HITTING A WALL by KC from Casey

[Demonland 4,667]

When Dion Johnstone kicked his second goal for Casey Demons to give his team a 19 point lead early in the time on period of the third quarter at Hogans Road Reserve, Hoppers Crossing the visitors appeared poised to win their second game for the season and grab a spot in the top eight of the VFL competition. 

Unfortunately for the Demons they hit a wall and were swamped by a Lindsay Thomas-inspired Werribee which kicked the last five goals of the match to a miserable four points in the final forty minutes before the final siren sounded with the home side 13 points in front.

Thomas had an action-packed game that saw him reported for a head high bump on Corey Maynard early in the second term which saw the rookie stretchered off the ground and out for the game. At the time, Maynard had been playing well and was well on his way to another high possession game. Former Bomber Jake Melksham was also in strife with the men in white after two incidents involving Werribee’s Matthew Hanson.

Earlier in the match, Casey took control of the game in the second quarter after an arm wrestle in the first term of the hard fought contest to hold a 15 point lead at half time. The Demons retained that lead for most of the third term with Melksham outstanding in a performance that would have been even more formidable has his kicking for goal been on target - he finished with one goal five behinds for the match.

Assisting him among the better AFL listed Demons were Billy Stretch, Jack Trengove and Ben Kennedy (23 touches each) while young ruckmen Mitch King and Declan Keilty worked hard but were overpowered by North Melbourne giant Braydon Preuss who had 71 hit outs. The loss to injury of Melbourne's two talls Gawn and Spencer is cutting deep through to the VFL ranks as well.

Youngster Johnstone stood out with some strong tackling along with his two goal effort to indicate he is becoming more comfortable at this level.

Bayley Fritsch continues to impress while Dylan Collis played his best game for Casey.

In the end, it was Thomas' two final quarter goals that broke the deadlock between the teams after booting his first in the shadows of three quarter time. 

The Demons have another tough away game coming up this week against the fourth placed Northern Blues at Preston.

Casey Demons 2.3.15 8.7.55 10.10.70 10.14.74

Werribee 3.3.21 6.4.40 10.6.66 13.8.86

Goals

Casey Demons Johnstone Scott 2 Fritsch Keilty Kennedy Kent Melksham Vander Haar

Werribee Larkey 4 Thomas 3 Zurhaar 2 Buykx Cleeland Fordham Williams

Best 

Casey Demons Melksham Collis Munro Keilty Hutchins Fritsch

Werribee Hanson Nielson Fordham Mountford Preuss Sodomaco

Statistics
 
James Harmes 7 kicks 12 handballs 19 disposals 2 marks 5 tackles 66 dream team points
Liam Hulett 11 kicks 1 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 51 dream team points
Dion Johnstone 2 goals 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 7 tackles 77 dream team points
Declan Keilty 1 goal 4 kicks 9 handballs 13 disposals 1 mark 8 tackles 11 hit outs 85 dream team points
Ben Kennedy 1 goal 2 behinds 13 kicks 10 handballs 23 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 93 dream team points
Dean Kent 1 goal 1 behind 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 8 tackles 93 dream team points
Mitch King 4 kicks 8 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 28 hit outs 74 dream team points
Corey Maynard 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 33 dream team points [injured]
Jake Melksham 1 goal 5 behinds 26 kicks 9 handballs 35 disposals 7 marks 10 tackles 157 dream team points
Billy Stretch 1 behind 12 kicks 11 handballs 23 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 87 dream team points
Jack Trengove 1 behind 16 kicks 7 handballs 23 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 95 dream team points
Mitchell White 17 kicks 4 handballs 21 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 89 dream team points
Sam Weideman 1 behind 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 1 hit out 27 dream team points
 
The Development League team had another unusual clash with Werribee which kicked poorly in the first term allowing them to grab the lead late in the second term and then stream away to win by 34 points. 

AFL Development League

Casey Demons 1.0.6 5.3.33 10.5.65 14.8.92

Werribee 1.11.17 2.14.26 4.15.39 7.16.58

Goals
  
Casey Demons Foote 3 Baker Lefau 2 Ambler  Cotte  Dwyer Dan Johnston  Lewis-Smith Lok Machaya   
  
Werribee Liberatore Maishman 2   Cotter  Johnson Kershaw

Best 

Casey Demons Dwyer Foote Filipovic Lok Ferreira