Casey Scorpions v Frankston

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,324]

Looks like Petterd will be a certain 22 barring a mishap. Wonna may be a surprise inclusion as we need fwd line pressure and that's his forte.

[Doggo 32]

Slick Rick and Wona doing well makes me smile inside

[DeeSpencer 24,683]

Really excited that Petterd looks set to go for round 1.

Wona hasn't hit the scoreboard. Is he playing up forward? I'd have him in if he's fit enough. Forward pressure is vital and to have Wona, Maric and Jetta providing it would be good.

Also happy that Matthews is going well in his recovery.

[FarNorthernD 5,861]

Happy that Petterd and Wonna going well but equally pleased to see Gawn getting amonst the best. A co-ordinated 208cm mobile man mountain could be a very good thing in a couple of years

[maximum bob 462]

Great news on Matthews playing well. I assume he's wearing some sort of head protection?

[gsmith12 491]

Great news on Matthews playing well. I assume he's wearing some sort of head protection?

Hey Bob, do you mind me asking who the Demon is in your avatar ?

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,836]

Really excited that Petterd looks set to go for round 1.

Wona hasn't hit the scoreboard. Is he playing up forward? I'd have him in if he's fit enough. Forward pressure is vital and to have Wona, Maric and Jetta providing it would be good.

Also happy that Matthews is going well in his recovery.

Wonna played forward. Laid some good tackles but was not in bests for mine. Petterd was a cut above and as long as he pulls up well will play next week. Petterd aside the best of Dees all game was Tom McDonald at CHB. I think this boy has a big future. Gysberts and Evans both very good second half. Blease carried the ball well but tries to do too much and carved the ball up on occasion. Tapscott was good without being dominant would not surprise me if he is fast tracked into the side for round 1. All in all a scrappy game but worth it just to watch some footy.

[DeeSpencer 24,683]

Thanks for the report. I really like what I saw from McDonald against Brisbane. His kicking needs work but he moves well for a big lad and is strong in the air. Just seems to be a natural competitor as well which goes a long way.

[Harrisonrules 273]

Thanks for the report. I really like what I saw from McDonald against Brisbane. His kicking needs work but he moves well for a big lad and is strong in the air. Just seems to be a natural competitor as well which goes a long way.

Totally agree.

In the thread on our best team. I listed him as our smokey by round 10. While he can play elsewhere, I'm hoping he will become 3rd tall next to Frawley,and Garland. with apologies to Rivers Warnock and Macd

[Je Roos Salem 661]

Did Casey win? And which Demons players played for them today?

[Grandson of a gun 276]

Ventured out to Cranbourne today. Beautiful sunny day although as the game wore on the wind became stronger and skills became scrappier. For those who are interested my two cents are as follows:

Gawn- OK in the ruck but struggled around the ground. Overdoes the handball and dropped a few marks. Kicking wasn't flash either but realistically he is at least 2 years away anyway.

Spencer- Dominated hitouts. Played ok. Took some nice grabs and even hit a few targets by foot although i am still never confident when he has the ball.

Wonna- Great pressure and presence early. Even though he didn't kick a goal today i believe he directly gave off at least 2 or 3. Laid another brilliant tackle which resulted in a holding the ball free kick which Petterd swooped onto the loose ball to kick a goal. Had a hand in one or two more. I don't think he will be playing Round 1 for the Demons but he isn't far away. Cramped up a bit in the last. Just another week or two of performances like that and he will be back in the team.

Tapscott- A few kicks early. Played mainly off half back. Didn't dominate but did ok. Good at a couple of aerial contests too where he was clearly the shorter man but managed to get a fist on it. He will be close for round 1 or 2.

Petterd- As has been said he was a real focal point. He did spill a couple of marks that you would expect him to take normally but all in all it was a good performance and he will be playing round 1 for the Demons.

McDonald- I thought he was really good, especially in the second half. Reads the play well, took some real nice grabs across half back and then plays on and backs himself. Stuffs up occasionally but certainly moved well and is a chance for a couple of games later this year. A solid pre-season or two in the gym and he could be a handy mobile tall.

Evans- Particularly good in the third where he provided some real dash and good ball use through the middle of the ground. Stands out when he gets it.

