CASEY'S CLOSE SHAVE by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions responded to last week's humiliation at the hands of Sandringham with a much improved performance at home under lights at Casey Fields on Saturday night. After trailing throughout the Scorpions rallied late in the game but narrowly missed out on their first win for the season.

A confident Port Melbourne, fresh from avenging last year's grand final humbling at the hands of North Ballarat, opened brightly and won the first quarter kicking two goals and keeping Casey to just three points to hold a 13 point lead at the first change.

The home side squandered opportunities in front of goal and their only major for the first half came from high flying forward Russell Robertson who was working in well with Addam Maric but unfortunately, the score line of 1.7.13 to 4.5.29 at half time told the story. The youthful Casey combination was not overawed by the VFL power house but those wasted opportunities in front of goal were having a telling effect.

The Scorpions kept plugging away after half time with the lanky Jake Spencer toiling hard in the ruck to get the ball down to small men in Shane Valenti who was getting a lot of the football and captain Kyle Matthews in the middle. Casey was also getting great service from their young veterans in Alex Silvagni in defence and James Wall who was combining well with the forwards while Beau Vernon was a good contributor on the night.

The further the game progressed the more impact Jack Grimes was having on the game. The magical Liam Jurrah chipped in with a brilliant goal to narrow the gap. But Port managed to rally to hold a 10 point lead at the final break. Ben MaCreadie, who played well in just his second game for the club was reported for charging during the term and the team was momentarily unsettled.

Russell Robertson continued to add bite up forward but it was still tough going for the home side as it played catch up football. There were several opportunities to win the game thanks to some hard work from Maric and Grimes and Pierce Liddle did all he could to win the game in the dying minutes with some long runs but it was a close shave for Port as the fast-finishing Scorpions fell short by a mere 3 points.

The result underlines the importance in football if getting off to a good start (Casey won each of the last three quarters but still lost) and of accurate kicking around the ground and in front of goal. Coach Peter German is likely to impress these things on his charges next week as they take on another difficult opponent in Frankston at Frankston City Oval on Sunday.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED (with thanks for assistance to Fan)

First, a few little snippets picked up at the ground:

Daniel Bell, Simon Bucley, Austin Wonaeamirri and possibly Rohan Bail are set to return through the Casey team next week. Paul Wheatley is still three or four weeks away while James Strauss did his shoulder at training on Thursday and will miss a couple of weeks.

Jack Grimes - this kid is all class. He knows how to find the ball, knows where his options lie and rarely makes a skill error in execution. Would only have played 60 to 70% game time starting on the bench in the first and second quarters and coming on at about the 10 minute mark so it's likely he'll play again at this level next week to give him time to regain match fitness.

Liam Jurrah - had very few possessions but what he did he did very well. Has all the skillsbut has to learn how to play the game at the elite level. If he learns well and gets involved with intensity, the Demons could have an A grader and possibly elite player on their list.

Addam Maric - I'm a fan and really couldn't understand why he wasn't playing seniors. Is a class above this level with his agility and ability to find the ball. Used it very well on occasions but his kicking can occasionally let him down as sometimes tries too hard to "thread the needle". Got lots of it early but seemed to fade towards the end of the day. I hope he gets his chance soon as I think he'll benefit from playing senior AFL footy rather than with the Scorps.

Jordie McKenzie - quiet early but came home with a wet sail. Lacking a little in pace, but runs hard. Later in the match he was able to find heaps of the ball and he took some very good options.

Tom McNamara – kept his opponent quiet in what was a good defensive game but is young and still has a way to go.

Russell Robertson - Robbo amazes me. He's short, stocky, not quick, doesn't work hard but unlike Jurrah just knows how to get involved and play the game. He was good getting regular possessions from ad hoc delivery and kicking a few goals. The view at the club is that he isn't ready for AFL yet but he looked ok to me. One thing we can be absolutely sure of is that he has not lost his leap and he can still kick long distances.

Jake Spencer - played pretty well without dominating. He was competitive in the ruck and found a bit of the ball around the ground. His kicking looks ungainly but was surprisingly good with a couple of 40 meter bullet like passes to team mates. The good thing about Jake is when he does get his hand to the ball in a ruck contest he actually knocks it to the team's advantage.

Shane Valenti - a "good" Valenti game, v ery good inside and worked really hard and by the end of the night was suffering from leather poisoning.

Trent Zomer - played on a monster full forward in Bonnadio who outmuscled him and gave him a hard time but he fought on quite well in difficult circumstances. He's actually quite mobile, has good hands and makes some good decisions (especially by hand) but as a second year rookie needs to start showing a lot more if he wants to say on the list.

