WHITE HOT by KC from Casey

It It was a case of all smiles at Casey Fields on Saturday when the Scorpions broke through for their first home win of the season with a seven goal victory over the Northern Blues. The club recorded a rare double with the improving development team also beating the Blues by 11 points.

The Casey Scorpions have endured a difficult season. Their young inexperienced team has suffered a great deal from inexperience, injury, loss of form and a shortage of the hard-bodied foot soldiers so necessary for to succeed at this level of the game. The short description of their form during 2014 would be "as cold as ice" and that phrase would also best sum up the chilly conditions the team faced for their round 17 game.

For once however, the weather was the only thing about the Scorpions that you could call cold because in every other regard they were white hot.

They comfortably won the ruck duels through the agency of twin towers in Max Gawn and Jack Fitzpatrick who put Carlton big man Robert Warnock out of business and also effectively doubled up as tall forwards when rested, each booting three goals. Gawn, who shouldered the majority of the ruckwork, tellingly kicked two goals in the opening term when the game was still a contest and the home team led narrowly over an inaccurate opposition at the first break.

After a brief arm wrestle the Scorpions took control winning the ball out of the middle and constantly pumping the ball forward. With Fitzpatrick the main target and Jake Best returning to form and both kicking goals, Casey overwhelmed the opposition and stormed to 37- point half time lead.

The six goals to one second term made the difference in the end but unlike so many previous occasions this year when they lapsed badly and gave up good half time leads, Casey nailed it this time by continuing to apply intense pressure and extending the lead to 46 points at the final change making the final quarter a virtual formality.

Apart from the dominant big men, Casey was well served by Viv Michie, Matt Jones and James Strauss while Dom Barry lifted his possession rate this week.

What would have been most pleasing to coach Rohan Welsh was the team's much more even performance and its greater efficiency with the football which was a stark contrast to many previous games when the team struggled to create scoring chances out of the opportunities presented even when on top in the stoppages.

The next two weeks sees Casey up against quality opposition and looking to taking some further steps forward in what has been an otherwise cold winter for the club.

Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 4.2.26 10.4.64 12.9.81 13.14.92

Northern Blues 3.6.24 3.9.27 4.11.35 6.14.50

Goals

Casey Scorpions Best Fitzpatrick Gawn 3 M Jones Page Salem Scott

Northern Blues Walton 3 Bransgrove Totevski Warnock

Casey Scorpions Gawn Michie Strauss Barry Fitzpatrick Jones

Northern Blues Armfield Wilson Wilkinson Cripps Sheehan

Possessions M Jones Michie 26 Clisby 24 Harmes 22 Barry Strauss 19 Gawn 18 Nicholson 16 Georgiou 14

The development team took some further promising steps forward and led all game to record a strong victory despite some late heart flutters when the Blues outscored them in the final term. Matthew Rennie, one of many to debut with the seniors this year, starred with five goals.

Match Stats

Dom Barry 18 disposals 7 kicks 11 handballs 1 mark 2 tackles 54 Dream Team Points

Matt Clisby 25 disposals 12 kicks 13 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 79 Dream Team Points

Michael Evans 12 disposals 6 kicks 6 handballs 1 mark 6 tackles 51 Dream Team Points

Jack Fitzpatrick 3 goals 3 behinds 13 disposals 11 kicks 2 handballs 6 marks 3 tackles 18 hit outs 106 Dream Team Points

Max Gawn 3 goals 1 behind 18 disposals 12 kicks 6 handballs 8 marks 3 tackles 57 hit outs Dream Team Points

Alexis Georgiou 14 disposals 8 kicks 6 handballs 3 marks 1 tackle 50 Dream Team Points

James Harmes 1 behind 22 disposals 10 kicks 12 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 59 Dream Team Points

Matt Jones 1 goal 1 behind disposals 14 kicks 13 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 101 Dream Team Points

Viv Michie 1 behind 27 disposals 17 kicks 10 handballs 1 mark 2 tackles 81 Dream Team Points

Dan Nicholson 15 disposals 9 kicks 6 handballs 5 marks 6 tackles 73 Dream Team Points

Christian Salem 1 goal 8 disposals 5 kicks 3 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 49 Dream Team Points

James Strauss 20 disposals 13 kicks 7 handballs 2 marks 2 tackles 68 Dream Team Points

AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 4.1.25 6.3.39 10.5.65 12.7.79

Northern Blues 1.1.7 2.4.16 4.10.34 9.14.68

Goals

Casey Scorpions Rennie 5 Lang Paredes 2 Fisscher Jackson Murray

Northern Blues Johnson 3 Curnow 2 Haynes Johnston Sutton Watson

Casey Scorpions Rennie Paredes Symons Hillard Corrigan Jackson

Northern Blues Jenkins Johnston Roberts Thomas Watson Tardio