CASEY SCORPIONS PREPARE

[Demonland 70,328]

CASEY SCORPIONS PREPARE by KC from Casey

The partially declared alignment between the Melbourne and Casey Scorpions Football Clubs appears to be moving along well even though a joint announcement of the betrothal still awaits.

The Demons are training at Casey Fields and, from my brief inspection at training a couple of weeks ago, I can truly say that the place is really beginning to take on the look and feel of the future sporting capital of Melbourne's outer south east.

The Scorpions have been tremendously boosted by the appointment of Peter German as new senior coach. The former North Melbourne star spent some time as assistant to MFC Football Chris Connolly when he was coaching at Fremantle.

The 2009 practice match schedule currently reads as follows:

Saturday March 21st v Box Hill

Saturday March 28th v Frankston

Sunday April 5th v Coburg

All matches will be played at Casey Fields and will feature both senior (2.00pm) and reserves matches (11.10am).

Former Demon defender Nathan Brown finished up at Melbourne in 2007 and spent last season at West Adelaide but he's back in the fold heading up the list of newcomers for 2009 at Casey. Brown will also have some sort of development role with the club on top of being there as a player.

And of course, the Scorpions list will be augmented by a number of Demons including many of the 10 newcomers to the club's senior and rookie lists whilst at a more local level, an influx of youth will arrive mainly from the strong TAC Cup Gippsland Power Under 18's which made this year's preliminary final.

The runner up in the Power's Best and Fairest, Traralgon small man Michel Stockdale has joined the club after being unlucky to miss out on selection in the 2008 national draft. Stockdale is a versatile ball magnet who averaged 22 possessions and six tackles per game in 2008 and boot 22 goals. He will be joined by Rosedale's Ben MaCreadie who was one of the dominant players in the North Gippsland Football League over the past two seasons.

Among the other recruits are exciting new Narre Warren premiership player Nick Scanlan, key forward Tom Carmody from Wantirna South and two players who are returning to the club after tasting some VFL experience elsewhere. Bendigo's Darren Granger played four games with Bendigo in 2008 while Andrew Oldmeadow from Nar Nar Goon had one game with Collingwood VFL.

The club will also see an influx of former Calder Cannons players who join Gardner Clark Medallist James Wall. Former Sydney Swan Peter Faulks, a 194cm tall defender originally from Oak Park where he played at state level at Under 16's and Under 18's. Despite strong form with the Sydney reserves last year Faulks could not break into the club's AFL team and was delisted at the end of the season. His ex Calder Cannons teammates Rian McGough, and Chris Clay are also joining the Scorpions.

It will be interesting to see how the players blend at the new alignment. The Scorpions have been developing a strong list from the ground up in recent years and this policy is expected to bring dividends in 2009 after last year's finals breakthrough. The club will lose Chris Dunne (overseas) and Adam Parker (Scoresby) but most of last year's team should remain intact except, of course, that its AFL aligned players will be Demons not Saints.