STRAIGHT SETS by KC from Casey

For the third successive season, the Werribee Tigers bundled the Casey Scorpions out of the VFL finals series in straight sets in their semi-final at North Port Oval. The loss was Casey's 10th consecutive finals loss since 2008 and its ninth on end since taking on its alignment with Melbourne.

Whatever was the case in previous seasons, the Scorpions were certainly desperately unlucky on the injury front this year. They had nine Demons in their team against the Tigers but lost a similar number of qualified players to injuries and/or retirements in the past month including young goal kicking sensation Jesse Hogan.

But let's leave the excuses aside because Casey started well enough and held a two goal lead at the 20 minute mark of the second term before lapses of concentration, poor decision making and sloppy use of the football let their opponents back into the game to lead at the main break and then consolidate to take control in the all-important third quarter.

This all took place despite the Scorpions dominating the hit outs through the agency of Max Gawn who gave Tom Couch (38 disposals) and the heavily tagged James Magner (33) clear superiority at the stoppages. Unfortunately, it was the Tigers who often mopped up the Scorpions mistakes allowing their midfield to work back into the game. Werribee's greater accuracy in front of goal was also a factor - they rarely missed while some of the Casey forwards were making a meal out of relatively easy shots in front of goals.

Earlier, Tim Smith was dangerous up forward with four first half goals but he was also needed as a foil for Gawn in the ruck and, as a consequence, had little impact after half time.

Neville Jetta was strong for most of the game running out of defence, skipper Evan Panozza worked hard to shut down the opposition forwards and James Sellar was good whilst down back. Jake Best who has been a revelation as a small goal kicking forward was kept in check for most of the game but broke out of his shell for two goals in the third quarter.

Rohan Welsh did a terrific job with the team given that its financial position at the beginning of the year was precarious preventing it from going out to recruit big name players. He got the most of the players at his disposal whether they were Demons or VFL listed Scorpions - a fantastic achievement given what was happening with the Melbourne Football Club earlier in the season. In my opinion, he ranks among the best of the VFL coaches on his performance throughout the season.

2013 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions4.3.27 7.6.48 9.10.64 12.12.84

Werribee Tigers 5.2.32 9.4.58 15.5.95 19.10.124

Goals

Casey Scorpions Smith 4 Best 2 Gent Gillies Lindsay Magner Petropoulos Taggert

Werribee Tigers Maric Warren 4 Davis 2 Bolton Brown Clouston McDonald Martiniello Meredith Ross Sherlock Sullivan Ross

Best

Casey Scorpions Jetta Smith Riseley Petropoulos Panozza Sellar

Werribee Tigers Clouston Maric Ross Bolton Moore Sierakowski

Final Stats Couch 38 Magner 32 Petropoulos 23 Jetta Plummer J Tynan 18 L Tynan 17 Bail 16