ALL THAT GLITTERS ... by KC from Casey

[Demonland 65,569]

The Casey Scorpions had no trouble in disposing of the winless Bendigo Gold by a massive 129 points at Casey Fields on Saturday but the glitter of the victory was somewhat overshadowed by a shock injury to Demon youngster Jesse Hogan who suffered a hyperextension to his knee early in the game.

Hogan left the ground for scans with Casey general manager Matthew Young saying that "it's pretty disappointing but we're hoping that it's only a minor injury," and a Melbourne spokesman later expressing optimism that the young forward who has kicked 39 goals for the season to date, had managed to avoid major damage.

The Scorpions opened brightly kicking against a strong northerly breeze and the seeds of their domination over the Gold were set early. Beanpole ruckman Max Gawn dominated the hit outs, James Magner and Jimmy Toumpas were in control in the middle, David Rodan was leading Bendigo a merry dance and Jake Best and Rory Taggert were finishing things off with goals. The latter duo each had two goals by the time the opening stanza was barely halfway through (Rodan had the other after running from a wing and bouncing four times, a feat he later produced with one more bounce).

The five goal blitz against the wind would prove enough to win the game but there was to be a lot more to come although the second quarter was disappointing.

Bendigo had almost the entire team behind the ball and for large patches of the quarter, all 36 players on the ground were in Casey's half making it a poor spectacle for the small crowd on hand to witness the game. This made little difference to Magner who amassed an amazing 29 touches to half time as the team waltzed to a 35 point half time lead.

The second half was a complete whitewash with Bendigo failing to score a goal and Casey adding five against the wind and ten with it to finish off the game (making it 19 final quarter goals in its last two matches) with a massive percentage booster.

Gawn, who was already playing well, took control of the game with a sensational purple patch in the third quarter kicking two goals and having a hand in a couple of others as he dominated proceedings against shorter opponents. He finished the game off with a massive 59 hitouts, 27 disposals, 14 marks and three goals.

Despite suffering a knock in the third term, Magner also provided a statistical highlight with an outstanding 51 touches. He was ably assisted by Toumpas who underlined his enormous potential with 32 classy disposals while Mitch Gent and Dan Nicholson finished with 30 each.

Taggert and Best both kicked five apiece and Joel Macdonald, who announced his retirement last week, capped off his career with a fine display in defence and a couple of nice goals when he went forward at the end. He left the ground chaired off by his teammates and to the well deserved rousing applause of the crowd.

It was Casey's last home and away game for the year at Casey Fields but a win against the Box Hill Hawks next Sunday should guarantee at least a home final in the qualifying final round in a fortnight's time.

Casey Scorpions 5.0.30 8.3.51 13.6.84 23.11.149

Bendigo Gold 1.4.10 2.4.16 2.7.19 2.8.20

Goals

Casey Scorpions Best Taggert 5 Gawn Rodan 3 Gent Macdonald 2 Bail Page Smith

Bendigo Gold McInnes Toman

Best

Casey Scorpions Magner Gawn Rodan Toumpas Macdonald Best

Bendigo Gold Magin Aarts Heavyside Stroobants Kelm Beck

Stats: Magner 51 Toumpas 32 Gent Nicholson 30

VFL Player Review - Round 18.

The Development League game was there to be won with Casey kicking with the aid of the wind in the last quarter. They scored 1.6.12 to 2.0.12 and lost by 5 points.

CaseyScorpions 2.1.13 5.5.35 5.6.36 6.12.48

PortMelbourne 1.2.8 3.3.21 5.11.41 7.11.53

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fowler Hughes 2 Pollard Riseley

Port Melbourne Johnston 2 McTaggart Muling Pitt Thornton Whelan

Best

Casey Scorpion Lindsay Pollard Troutman Waters P Rosier Riseley

Port Melbourne Burstin Muling Papaleo Gordon Hammond Smith

[dpositive 1,547]

Thanks again KC for this report and your blow by blow account

It must have been pleasing tapping out all those goals for a change.

Magner and Toumpas seem to offer games of contrast amazing that it seems so succesful at Casey but can't be even tried at AFL level.

Hope the side is allowed to play with its strongest side all season through the finals.

A good experience for the players to get some confidence and hopefully taste flag victory.