ON THE BRINK

[Demonland 64,512]

ON THE BRINK by KC from Casey

The first thing many of those arriving for Sunday's VFL Elimination Final between Casey Scorpions and Werribee noticed was that it was springtime, the sun was shining and that conditions were perfect for a great game of football. There was a bit of wind about and it was favouring one end but nobody would have expected the huge influence it had on the game and its ultimate result by the end of the day.

Then again, few would have contemplated that Casey would finish on a final score of 3.10.28 when the Scorpions had started the game so brightly with goals to Mitchell Gent and Tim Smith barely five minutes in when they led with the aid of the breeze by 2.1.13 to nil.

What transpired from that point on is difficult to explain but one has to give credit to Werribee for closing down the game and bottling it up for long periods of time and wearing the minor premiers down in a battle of attrition on their home ground that saw them kick one goal halfway through the third term and no more for the whole day. They had gone from being on the brink of a preliminary final appearance to having an appointment back at the ground for a semi final in a very short space of time.

Werribee did not do all that much better offensively than its opponent but the Tigers were able to trouble the scoreboard enough in the second quarter to gain the necessary momentum to sustain a victory in one of the most defensive games of football seen for a long while.

Both teams were successful in the tactic of dropping players back and playing to the defensive side. Werribee gained a bonus with a goal against the wind late in the opening quarter (the only one of the entire game) and narrowed the Casey lead to a matter of points early in the second. By then, the blustery conditions were making it extremely difficult to score even with the wind advantage and it took the Tigers until the 24 minute mark to hit the lead and another on half time secured a good lead at the break.

The visitors then proceeded to suffocate the minor premiers in the third term keeping them down to a solitary goal to Michael Riseley in the middle of the quarter for Casey to momentarily grab the lead. However, from that point onwards, Werribee took control and did almost all of the scoring to finish with a solid three goal victory. Any chance the Scorpions might have had of getting back into the game was squandered by wayward delivery into the forward line in the wretched conditions.

The only forward who was able to come out on top in this game was Werribee's McKinley who finished with a hard earned three goals for the day while Casey missed its top goalkicker Jack Fitzpatrick who had played the night before for the Demons.

The Scorps were well served in the ruck by Jake Spencer and by the on ball efforts of Tom Couch, James Magner and Jordan Gysberts while Michael Riseley and Luke Tynan continued on their upward path of improvement which has been a highlight of the club's season.

The Scorpions are a young team with many inexperienced players and one would not be writing them off yet. They return to Casey Fields next Saturday to play Williamstown who ironically, were their opponents when they met there in the opening round of the season when the Scorpions won a cliff hanger.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

Down to only nine MFC listed players (James Strauss was a no show), we had a rare occurrence of not a single goal coming from a Demon in a Casey game. Only a few really contributed and the situation will only get worse next week with Spencer and Fitzpatrick unlikely to be available and Williams not recovering fast enough to get back in the side.

Matthew Bate (13 kicks, 6 handballs, 3 marks, 3 tackles)  - had a good day personally in conditions difficult for his team.

Lucas Cook (2 kicks, 3 handballs, 1 mark, 2 tackles) - had a quiet day.

Tom Couch (14 kicks, 3 handballs, 3 marks, 3 tackles) - not as many touches of the ball as usual but still went in hard for the ball.

Troy Davis (7 kicks, 4 hanballs, 5 marks, 2 tackles) - his opponent was Werribee's Ben McKinley who kicked as many goals as Casey did on the day (3) but Davis contested hard and added some good run out of defence at times.

Jordan Gysberts (10 kicks, 12 handballs, 7 marks, 5 tackles) - played well early on a wing and then moved to the midfield where he was a solid contributor.

James Magner (10 kicks, 14 handballs, 3 marks, 5 tackles) - work hard all day and was his teams most effective  midfielder.

Brent Moloney (5 kicks, 9 handballs, 2 marks, 4 tackles) - Beamer was heavily tagged and failed to exert any influence on the game.

Jai Sheahan (12 kicks, 4 handballs, 5 marks) - an impressive performance in the back half on a day meant for defenders.

Jake Spencer (8 kicks, 8 handballs, 4 marks, 2 tackles and 24 hit outs) - won in the ruck against Werribee's Majak Daw and gave his team good drive around the ground.

Casey Scorpions 2.4.16 2.5.17 3.9.27 3.10.28

Werribee Tigers 1.0.6 4.2.26 4.7.31 6.10.46

Goals

Casey Scorpions Gent Riseley Smith

Werribee Tigers McKinley 3 Harding Speight Warren

Best

Casey Scorpions Riseley Magner L Tynan Sheahan Panozza Gysberts

Werribee Tigers Harding Sierakowski Hartigan McKinley Mather Sharp

Poor kicking for goal derailed the development league side's season in the elimination final against the competition's other Tigers from Coburg.

Casey Scorpions 0.1.1 2.6.18 3.10.28 8.21.69

Coburg Tigers 5.0.30 7.2.44 14.5.89 15.5.95

Goals

Casey Scorpions Weekes 2 Galvin Page Pollard Rosier Salton Thompson

Coburg Tigers Hore 5 Barrack Maric 2 Bamblett Dimartino Duhau Hogan Jordan Robertella

Best

Casey Scorpions Pollard Cleven Page McGillivray-Smith Troutman Bull

Coburg Tigers Tanner Brandt Hore Cartelli Saville Linton