Nicholson- Again did a few nice things. Thought Evans was the better of the two.

Cook- Played the full game down forward. Presented well and hit a few contests hard. Took some nice marks. Did get lost and out bodied on occasions but with the windy conditions it was difficult for lead up forwards. Plenty to like about him.

Howe- Started well i thought. I don't know if he was rested in the latter part of the game but i didn't notice him as much. Good leap and hands as is well documented. Probably just needs to work on his forward pressure and repeat efforts at the contest.

Blease- Got a bit of it although as has been said he can get caught out trying to do too much and then run himself into trouble resulting in a butchered disposal. When he doesn't try to do too much he looks good. Turned on the afterburners a couple of times in the third through the middle into the wind and it was great to see. Probably just needs to continue to work on his match fitness and decision making and i reckon he will be given a chance for the demons later in the season.

Gysberts- Hard one to give an opinion on. Played in the middle and down forward. Trouble was when he is in the middle there were a couple of blokes with similar body types and it was hard to work out who got the pill. Can appear lazy at times and certainly let his defender run off him without any close checking. Still slightly framed. I believe he is one of those blokes who won't ever look dominant at VFL level but stick him in the seniors and he knows where to go to get the pill. Probably just needs more match practice and to show some consistency.

So all in all- Petterd will play Round 1. Wonna and Tapscott are close but probably will be squeezed out for at least Round 1. The rest have a few more things to work on before they get a chance to move up...

And Casey won relatively easily.

[Guest DeesPower]

I would have liked Dunn to have a bit of a run around - he was on our 'permission to play' list...

Funny you should mention that.

I saw Dunne and Juice at the quarter time huddle in civvies. I did not see any other demon firsts players there although i did see Chris Connelly and several board members during the day.

[Bay Riffin 1,454]

very promising reports. all of a sudden looks like we have 3,4 or 5 blokes pressing for selection we didn't have even two weeks ago.

Can people describe more on the talls in Gawn and McDonald ? Especially Gawn who we haven't seen much of.

[Doggo 32]

Ventured out to Cranbourne today. Beautiful sunny day although as the game wore on the wind became stronger and skills became scrappier.

For those who are interested my two cents are as follows:

Thanks for the report, much appreciated.

[Hannabal 4]

Ventured out to Cranbourne today. Beautiful sunny day although as the game wore on the wind became stronger and skills became scrappier.

For those who are interested my two cents are as follows:

For me that was virtually a faultless report, as I had identical views on just about every player.

I only differ a little on Gysberts. I liked his game today and he got quite a lot of it in difficult conditions and reduced minutes. He tackled well and got lots of first possessions. You're right in that he will enjoy having better teammates by his side. And yes, he does need to bulk up a bit.

Wonaeamirri mildly hurt his shoulder in the third and was off for ten minutes while they taped it up. He came back on and it didn't seem to effect his play. He looked pretty good actually and appeared trimmer.

Casey isn't the easiest ground for viewing.

I left at 3/4 time.

[Guest DeesPower]

Ventured out to Cranbourne today. Beautiful sunny day although as the game wore on the wind became stronger and skills became scrappier. For those who are interested my two cents are as follows:

Gawn- OK in the ruck but struggled around the ground. Overdoes the handball and dropped a few marks. Kicking wasn't flash either but realistically he is at least 2 years away anyway.

Spencer- Dominated hitouts. Played ok. Took some nice grabs and even hit a few targets by foot although i am still never confident when he has the ball.

I disagree totally on Gawn and Spencer.

They dominated the rucks and therefore the clearances. At quarter time apparently, according to Casey coaching staff i talked to, the ratio at quarter time was 25/3 on clearances. They continued that dominance throughout the day.

i have not been a big fan of Spencer up until now, but today he showed he can dominate in the ruck and have a significant influence around the ground. His marking and general play was very good for such a big man, and like Jamar, can take a pack mark up forward.

However, the relevation to me was Gawn. He is not yet dominant around the ground and it is true he got to the marking contest often but was unable to hold most of the grabs. This will come.

