SCORPIONS RULE AT WINDY BOX HILL by K C from Casey

The Casey Scorpions shrugged off the loss of players to injury, illness and AFL promotion to record a significant victory at Box Hill City Oval on Saturday.

Casey had first use of the tricky breeze and dominated from the outset with former Demon skipper Brad Green providing great drive and Liam Jurrah proving elusive and a difficult customer to handle.

The Casey listed players were also out to prove a point after they were shunned by VFL selectors for the forthcoming representative match against Tasmania. Luke Tynan continued to show improvement with a great four quarter effort to finish with 24 disposals and he was particularly impressive in the early going. Rian McGough and Matt Fieldsend chipped in with the game's first two goals as the visitors opened up a 12 point lead at the first break.

The home side came back strongly in the early stages of the second term but both teams were off target and the game was sinking into a lacklustre contest of defences until the experience of Lynden Dunn and the class of Jurrah and Jack Watts pressed home the advantage in favour of the Scorpions.

With Tynan, Sam Blease and Dan Nicholson opening up the game with good running, the team piled on the next three unanswered goals to go into the sheds having doubled their lead during the quarter.

The Scorpions were now unstoppable and they simply dominated the "premiership quarter" with five goals to nil in a great team performance that saw some of the young unsung members of the team come to the fore. Names such as Mitch Gent, Ricky Plummer and last year’s reserves best and fairest Tynan are not well known at present in VFL circles but they continued to contribute in the shadow of the bigger names in the side.

The Demons also look to have uncovered some talent for the future in Rory Taggert (26 disposals) and defenders Troy Davis and Jai Sheahan who were solid all day.

With the game well and truly won by the final break, Box Hill broke through for some goals early in the final term but coach Brett Lovett would have to be pleased with the persistence of his players who re-established their ascendency late in the game to run out easy winners by 52 points. He must also be delighted with the improvement of his own VFL listed players who stood up in the absence of injured players such as co-captain Kyle Matthews and Wade Lees as well as the way in which they are gelling with their AFL counterparts, a few of who would surely have earned a trip to Sydney for the coming weekend.

Casey goes into the bye in second place and with the interstate game to follow does not play again until June although an intraclub practice match is being mooted to ensure the momentum of the past weeks can be retained.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Sam Blease - great pace and attack on the football. His defensive efforts were much better this week.

Lucas Cook - played well in flashes only but he was not helped by the swirly winds.

Troy Davis - a solid effort deep in defence where he displayed all the necessary desperation and skills.

Lynden Dunn - won a lot of the ball (27 disposals) and was reasonably effective with his marking, kicking and ball movement in general. Put his hand up.

Brad Green - too much class for this company and if his fitness holds up should be back in the big time next week.

Liam Jurrah - was in good touch early and is clearly ready to return to the AFL at long last.

Kelvin Lawrence - working harder and longer during the course of each game.

Joel Macdonald - solid and unobtrusive but will find it difficult to win a promotion.

Stefan Martin - has overcome a hip problem and did some very nice things during the game including nailing a nice pass for a goal with finesse.

Daniel Nicholson - plenty of run and carry with good pace but lets himself down from time to time with poor disposal. Kicked 0.4.

Jai Sheahan - despite the conditions which would not usually suit someone of his height, Sheahan continues to put in solid dependable performances in defence that belie the fact that he is a rookie listed player.

Jake Spencer - he's slow and not particularly well co-ordinated but plugs away and works hard. Still on the comeback trail so hard to be too critical.

Rory Taggert - a fantastic effort from the youngster who missed much of the pre season and several early games with a back injury. Showed good skills and endeavour, kicked a couple of goals and surprised with his class.

Luke Tapscott - a strong display. Showed out with good disposal.

Jack Watts - at this stage of his career he is not a crash and bash artist and won't be until he puts on more weight. However, playing on a wing, he was simply too classy for the opposition and most of his 25 possessions hit their mark.

Casey Scorpions 2.5.15 5.10.40 10.14.74 13.19.97

Box Hill Hawks 0.5.5 1.10.16 1.14.20 5.15.45

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fieldsend Taggert 2 Blease Cook Gent Jurrah McGough Martin Riseley Tapscott Watts

Box Hill Hawks Hughes 2 McCauley Wanganeen

Best

Casey Scorpions L Tynan Taggert Davis Plummer Fieldsend Nicholson

Box Hill Hawks Murphy Mirra Pattison Hughes Jones Bruce

2012 AFL Vic Development League

Casey Scorpions 3.6.24 5.9.39 10.15.75 14.18.102

Port Melbourne 0.4.4 3.9.27 5.11.41 7.13.55

Goals

Casey Scorpions Smith 5 Cleven Page Petropoulos 2 Collins Clay Johnson

Port Melbourne Bond Francis Jawad Morris O'Sullivan Sutcliffe Teasdale

Best

Casey Scorpions Pollard Lang Collins Patti Page Allen

Port Melbourne Johnston McCarthy Sutcliffe Thornton Williams Collopy

The Casey Development League team does have a game next week - an away fixture on Sunday at 11am against Frankston.

Thanks again KC

I did see most of this game on the TV and was interested in your report as the Commentators who I generally like did seem a bit harsh on Green an dWatts particularly. It was also good to see some of the string of possesion as players moved ahead "spread" confident that the ball would be delivered to where they were going

There are some good features of the Scorpions play that hopefully can be taken up to the Dees

Do you see such a big difference between the two levels? It seems there are many players at all clubs who rotate and the intensity doesnt translate on the TV (never has) but I have seen some VFA matches that were harder (more intense) more skillful than some AFL in the past. Is there hope that some of the successful attributes of the Scorpions can be taken to the AFL