CASEY KILLS COLLINGWOOD by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions removed yet another monkey off their backs on Saturday when they returned to the scene where they suffered a thrashing at the hands of Sandringham and turned it all around by walloping Collingwood by 62 points.

The Magpies were playing their home game at Trevor Barker Beach Oval due to the unavailability of Visy Park but they never managed to cope with the small ground or the blustery conditions. Their team was chock full of AFL listed players against Casey's six senior Demon listers and three rookies but even that did not help them with the Scorpion VFL contingent continuing to blossom as the alignment strengthens.

Casey had first use of the strong breeze and goaled with their first foray up forward when Matty Whelan anticipated well and marked twenty metres out. This was followed by a nice snap through Ryan McGough before the Pies tightened up and started to employ am 18 man flood in their defence. The two Kyles, Matthews and Cheney and Shane Valenti were going in hard and finding conditions to their liking. A long impasse full of ugly defensive footy was snapped by a long goal from ruckman Tim Mohr but Collingwood fought back against the run of play with their first major. A late reply from Nick Scanlon was handy but there was concern in the Scorpion camp that their 23 point quarter time lead was not enough.

Collingwood attacked strongly with the wind but was extremely wasteful in front of the goal kicking point after point so that it took until almost halfway through the quarter to bridge the gap to 2 goals. At that points change came over the game. With Paul Johnson dominant in the ruck and Jordie McKenzie, Matthews and Valenti winning at the stoppages, Casey shrugged off the Magpies. Miller and Newton both took strong marks in front goal, the latter after a perfect pass from Jack Watts and suddenly the Scorpions were in control. Another to Hughes before the bell and it was a comfortable 28 point half time lead.

Collingwood came out full of running and drew first blood but Michael Stockdale answered and then a withering burst of three goals from Newton iced the game and the Scorpions went into the final break 52 points in front.

Casey had broken the back of the Magpies' resistance and despite the wind, they managed to win the final quarter with goals from Stockdale, Matthews, David Collins and 17 year old David Donchi the TAC Cupper from the Gippsland Falcons to run out easy 62 point winners.

The ABC Man of the Match Award was awarded to a worthy winner in Kyle Matthews for another courageous four quarter performance as the skipper of the winning team.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Kyle Cheney - went hard at the ball from the very start, marked and tackled strongly and very persistent at half back. Disposal a little patchy at times.

15 kicks 10 handballs 8 marks 5 tackles

Danny Hughes - freed to play in a couple of positions and has impressed with the improvement in his play around the ground this year.

12 kicks 4 handballs 7 marks 1 tackle 2 score assists 1 hit out 2 goals 1 behind

Paul Johnson - dominated the ruck duels and was handy around the ground.

12 kicks 5 handballs 1 mark 1 tackle 1 score assist 40 hit outs

Jordie McKenzie - hard, in and under extractor of the ball out of the stoppages. Played an important role in establishing his team's midfield dominance.

11 kicks 17 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 1 score assist

Brad Miller - on a tough day for key position players Miller showed out with his strength but kicking for goal in the swirly conditions let him down.

8 kicks 12 handballs 5 marks 1 tackle 1 score assist, 1 hit out 1 goal 4 behinds

Michael Newton - worked hard to create opportunities on the forward line in trying conditions. Put the game beyond doubt with three goals in a short space of time in the third quarter

10 kicks 2 handballs 6 marks 3 tackles 4 hit outs 4 goals 1 behind

Shane Valenti - relished the conditions and the return to his old stamping ground. Ran hard all day.

13 kicks 12 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 3 score assists 2 behinds

Jack Watts - played on a wing and went back into defence and although he didn't show out as much as some of the others he showed exquisite skills in the conditions, the highlight being a magnificent pass to Brad Miller against the wind in the second term.

8 kicks 7 handballs 1 mark 3 tackles 1 score assist 1 hit out

Matthew Whelan - quite in the first half after the opening goal but showed his class in the second half.

9 kicks 10 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 2 score assists 1 goal

Casey Scorpions 4.5.29 7.6.48 11.14.80 16.19.115

Collingwood 1.0.6 2.8.20 3.10.28 7.11.53

Goals

Casey Scorpions Newton 4 Hughes Stockdale 2 Collins Donchi McGough Matthews Miller Mohr Scanlon Whelan

Collingwood Bryan 3 Cooke Dawes Reed Sidebottom

Best

Casey Scorpions Matthews McKenzie Valenti Johnson Wall Newton

Collingwood Cook Keefe Reed Blight Clarke Sidebottom

PETER GERMAN'S REPORT

The Casey Reserves went down in a thriller to a more accurate Coburg side at Coburg on Sunday. Dean and Lees kicked three each and NT Under 18 star Pierce Liddle was Casey's best.