What excited me was not only the total dominance he had in the ruck contest, BUT he was able almost always to tap it to a Casey player often in space and often at pace. In the third quarter when he was on the ball for much of it, i counted four times when there were centre bounces when Gawn hit the Casey players on the chest with the tap and they took off at full pace towards the goal, resulting in two of the goals for that term. That is something i haven't seen from the Demons since White and TJ were at their best in some of the finals they played in. Sometimes TJ also did it with Jolly. The thing that excites me about Gawn is he seems to be able to do this more often than not which is hugely encouraging, i guess not altogether unrelated to his height and strength in the air. I might add though it seemed to be that the casey players lindsay, matthews and mcgough were the ones who took advantage of this dominance, rather than the MFC listed players.

I agree Gawn is a work in progress, but if he continues in this form (it was after all his first game in anger for the club), and can start to hold his marks, i hope he does debut this year. I have no doubt he will be a critical player for us in our premiership window.

I the meantime, on today's form, Spencer deserves a chance next week, and im sure he will not dissappoint.

[Guest DeesPower]

For those of you who didn't get the result, it was:

Casey 14.20 to Frankston 9.9

Goals (as far as i was able to count them from memory)

Pettard 4, Matthews 3, McShane 2, Lindsay 2, Spencer 1, Riseley 1, Gent 1.

Best (without seeing the stats)

Pettard, Bleeze, Gysberts, Wonna,Spencer, Gawn, Matthews, Lindsay, McShane (im sure some of my fellow posters will disagree - maybe im looking for future potential rather than game effectiveness)

[dee-luded 2,959]

I dissagree totally on Gawn and Spencer.

They dominated the rucks and therefore the clearances. At quarter time apparently, according to Casey coaching staff i talked to, the ratio at quarter time was 25/3 on clearances. They continued that dominance throughout the day.

i have not been a big fan of Spencer up until now, but today he showed he can dominate in the ruck and have a significant influence around the ground. His marking and general play was very good for such a big man, and like Jamar, can take a pack mark up forward.

However, the relevation to me was Gawn. He is not yet dominant around the ground and it is true he got to the marking contest often but was unable to hold most of the grabs. This will come.

What excited me was not only the total dominance he had in the ruck contest, BUT he was able almost always to tap it to a Casey player often in space and often at pace. In the third quarter when he was on the ball for much of it, i counted four times when there were centre bounces when Gawn hit the Casey players on the chest with the tap and they took off at full pace towards the goal, resulting in two of the goals for that term. That is something i haven't seen from the Demons since White and TJ were at their best in some of the finals they played in. Sometimes TJ also did it with Jolly. The thing that excites me about Gawn is he seems to be able to do this more often than not which is hugely encouraging, i guess not altogether unrelated to his height and strength in the air. I might add though it seemed to be that the casey players lindsay, matthews and mcgough were the ones who took advantage of this dominance, rather than the MFC listed players.

I agree Gawn is a work in progress, but if he continues in this form (it was after all his first game in anger for the club), and can start to hold his marks, i hope he does debut this year. I have no doubt he will be a critical player for us in our premiership window.

I the meantime, on today's form, Spencer deserves a chance next week, and im sure he will not dissappoint.

I agree Gawny was good with his taps to advantage.

Our rucks dominated, but against what.

IMO Spencer, is way closer than Gawn. Gawn is still too small in the lower half, & I think he'd struggle atmo, against mature AFL rucks. Gotter get bigger through the hips and Legs.

Spencer's looking strong, and ran around from a close in tight angle to slot a nice goal across his body. Maturing is this boy. Readying himself for a crack at it.

[Grandson of a gun 276]

Perhaps I didn't word it right. Yes Gawn and Spencer dominated the rucks but there wasn't much competition. As someone else said, Gawny moves ok but has a skinny lower half which will take time to develop. I was happy with how he played but he is the long term project and if he can play a full season at Casey them that will be tremendous for his development. Spencer did some good things and will play this year, I just get nervous when he has to kick the ball!

Aside from Spencer, I would say the next closest big man to a game is McDonald then Cook.

[DeeSpencer 24,683]

Who were the rucks up against?

Frankston is a shambles of a VFL club and it was a practice match!!!

