ON THE MARK by Ice Station

The Frankston defender standing on the mark scratched his chin and waved his arms skywards in a vain attempt to distract his opponent. The ploy was doomed to failure and he watched helplessly as Casey Scorpions full forward Brendon Fevola drilled the leather football through the big sticks on its way to an eleven goal game - his best goal kicking effort ever in either the AFL or VFL.

Fevola brought his season's tally for Casey to 31 which remains modest given the early season hype about his recruitment but this has been due partly to the weather, Fevola's placement downfield in a number of matches and the need to adapt to a different environment. For the Scorpions and their player, this was the day he arrived. He had 18 kicks, scored 10 goals and took 10 marks and gave a couple away to teammates. It was also a day for the entire club and the 77-point win over the struggling Dolphins gives it the impetus needed for the coming assault on the final four and hopefully beyond.

The Scorpions are still recovering from a couple of soul destroying close losses to Coburg and Werribee and they had too much at stake this week to go out with anything less than full focus on winning after a tough day at the office last week in dreadful conditions at home against Box Hill. It was the Fev who was the catalyst from the very beginning and he booted three goals in the first term to help his side to a 17 point lead at quarter time. This was stretched to six goals by the half and nine at orange time in a freewheeling high scoring game that eventually saw the team comfortably home without any major complications.

The result was not simply a case of a club laden with AFL listed players monstering an inexperienced stand alone club. With Melbourne keeping all of its emergencies in Darwin for the weekend and Aaron Davey not quite ready to play, there were opportunities aplenty for local Casey talent to step forward. Debutant Stefan Baumgartner from Devon Meadows who has impressed with his play on the ball in the reserves picked up 24 possessions in an outstanding first up display. Victorian Country Under 18 representative Shaun Marusic from the Gippsland Power was also in for his first game and showed his potential as the 23rd player. Former team mate Luke Tynan was another youngster to do well.

Forward Ben Waite lived up to his name. Forced to wait several weeks at the start of the season to serve a four match suspension from last year prolonged because of a number of byes for the reserves, he had to bide his time to make the team and his 16 possessions, 7 marks and 4 goals were an excellent return for his comeback to the seniors.

Casey regulars, co-skipper James Wall with 13 kicks and 11 handballs, Will Petropoulos 17 touches and Rian Mcgough who laid eight tackles underlined the depth of the team's VFL list with Danny Nicholls coming back from injury through the reserves spiritual leader Kyle Matthews due to come back after the break for next week's bye.

Demon midfielder Michael Evans had a big day out in the midfield with 25 possessions and was well supported by another comeback player in Neville Jetta (20 disposals) while Lynden Dunn's experience and four goals riled the opposition supporters who seemed to enjoy commenting on his moustache rather than concentrating on the ability he displayed.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Jamie Bennell (3 kicks, 9 handballs, 3 marks) - gave some run at times and did his job but did nothing outstanding to suggest an immediate AFL recall.

Sam Blease (15 kicks, 7 handballs, 1 mark) - had some good runs out of defence when he dazzled the opposition with his pace but sometimes those plays were not finished off well. When it worked, it looked great but that didn't happen enough on the day.

Robert Campbell (4 kicks, 7 handballs, 1 mark, 1 goal) - pretty much in control in the ruck against a reasonably well-credentialled VFL opponent.

Lucas Cook (5 kicks, 3 handballs, 5 marks) - played a long way up the ground. Took some nice marks but generally has a quiet day.

Troy Davis (3 kicks, 5 handballs, 1 mark) - did what he had to do in defence and that was to keep his opponent in check.

Lynden Dunn (11 kicks, 10 handballs, 6 marks, 4 goals) - used his experience to great advantage to finish with four goals in a forward line that played havoc with the opposition's defence. Teamed well with Fev.

Michael Evans (20 kicks, 5 handballs, 8 marks, 1 goals) - a brilliant game in the Casey midfield. A young player showing constant improvement.

Neville Jetta (12 kicks, 8?handballs, 7 marks, 1 goal) – a great game to mark his return from injury and definitely a chance for a game with the Demons this week.

Cameron Johnston (7 kicks, 9 handballs, 3 marks) – this was a much better game than his more recent displays in senior company. Tackled strongly and is a long kick.

Tom McDonald (4 kicks, 8 handballs, 4 marks, 1 goal) – workmanlike and gave some good run at times out of defence but not as good as some of his games earlier in the season.

Tom McNamara (15 kicks, 5 handballs, 3 marks) – keeps on improving in the midfield but there still some doubts about his pace (mind you, they say that about some of the best in elite company). Was injured late in the game.

Matthew Warnock (7 kicks, 8 handballs, 5 marks ) – a very competent display of defensive work at full back.

Casey Scorpions 5.2.32 11.6.72 17.7.109 25.9.159

Frankston 2.3.15 5.6.36 8.7.55 12.10.82

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fevola 11 Dunn Waite 4 Bell Campbell Evans Jetta McDonald Mohr

Frankston Haretuku 3 Clements Greeley 2 Appleford Baguley Clark Doria Kennedy

Best

Casey Scorpions Fevola Evans Baumgartner Dunn Warnock Jetta

Frankston Baguley Bosward Clements Hockey Kennedy Haretuku

In the curtain raiser, the Casey reserves took a 10 goal lead into the first break and were never troubled after that despite the Dolphins' persistence throughout. Jordan Pollard was best on the ground with 29 touches and 8 tackles. David Collins had 33 disposals to press his claims for a return to the seniors and Wade Lees racked up 26 disposals. Aaron Purves finished with four goals as the team moved into the top four of the competition for the first time this year.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Jack Fitzpatrick (14 disposals) - got plenty of the ball in a game in which he was being eased back after a long stint out with an injured ankle.

Kelvin Lawrence (22 disposals) - showed a lot of zip and finished with three goals in a much better display.

CASEY SCORPIONS 10.0.60 13.3.81 20.5.125 24.8.152

FRANKSTON 0.0.0 5.1.31 5.1.31 6.2.38

Goals

Casey Scorpions Purves 4 Lawrence McShane Wall 3 Fitzpatrick Lindsay 2 Cleven Collins Hill Nicholls Pollard Purdy Riseley

Frankston Crowe Proctor 2 Bennett Bywater

Best

Casey Scorpions Pollard Lawrence Collins Nicholls Fitzpatrick Gent

Frankston Bateman Miller Anwyl Lean Bennett Bywater

Coach Brad Gotch's assessment of the 12 MFC players in the game is up - Round 16 Casey Player Review

There's also an interesting report on the VFL site:-

Fevola Haul Of 11 Sinks Dolphins

The only problem I have with the report is this part -

Youngsters Rob Clements and Paul Kennedy tried to spur their side on through tough, gritty football, but it wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught of goals from the visiting team.

"Youngster" Paul Kennedy made his VFL debut at Sandringham in 1997, the same year as recently retired Nick Sautner and played for four seasons before taking off for overseas where he had a stint playing Gaelic football. He returned just in time to play in the 2005 premiership team with the Zebras and has ended up with the Dolphins. He was probably the oldest player on the ground by a fair way - older than that youngster Fevola!