CASEY EYES THE FOUR

[Demonland 73,208]

CASEY EYES THE FOUR by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions moved a step closer to making the VFL top four with an emphatic 44-point win over the Werribee Tigers at Casey Fields on Saturday.

The home side relished the sunny skies and the near perfect conditions for football as they led from go to whoa to leapfrog both the Tigers and the Northern Bullants to retake fourth place with just one round left before the finals.

The win was the perfect response to a week of soul searching in the wake of the team's second defeat for the season at the hands of the lowly Coburg Tigers in a performance that threatened to derail Casey's 2011 finals campaign.

The Scorpions must now repeat the dose at home against the fifth placed Northern Bullants to book an appointment in the first qualifying final with undefeated ladder leader Port Melbourne.

The Tigers set out to emulate their success of earlier in the year when they won a spiteful encounter at Chirnside Park but after booting the game's first goal, they succumbed to the combined special talents of West Australian indigenous duo Neville Jetta and Kelvin Lawrence who displayed some electric form in the first quarter after Evan Pannoza kicked the team's opening goal.

The much improved Lawrence booted two goals for the term and together with Jetta, started many forward thrusts to help the home side open up a 20 point lead by quarter time.

Matthew Bate continued his rich vein of form for the Scorpions with a great goal just before the break and with both he and Fevola (who passed 50 goals for the season during the second term) dominating up forward, Casey stretched its lead to 33 points at half time.

The intensity dropped a little in the second half but Casey maintained control throughout and was rarely troubled by the Tigers.

The dual ruck combination of Robbie Campbell and Max Gawn had an absorbing duel with Werribee's McIntosh but it was the likes of Jetta (29 touches) and Tom McNamara (27 disposals) who were dominant in the middle. Dave Collins and Wade Lees proved to be excellent back ups and co-skipper James Wall was back to his best with 23 possessions.

Meanwhile, back in defence, Matthew Warnock was steady as a rock and Tim Mohr, bound for the AFL draft combine at season's end, again did his future prospects no harm, this time under the watchful eyes of a bevy of Collingwood scouts.

Jetta was easily best on ground and was unrelenting with his attack on the football right to the end, combining brilliantly with Bate and Fevola in many attacking moves. The latter copped plenty from some of the Tiger fans near the boundary but answered them definitively by kicking six goals from 11 kicks and eight marks to set up his team' win and a meeting with some of his old Carlton team mates when the Scorpions battle the Bullants at Casey Fields next Saturday for the coveted fourth place on the final ladder.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED Melon22's review of the Melbourne listed players' performances:-

Matthew Bate – too strong and quick for his opponent all day and dominated across half forward for Casey. Has been very consistent for Casey and he has been playing with a great attitude all year.

Rohan Bail – a good comeback from injury. Was a good contributor for most of the day but slowed down a little in the last quarter. He added some class and speed to the Casey midfield which was sorely missed from the team last week.

Robert Campbell – had a lot more game time than he has in previous weeks as he looks to build his fitness levels coming in to the finals. He got the best of Hamish McIntosh when matched up in the ruck and gave Casey first use of the ball for most of the day. With a return of Robbie’s fitness he is starting to get more involved with the play around the ground and showing he still has a future at AFL level.

Troy Davis – played across half back and was very good all day; he is a super competitor and shows great desperation playing in the backline. Could be in line for an AFL debut as he has been very consistent after missing most of the early part of the year with a thyroid problem.

Max Gawn – with Campbell playing more time in the ruck, it meant Max was pushed forward a little more than he has in the past games. Managed to kick one, could have a snagged a couple more and was a matchup nightmare for Werribee’s defence.

Neville Jetta – hardly put a foot wrong all day in a best on ground performance which adds to a good run of form since coming back from injury a few weeks ago. Neville is winning a lot of his own ball in the midfield and has been damaging for Casey with his foot skills going forward. He is surely front and centre for a recall this week to the AFL.

Jack Fitzpatrick – while he didn’t have a lot of impact up forward when he did get his opportunities he was good. He is absurdly fast for a big man and watching him run around midfielders would bring a smile to any Melbourne supporter's face. While he still needs to work on his kicking, an AFL debut in the last two weeks would not be out of the question.

Kelvin Lawrence – great all day. Played more in the midfield where he didn’t look out of place, managed to kick two very nice goals and could be in line for a breakout finals series with Casey. The last few weeks for Kelvin has been brilliant as he is starting to show real signs that he has a future in the AFL. He has a great attack on the ball and his hunger for the tackle is very impressive.

Addam Maric – played up forward and was mostly quiet, when he did have the ball he was effective.

Tom McDonald – player on Hamish McIntosh for most of the game and did a good job even though he was outsized. He used his body well and didn’t look out of place on his more celebrated opponent. Probably the most deserving player this year yet to make his AFL debut, has been the most impressive of the youngsters to come in this year and AFL game would be nice reward for a great year from Tom.

Tom McNamara – has found some form playing in the midfield in the last few weeks; he always competes but he just probably needs to bit tidier in his disposal if he wants to stay in the midfield long term.

Daniel Nicholson – displayed his usual dash off half back and was very good in his defensive work. He just needs to tidy up his kicking a little bit, made a couple of bad turnovers which hurt Casey.

Matthew Warnock – was back to his normal outstanding play after a bad week last week, he continues to be the rock in Casey’s defence.

Casey Scorpions 5.0.30 10.4.64 13.9.87 17.11.113

Werribee Tigers 1.4.10 4.7.31 7.8.50 10.9.69

Casey Scorpions Fevola 6 Bate Jetta Lawrence 2 Fitzpatrick Gawn McGough Nicholls Panozza

Werribee Tigers McIntosh 3 McKinley 2 Daw Harding Mangan Rockefeller Warren

Best

Casey Scorpions Jetta Warnock Lees Campbell Bate McNamara

Werribee Tigers McIntosh Ross Mather O'Dwyer Tighe Hartigan

Casey's rising reserves team made it nine wins in a row when they were untroubled in notching a solid 43-point win over Werribee.

It was a great team effort with Jess Bolton, who continues to improve with every game, David Bell and Cameron Johnston featuring among the best players and Will Petropoulos booting three goals.

The return of Austin Wonaeamirri struck a snag when he hurt his ankle in the first half of the game and the nuggety forward will undergo scans to determine the extent of the injury.

Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 7.3.45 9.7.61 13.13.91

Werribee Tigers 3.1.19 3.3.21 5.6.36 7.6.48

Goals

Casey Scorpions Petropoulos 3 Bell Purves Waite 2 Purves 2 Baumgartner Matthews Riseley Weekes

Werribee Tigers Bryce Larsen 2 Risol Simpson Still

Best

Casey Scorpions Bolton Bell Johnston Matthews Pollard Petropoulos

Werribee Tigers Moloney Sullivan Caldow Still Robbins James