TOP OF THE HEAP

TOP OF THE HEAP by KC from Casey

The final round of the 2012 Peter Jackson VFL premiership season went right down to the wire on Saturday with three close games taking place at venues as far apart as Geelong, North Ballarat and Cranbourne East combining to present the Casey Scorpions with their best possible result - the competition's minor premiership and a home qualifying final.

When the dust settled, Port Melbourne lost top position with a one point loss to the Roosters, second placed Geelong went down by four points at home to Williamstown and the Casey Scorpions came from 11 points behind at three quarter time to overcome Sandringham by 19 points after a scrappy wind-affected battle of attrition. 

The Zebras opened with the advantage of the stiff breeze and had most of the play in the first ten minutes but managed only a single goal. Their hosts struck a brief purple patch with goals from Jack Fitzpatrick on a lead and another from Mitch Gent to take a three point lead in mid quarter. This spurred Sandy on and they improved their direction into attack to score three unanswered goals.

During the break, coach Brett Lovett stressed the importance of using the big wind advantage but the Zebras bottled things up nicely and did a lot of the early attacking. Things were looking grim as the Scorps struggled to score until Jordan Gysberts read the play well and goaled for the home side. Soon after, Jack Fitzpatrick marked on a lead to kick his second to make it 2 points the difference and when a courageous mark from Matthew Bate led to Casey's fifth goal, it took the lead. A late goal against the run of play to Sandy saw the Scorpions' lead cut to a mere two points at half time.

The midfield battle was being won by the home team which had Dave Collins, James Magner, Brent  Moloney and Jordan Gysberts winning all the close in battles that were so important in the tough conditions. 

The lead changed hands again early in the third term after a lucky free to the Zebras who scored another soon after for their third unanswered goal. Casey tightened up its defence in the swirly conditions and Will Petropoulos took advantage of a fifty metre penalty to goal from close in to bring it back to a four point game. Late in the quarter, Sandy goaled from the boundary but most felt that an eleven point lead would be difficult to defend in the conditions. 

Comeback kid Kyle Matthews kicked the first of his two final quarter goals early in the term and then a series of points to Casey got things to even terms before a long goal from defender Jai Sheahan gave them the lead. A minor revival by Sandringham saw them take the lead back with two goals against the run of things but Fitzpatrick chipped in with a couple of real team lifters. Matthews put things beyond doubt with  a captain's goal and Josh Tynan added one at the end to make it a 19 point win. The real bonus then came as scores from the other grounds saw Casey on top in the final ladder calculations.

The result was a triumph for the team and its blend of AFL and VFL listed players given that the circumstances allowed only nine Demons in the side. The benefits of the mix were evident everywhere from the rucks where Mark Jamar and Luke Hill (38 and 28 hit outs respectively) had the edge to on ballers Collins (34 touches), Moloney, Magner (24 each) and Gysberts (23) who held sway at the stoppages and the tight contrsts. Jai Sheahan, Troy Davis, Evan Panozza and Luke Tynan held together a tight defence and Jack Fitzpatrick, with four goals, was the star up forward. Josh Tynan with 24 disposals played his best game since returning from injury while Matthews and Danny Nicholls are also proving their value to the team after long stints on the sidelines.

Casey has a score to settle with Werribee in Sunday's Qualfying Final at Casey Fields. The Tigers knocked them out of last year's finals at the semi stage and inflicted the Scorps' biggest defeat of the season earlier this year at Avalon Airport Oval. It promises to be a cracker of a game.

Casey Scorpions 2.0.12 5.6.36 6.7.43 12.14.86

Sandringham 4.4.28 5.4.34 8.6.54 10.7.67

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fitzpatrick 4 Matthews 2 Bate Gent Gysberts, Petropoulos Sheahan J Tynan

Sandringham Dowler 3 Archer Hallahan 2 Dunell Michaliades  Waller

Best 

Casey Scorpions Collins Sheahan Fitzpatrick J Tynan Gysberts Magner

Sandringham Hallahan Sikora Curren Jones Cockie Dowler

In the 2012 AFL Development League the Scorps went down by 9 points to finish in fifth place overall. Casey will play the VFL's other Tigers (Coburg) in the curtain raiser elimination  final on Sunday. Ironically, it was Coburg who also knocked them out of the finals last year.

Casey Scorpions 4.3.27 5.3.33 7.10.52 8.12.60

Box Hill Hawks 0.0.0 2.5.17 7.7.49 9.15.69

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fieldsend 2 Allen Cleven  Galvin McFarlane Pollard Weekes

Box Hill Hawks Johns 4 Cassidy  Hughes  Monkhorst Otten Phelps 

Best 

Casey Scorpions Patti Pollard Cleven Fieldsend Cook Weekes

Box Hill Hawks Lock Gordon Northe Tobin Johns Cassidy