murphy Lowden Lawlor Wanganeen Wood

Best

Casey Scorpions Pedersen Couch Best Macdonald Spencer Nicholls

Box Hill Hawks Murphy Langford Ceglar Lock Hallahan Anderson

2013 AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 3.3.21 7.4.52 8.8.56

Box Hill Hawks 2.0 9.4 10.8 12.12.84

Goals

Casey Scorpions McInnes Smith 2 Pollard M Rosier Troutman Waters

Box Hill Hawks Cust 3 Johnson 2 Graham Harvey McDonald Miles Northe O'Donnell Post

Best

Casey Scorpions Riseley Corrigan Waters Smith Hill McInnes

Box Hill Hawks Post O'Donnell Cust Graham Eade Wilsen