Casey Scorpions 0.3.3 1.7.13 5.11.41 9.13.67

Port Melbourne 2.4.16 4.5.29 7.9.51 10.11.71

Goals

Casey Scorpions Robertson 3 Maric 2 Grimes Jurrah McGough Moore

Port Melbourne Bonaddio 3 Robbins 2 Burstin Dillon Mullins Raymond Smith

Best

Casey Scorpions Valenti Wall Silvagni Spencer Panozza Robertson

Port Melbourne McGrath Pleming Smith Brewer Dalton Bonaddio

Report

B MaCreadie (Casey Scorpions) for charging M. Smith (Port Melbourne) during the 3rd quarter

The Casey Scorpions Reserves stared well and were still in the game at three quarter time but Port Melbourne was able to streak away with a 9 goal final quarter. Luke Williams and Ben Waite worked hard in defence while Danny Hughes and Brad Sykes did well up forward with three goals each. One of Hughes' marks would be hard to beat if there was a mark of the year award for the VFL Reserves.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

The strong tip at the ground was that following the debut of schoolboy Jack Watts at this level on Saturday, another schoolie in Sam Blease will follow suit in next week's early game at Frankston.

Rhys Healey – showed out with some good pace, strong marking and excellent delivery despite having a heavily strapped knee.

Danny Hughes – marked well up forward and worked hard all evening and is in line for promotion to the Seniors next week.

Jack Watts – started slowly but upped the ante in the second half and finished with 15 kicks 5 marks 7 marks and 1 goal.

Matthew Whelan – was cool early in defence and took a couple of good marks before a thigh injury saw him out of the game by the end of the first quarter.

Casey Scorpions 4.4.28 6.8.44 9.13.67 13.14.92

Port Melbourne 3.2.20 9.8.62 10.12.72 19.18.132

Goals

Casey Scorpions Hughes Sykes 3 Bolton 2 Chivers McLeod Mildren Schrape Watts

Port Melbourne Schultz 4 Hassett Kennedy Martin Scipione 2 Edwards Irving Kilpin Neville O'Keefe Sengstock Suckling

Best

Casey Scorpions Williams Mazurek Waite Hughes Healey Chivers

Port Melbourne Schultz Wall Sengstock Siciliano Clarkson Scipione

Sucks about Strauss

CASEY'S CLOSE SHAVE by KC from Casey

..............

Great report. Much appreciated.

Sucks about Strauss

How long off is he. Is he an injury prone player?

Demonlanders might be interested in this report from Paul Amy of Leader News which appears on the Casey website:

THEY didn't win. But, coming off a 103-point pounding in Round 1, the Casey Scorpions improved appreciably to get to within four points of Port Melbourne under lights at Casey Fields on Saturday night.In a mistake-filled, low-scoring affair, the Scorpions trailed at every change.But they finished hard to put the 2008 grand finalist under intense pressure in the final quarter.

After the match Port coach Gary Ayres seemed more relieved than pleased to be leaving with the four points.In the Casey rooms coach Peter German said his team did enough to win."No doubt about that,'' he said. "We were sort of chasing tail for pretty much the whole game but ... everyone was expecting Port to go bang, bang and take a three or four-goal lead ... but the boys' commitment to our game plan and how we wanted to play was excellent.''He added: "We had a lot of shots. I'd say we would have had it inside 50 a lot more than they did but we just didn't convert.''While they Scorpions were full of endeavour, they were left to reflect on some bad blunders.

They were generous hosts, gifting Port three of its four first-half goals. Two were from stray kicks and the other a 50m penalty against Jarrod Matheson.Matheson came straight off the ground and copped an earful on the phone from German. Spectators in the grandstand could hear the bake, which finished with German slamming the phone down. While Port had the imposing Adrian Bonaddio as a forward target, Casey had Melbourne veteran Russell Robertson and impressive first-gamer Matt Moore. Robertson kicked three goals and probably should have kicked five.Moore kicked one, but took a series of strong marks from hard leads and appeals as an exciting prospect.

With young Demons Shane Valenti (37 possessions) and Addam Maric dominating around the centre, aided by bug Jake Spencer, Casey made an run at the Boroughs in the last quarter.Port answered goals from Maric and Grimes. Then the Scorpions crept to within four points when Rian McGough received a 50m penalty for a late hit at the 23-minute mark. Not long after Bonaddio gave Port a steadier, leading hard to a Cory McGrath pass and goaling from about 40m from the boundary. Robertson whittled the margin back to four points when he kicked his third at the 26-minute mark. An upset was in the making. But Port preserved its lead in the final two minutes, having the ball on its half-forward line when the siren went.

The absence of captain Kyle Matthews in the final term was felt. Tackling David Robbins with ferocity, he took a poke in the eye in the third quarter and didn't reappear. At three-quarter-time German used the incident as an example of what was needed to win the match.Pierce Liddle responded by courageously backing into a marking contest. He was flattened but bounced back to his feet and seconds later passed to Robertson. "Robbo'' had a good night but he missed a relatively straightforward set shot. From the Casey side of the team, Ben MaCreadie, hard as a block of red gum, spearhead Moore (eight marks, four of them contested) and half-back Evan Panozza gave excellent performances.