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[Demonland 71,629]

A young and inexperienced Casey combination breathed life back into their club's season with a gutsy 16-point win over the Northern Bullants at a rain drenched Visy Park on Saturday.

The Scorpions who squandered a big half time lead to lose narrowly last week at the hands of the Werribee Tigers looked like repeating the effort again this week after seeing a 32-point lead just before the main break dwindle down to a single goal just before the final break.

However, the team dug deep in the final term despite the fact that several were hurt during the game and had spent time in the hands of the trainers. The loss of Max Gawn to AFL emergency duty combined with the fact that a couple of ruckmen are on the injured list had left them so desperately short of ruckmen that defender Troy Davis had to be co-opted for second ruck duty giving away 10cm when contesting against Cameron Wood. He was helping out first gamer in 202cm beanpole Jake Thomas after losing Jack Fitzpatrick to injury just on quarter time but it was tough going against seasoned big man Cameron Wood who had a birthday party with a near record number of hit outs that helped drive the Blues during their four goal to one comeback in the third quarter.

The highlight of the game was Tim Smith's five goal haul in the first half, a time when conditions at the ground were at their worst. He marked strongly and kicked straight and was the difference between the sides in the opening two stanzas. After half time he was well covered by the Blues' defence but by then the damage had almost been done.

The Scorpions offset their ruck disadvantage with strength in their midfield. Jimmy Toumpas, Jordie McKenzie, Viv Mitchie and Aidan Riley all worked their butts off throughout the game and the centre line of Sam Blease, Michael Evans and Dom Barry gave great drive into the forward line all day. These players should be putting pressure on the midfielders at Melbourne as they all had a much harder edge in the difficult conditions.

Although things improved weather wise as the afternoon went on the soggy ball made it difficult to play cohesive football and the game came to a virtual standstill in the final quarter when scoring was painfully difficult. The hero was youngster Jayden Hunt who slipped behind a contest near goals and kicked truly to make the game safe. Hunt has great pace and could become a real prospect as he matures.

Next week the Scorpions take on Coburg at Mantello Oval on Saturday afternoon before enjoying the first bye of the year the following week.

2014 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 8.5.53 9.9.63 10.11.71

Northern Bullants 2.1.13 4.3.27 8.7.55 8.7.55

Goals

Casey Scorpions Smith 5 Tapscott 2 Hunt Mitchie Rosier

Northern Bullants Bransgrove Wilson 2 Byrne Cattapan Temay Wood

Best

Casey Scorpions Blease Smith McKenzie Michie Riley Barry

Northern Bullants Cachia Graham McInnes Bransgrove Anthony Tardio

Statistics:

Dom Barry 14 disposals 7 kicks 7 handballs 2 marks 8 tackles 74 Dream Team Points

Sam Blease 29 disposals 25 kicks 4 handballs 5 marks 3 tackles 110 Dream Team Points

Michael Evans 24 disposals 13 kicks 11 handballs 2 marks 13 tackles 1 hit out 117 Dream Team Points

Jack Fitzpatrick 2 disposals 1 kick 1 handball 1 tackle 11 hit outs 21 Dream Team Points [injured]

Alexis Georgiou 10 disposals 6 kicks 4 handballs 4 tackles 42 Dream Team Points

Jayden Hunt 1 goal 1 behind 14 disposals 7 kicks 7 handballs 1 mark 44 Dream Team Points

Jordie McKenzie 1 behind 30 disposals 18 kicks 12 handballs 2 marks 8 tackles 110 Dream Team Points

Viv Michie 1 goal 1 behind disposals 16 kicks 7 handballs 7 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 104 Dream Team Points

Dan Nicholson 22 disposals 11 kicks 11 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 91 Dream Team Points

Aidan Riley 28 disposals 6 kicks 22 handballs 1 mark 11 tackles Dream 102 Team Points

James Strauss 1 behind 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 1 marks 3 tackles 43 Dream Team Points

Luke Tapscott 2 goals 20 disposals 18 kicks 2 handballs 3 tackles 82 Dream Team Points

Jimmy Toumpas 21 disposals 12 kicks 9 handballs 1 mark 15 tackles 2 hit outs 118 Dream Team Points

Casey's Development League team copped a fair towelling from the Northern Blues going down by 58 points.

2014 AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 0.2.2 2.3,15 2.5.17 4.6.30

Northern Blues 4.6.30 6.11.47 7.12.54 12.16.88

Goals

Casey Scorpions Anderson Lang Scott Shiels

Northern Bullants Walton 3 Dorman 2 Couch Emley McCann Murray Sutton Toman Watson

Best

Casey Scorpions Drew Rutherford Lang Shiels Thwaites Corrigan

Northern Bullants McCann Walton Watson Dirago Taglieri Johnston

Casey holds on for victory over Blues