CASUAL CASEY by KC from Casey

[Demonland 73,106]

The Casey Scorpions retained their place in the upper echelons of the VFL ladder with a casual demolition of the Coburg Tigers yesterday. The 47-point victory keeps the Scorps in third position behind Box Hill and Geelong with all three separated only by a small amount of percentage.

The home team was in control from the outset building a 15 point lead at the first break before pressing the accelerator with a seven goal second term to march into the sheds at half time with a 44-point lead.

Coburg rallied to an extent after the main break and managed to limit the damage as Casey strolled its way casually through the last half to add to its ascendency by a further three points. Although the windy conditions made life difficult in the second half, coach Rohan Welsh would have been hoping that his charges could keep up the same level of pressure during that period as it did in the first half of the game but otherwise, it was a solid effort as the club moves towards the business end of the season.

Young Demon lister Jesse Hogan (it's well documented now that he cannot make his AFL debut until 2014) again underlined his sheer talent with a stellar performance that yielded four goals. He had a hand in quite a few other scoring efforts and missed a couple as well but it's hard to recall a teenager so dominant at this level. His strength is his marking but he also moves well at ground level and brings others around him into the game. His stats sheet reveals that he picked up 23 disposals, took 12 marks and kicked 4 goals 3 behinds and while some might criticise his kicking for goal, the swirly conditions did not help.

The pleasing thing for have been that many of his Scorpion listed players made huge contributions to the team cause. With Tom Couch missing through injury, Jordan Pollard (32 touches) and Mitch Gent (25) stepped into the breach to assist James Magner (26) in a dominant midfield. Tim Smith (3 goals) and Jake Best (2) were dangerous around goals.

Melbourne fans looking for a lift under the new coach would have been happy with the form of James Sellar who picked up 25 disposals) Neville Jetta worked hard as did ruckman Max Gawn (27 hit outs).

The Scorpions have an engagement at home against the Northern Blues on Saturday before an ABC television audience. These occasions are rare (and somewhat inexplicable given the team's ladder position) and fans will be expecting a better performance that their last televised match against Box Hill earlier last month.

Casey Scorpions 3.5.23 10.7.67 13.12.90 16.15.111

Coburg Tigers 1.2.8 3.5.23 5.8.38 9.10.64

Goals

Casey Scorpions Hogan 4 Smith 3 Hughes Petropoulos 2 Bail Best Gent Jetta Tapscott

Coburg Tigers McBean 2 Arnot Carnell Clifton Lonergan McDonough Nahas

Best

Casey Scorpions Hogan Gent Pollard Sellar L Tynan Jetta

Coburg Tigers Carnell Venditti Dea Derickx Arnot Clifton

The Casey Development League team had a 38 point win to move into contention for a final's place.

Casey Scorpions 2.3.15 5.8.38 12.13.85 12.18.90

Coburg Tigers 1.4.10 3.7.25 5.7.37 7.10.52

Goals

Casey Scorpions Lang 3 Boland Rosier 2 Godfrey Dearaugo Godfrey Hill Lindsay McInnes

Coburg Tigers Anderson Robinson 2 Brandt Cleary Yelland

Best

Casey Scorpions P Rosier Jackson Troutman Lindsay Lang Hill

Coburg Tigers Robertella Egglestone Drake Yelland Easton Keogh