We know Spencer is a good tap ruckman. He can even win hit outs at AFL level. But around the ground he can't chase, tackle or compete when the ball is on the ground. We can't go with him in the team yet. Maybe late in the season but not now.

Anyone who saw him against Brisbane would not have him in contention for round 1. Especially when the case for his inclusion is a good VFL practice match.

[rpfc 28,045]

Who were the rucks up against?

Frankston is a shambles of a VFL club and it was a practice match!!!

We know Spencer is a good tap ruckman. He can even win hit outs at AFL level. But around the ground he can't chase, tackle or compete when the ball is on the ground. We can't go with him in the team yet. Maybe late in the season but not now.

Anyone who saw him against Brisbane would not have him in contention for round 1. Especially when the case for his inclusion is a good VFL practice match.

Weren't you one of those talking up the importance of NAB challenge games and our poor performance in them?

A practice match is a practice match...

[H_T 3,032]

Does anyone think that Gysberts may play in Round 1 given today according to reports he played well in traffic or difficult conditions and had "reduced minutes ?"

IMO we lack in the first possession, clearance area (also tackling department) and without McKenzie and certainly no Junior we seem impotent in that area.

Thank-you to those who provided reports.

[KC from Casey 7,042]

A good hitout for the Scorps but certainly nothing that much against a team with limited playing depth. Ricky Petterd and perhaps Luke Tapscott to get an AFL guernsey next week but little more. There's a glowing report on the game here on the AFL site but really, a number of MFC players need at least a season at this level for their development before venturing on to a higher level.

Lynden Dunn did not play after developing "hamstring tightness" and is in doubt for Round 1 v Swans.

It was good to see Kyle Matthews back with the Scorps after his year in the wilderness. He and James Wall are likely to be the team's stalwarts in 2011. Best of the recruits for Casey were Kieran McShane (Box Hill Hawks) and Aidan Lindsay (Gippsland Power).

I disagree strongly with those who maintain the Demons should go it alone. They need to word together to provide a good environment for the two clubs to work and prosper together in this developing region in outer Melbourne.

I'm unfazed about the Fevola controversy and am bemused by Frankston suddenly coming into the picture. It's in his interests to be in a team where the ball is going to be delivered to him regularly and efficiently. Won't happen at the Dolphins. Frankston coach Simon Goosey's remarks about Casey playing 16 Demons and only 6 Casey listed players are way off line too. Never happened in the past - the most last year was about 13/9 early in the season before injuries really set in. In a bad year for injury like 2009 or even 2010, a stand alone MFC would barely function and would be a nightmare to administer. I'd like to see the Demons promote more depth and strength into the Scorpions, not less, for the benefit of the entire alignment.

That said, I would say whichever team gets Fev will be an improver if the man can overcome his off field issues.

To underline the opposition's lack of depth, the Scorpion reserves won in a canter.

Casey Scorpions 24.24.168 defeated Frankston 5.4.34

[dee-luded 2,959]

Who were the rucks up against?

Frankston is a shambles of a VFL club and it was a practice match!!!

We know Spencer is a good tap ruckman. He can even win hit outs at AFL level. But around the ground he can't chase, tackle or compete when the ball is on the ground. We can't go with him in the team yet. Maybe late in the season but not now.

Anyone who saw him against Brisbane would not have him in contention for round 1. Especially when the case for his inclusion is a good VFL practice match.

The Frankston side looked younger and cleaner, more skilled, different, than past sides I've seen of theirs.

They made some good passages of play with clean ball movement.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Does anyone think that Gysberts may play in Round 1 given today according to reports he played well in traffic or difficult conditions and had "reduced minutes ?"

IMO we lack in the first possession, clearance area (also tackling department) and without McKenzie and certainly no Junior we seem impotent in that area.

Thank-you to those who provided reports.

I think we need to go In,,,, With a physically mature team for the first 3 or 4 Rnds, with Jnr & Bruce, & Frawley & Morton, & McKenzie, out.

we need to have a physically mature side for Sydney & Hawthorn, then we can IMO, bring in some 'skilled', ones.

We Must keep up a momentum,,, Not get smashed by a more physical outfit.

Bring in more pace & skill for the Lions game, onwards.