A PIE IN THE FACE FOR CASEY by Whispering Jack

The pattern of squandering a handy lead before capitulating continued for the Casey Scorpions when they went down to Collingwood by six points in difficult conditions at Casey Fields on Saturday.

Heavy rain met the teams at the start which caused a scrappy affair. The teams went goal for goal throughout most of the first half with a late goal to Dean Kent, his second for the game, giving the home side a 5 point lead at the main break. At that stage, Casey was leading in most of the key performance indicators with Jordie McKenzie picking up a swag of possessions out of the middle.

After an early third quarter goal gave Collingwood back the lead, the Scorpions took full control of the game and when Kent kicked his third at the 16 minute mark, they held a 17 point lead. It was at this stage that the now familiar pattern took hold. There was a sudden drop in Casey's momentum and it was all Collingwood and they finally hit the lead at the 30 minute mark. A free kick to Pat Rosier on the siren gave Casey the lead at the final break.

The Scorpions have had a three week break with a bye followed by the VFL representative game and despite Rohan Welsh's call to arms, they gave away two goals in quick succession early in the fourth. Despite an arm wrestle which saw them wrest the lead back with a Tim Smith goal from a difficult angle, the latter part of the quarter was played almost entirely in Collingwood's forward half and the Magpies broke through to lead by the 18 minute mark and held on without much trouble.

The lack of urgency at the end when the game was in the balance was like a slap in the face to those who work hard at the club and to the hardy supporters who brave the elements to follow the team.

Casey's cause was not helped when the prolific Jordie McKenzie was taken from the field after half time, presumably as he is needed for emergency duties at Melbourne. While many of them are young, there were too many AFL listed players not putting in for the full four quarters and the VFL contingent were weakened by the absence of Troy Davis, Mitch Gent, Nathan Page and Will Petropoulos leaving very few seasoned players or leaders to help skipper Evan Panozza. The club introduced two first gamers and several others have only played a handful of games. Debutant Matt Rennie kicked two goals.

On a tough day for marking forwards, Casey really had very little up there and relied heavily on a solid performance from Kent. Aidan Riley and James Strauss were solid at times while Sam Blease gave good run out of defence.

The defeat has left Casey at 3-5 and well off the pace in the race for the finals, facing a difficult trek to Eureka Stadium North Ballarat next Saturday.

2014 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 2.1.13 4.3.27 9.5.59 11.7.73

Collingwood 2.2.14 3.4.22 8.8.56 11.13.79

Goals

Casey Scorpions Kent 3 Barry Rennie 2 Michie Rosier Smith Tapscott

Collingwood Allan Reid Martin Suckling 2 Armstrong Ferguson Mooney

Casey Scorpions Kent McKenzie Riley Strauss Smith Blease

Collingwood Suckling Kennedy Williams Hellier Hudson Marsh

Statistics

Dom Barry 2 goals 13 disposals 8 kicks 5 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 54 Dream Team Points

Sam Blease 26 disposals 19 kicks 7 handballs 1 marks 3 tackles 86 Dream Team Points

Michael Evans 16 disposals 12 kicks 4 handballs 8 tackles 67 Dream Team Points

Jack Fitzpatrick 1 behind 10 disposals 6 kicks 4 handballs 1 mark 1 tackle 40 hit outs 71 Dream Team Points

Alexis Georgiou 6 disposals 6 kicks 2 marks 3 tackles 35 Dream Team Points

James Harmes 13 disposals 5 kicks 8 handballs 1 mark 3 tackles 33 Dream Team Points

Dean Kent 3 goals 21 disposals 17 kicks 4 handballs 5 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 103 Dream Team Points

Jordie McKenzie 22 disposals 9 kicks 13 handballs 12 tackles 94 Dream Team Points

Viv Michie 1 goal 1 behind 19 disposals 16 kicks 3 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 87 Dream Team Points

Dan Nicholson 14 disposals 10 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 6 tackles 46 Dream Team Points

Aidan Riley 18 disposals 5 kicks 13 handballs 12 tackles 77 Dream Team Points

James Strauss 1 behind 14 disposals 9 kicks 5 handballs 6 tackles 63 Dream Team Points

Luke Tapscott 1 goal 12 disposals 9 kicks 3 handballs 2 marks 9 tackles 74 Dream Team Points

Jimmy Toumpas 12 disposals 8 kicks 4 handballs 1 mark 4 tackles 45 Dream Team Points

The Development Team was thrashed by the Box Hill Hawks.

2014 AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 1.1.7 3.3.21 4.4.28 7.4.46

Box Hill Hawks 8.5.53 12.10.82 18.12.120 22.16.148

Goals

Casey Scorpions Del Papa 2 Wyatt 2 Corry Murray Shiels

Box Hill Hawks Gordon 9 McEvoy 4 Tatupu 2 Cassidy Exon Franetic Northe O'Donnell Thompson Wood

Best

Casey Scorpions Paredes Shiels Corry Drew Welsh Wyatt

Box Hill Hawks Gordon Wood Tobin Thompson O'Donnell Tatupu