Casey Scorpions 5.6.36 5.7.37 12.12.84 13.12.90

Coburg Tigers 1.0.6 7.3.45 10.3.63 14.7.91

Goals

Casey Scorpions Dean Lees 3 Zomer 2 Clay Hillberge McLeod Terry Waite

Coburg Tigers Gilligan 4 De Sousa 3 Abdallah 2 Bassi Kandilakis McErlain Putt Saville

Best

Casey Scorpions Liddle Dean Snow Costigan Lees McLeod

Coburg Tigers Jordon Abadallah McQuilken Gilligan Kandilakis

I only saw this on TV, but your summary & player evaluations seem spot on to me.

As difficult as it might be to say this, I really liked PJ's game. Last week he got 50 or so taps but put almost all of them at his feet & into the pack, but this week he cleared the pack on a number of occasions and directed it much better overall. Also had to use his strength more to play as an actual ruckman rather than his usual ruck-rover style. He wasn't the best, but he showed things that I didn't think he was capable of.

What I like so much about Casey is that they give the Dees players an opportunity to work on parts of their game that need to improve, but the team still performs. In the last few weeks we've seen Petterd, Bartram & Dunn come back into the Dees and play much better there because of how they were able to develop parts of their game while playing for Casey. The alignment is paying off already IMO.

Dean and Lees kicked three each and NT Under 18 star Pierce Liddle was Casey's best.

Is he the young guy Davey convinced to come and play with us?

What are the odds of him coming to us in one of the drafts?

Is he the young guy Davey convinced to come and play with us?

What are the odds of him coming to us in one of the drafts?

Yep. I'm also interested to know how he's been going this year, from anyone a bit more informed regarding Casey??

Yep. I'm also interested to know how he's been going this year, from anyone a bit more informed regarding Casey??

His season at Casey has been a little interrupted because he also reporesented NT in the Under 18 Championships as one of their overage players. He was super impressive early but dropped away a bit and is coming good again now.

Just to round off the report on the weekend, here are the coach's comments on the four Demons who played in the reserves at Coburg -

Reserves

Simon Buckley – Simon only played a half. He had seven or eight possessions and was OK. But he needed a run under his belt, so hopefully he can build on that and play three quarters next week. We hope he can play senior footy for Casey again soon and then potentially play some games late in the season for Melbourne.

Tom McNamara – Tom played a half, winning seven or eight possessions. A lack of discipline ruined him getting a good rating. He had a five-minute period where he gave away some undisciplined free kicks. It was something that disappointed the coaching staff. Hopefully, he'll learn from that and show in the next five or six games what he is capable of by the end of the year.

Jake Spencer – Jake rucked for most of the game. He's come back from a three-week lay-off. He's had some bad luck in recent times, but he got a good four-quarter hit-out which he's needed for a while. He didn't set the world on fire, but got a run around.

Trent Zomer – He had the opportunity to be a game-breaker, as the team only lost by a point. But Trent kicked 1.5 and if you turn that around to 5.1, it steadies the ship. He took some good marks and mainly played forward, but making the most of his opportunities probably just holds him back a little bit.

Thanks for that KC.

Disappointed to hear about Tommy Macs performance inn the reserves. I thought he was pretty close to debut earlier in the season, but injury struck.

Hopefully he can get some form up quickly and maybe get a crack before the end of the season. I still think he is an exciting prospect, and as a really young tall when drafted i think he is worth persisting with as he may prove to be a late developer.

Tommy Mac is my smokey to be a Demon star.

Kid has some promise!

I haven't written Juice off. Has been showing something for a considerable time now - good defensive efforts, his number one trick markling and he actually is a good kick. IMO the biggest thing he lacks is self-confidence, when he gets some self belief (like that patch in the 3rd) and makes the play he is a decent prospect. Jamar and Warnock would not be on our list if they were finally judged at Juice's age - big men can take time. I'm glad he's got another year with us - he has the attributes to fill the tall forward role we're lacking. I'm not confident he'll make it but there's some chance that's worth persevering with

I haven't written Juice off. Has been showing something for a considerable time now - good defensive efforts, his number one trick markling and he actually is a good kick. IMO the biggest thing he lacks is self-confidence, when he gets some self belief (like that patch in the 3rd) and makes the play he is a decent prospect. Jamar and Warnock would not be on our list if they were finally judged at Juice's age - big men can take time. I'm glad he's got another year with us - he has the attributes to fill the tall forward role we're lacking. I'm not confident he'll make it but there's some chance that's worth persevering with

Juice is not a big man footballer.

Iam prepared to give him antoher year, simply based on the fact that we dont have alot of choice. Iam affraid for Juice, that once Watts, Jurrah, Wonna, Maric etc etc start to fire, there wont be any room for a player liek Juice on the list.