Have to say, from what I saw until part way through 3rd term, King was not much in the play. For a lot of the time, the ball was doing circle work up and down the ground, not getting to the extremities at either end where King was stationed for us pretty well all game.

I am so glad King kicked 5 and I saw a couple of good ones, but for the rest of the game players like Bail an Harmes stood out much more for me, purely on possessions and influence on the game around packs.

With Jamar and Spencer playing he was never going to get a run in the midfield, but that was fine. He is still a beanpole, but since I saw him last year, he seemed to have gained a decent bit of body proportion and (almost) muscle in his lanky limbs. I really expect the full muscle won't appear until the next 1-2 years. Let's just give him time to see how well he develops. He has shown some more potential than I could see in him last year, but he ain't Elvis yet.

Kingy, I want you to hide yourself away over the summer and work on your body like Clubber Lang / Mr T from Rocky III.

"Prediction? Pain." ―Clubber

I guess if he played as a stay home forward then he can only be in the play when his teammates get it to him.

5 is still impressive on debut at any level.....needs to build on it, and build his body over the next pre seasons.

Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but Newton went off about 10 mins into the 3rd after injuring his hand and did not return. That is why he wasn't sighted in the second half.

I made a post one time about liking King... so I'll pretend like I knew this was coming and tell all you idiots I told you so.

But seriously, great to hear the kid has a few bags under his belt and a bag in the senior 2's. He moves like a nice footballer, I really hope he makes it.

Thanks everyone for the reports.

King developing well could be absolutely huge for us.

Not if some people get their way to delist him.

I have said for years you give big blokes time, as they generally need it.

A big kid who can kick goals and maybe play in the ruck when he develops physically, is a valuable commodity.

Fellow posters, I have been saying from training we are making sure we 'build' the young guys properly, there is no rush, I for one, am not at all surprised King kicked 5, never misses at training, and Harmes got to play in the midfield without Michie, Riley. ANB or Tyson in there as well and shone, just let the coaching staff get on with the building

Not sure if it has been mentioned yet but Newton went off about 10 mins into the 3rd after injuring his hand and did not return. That is why he wasn't sighted in the second half.

was it definitely his hand? I thought he looked pretty groggy when he came off. Thought he had the wind knocked out of him at first but looked a bit rattled up stairs from what I saw.

KING SIZE WIN TO CASEY by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions won their third match on end by overcoming a persistent Coburg Lions combination after a hard fought afternoon of football at Casey Fields.

The Scorpions kicked off the game with a fine goal from Demon rookie Max King who was to herald his return to the seniors with a five goal performance in perfect conditions. Both sides were on target with Casey in control for much of the first term and taking a three goal advantage into the break with a goal on the siren to Nathan Page.

Goals were more difficult to come by in the second quarter and Coburg rallied to narrow the margin with some strong work at the stoppages despite the home team's superior ruck strength. Thanks to the work of King and Spencer up forward (each kicked his second goal during this quarter) and the prolific ball-winning ability of Matt Jones, Rohan Bail and James Harmes, the Scorpions were able to maintain a handy little buffer of 14 points at half time.

However, the accurate Lions kicked the first three goals on end after the break to take a two point lead before King booted his third. It was goal for goal in a tense tussle that saw the visitors lead by the narrowest of margins when the teams went into the huddle at three quarter time.

The Coburg Lions have had to battle against adversity and to stay alive in the VFL competition in recent years. They are now a stand alone club with no big name players but against an aligned club with 11 AFL listed players they stood tall coming back every time Casey threatened to run away with the game. Max King kicked his fourth and the Lions came back. King got his fifth and still they fought back with another goal to be down by a solitary point. Even when Casey scored the next two goals through Jordie McKenzie and Chris Dawes, the Lions rallied with a reply but it was too late; the Scorpions prevailing by eight points when the siren sounded.

All in all, it was a big day for Demon rookie listers. King is no overnight sensation as he has played in NAB Challenge matches and VFL seniors before but he remains a work in progress as a tall, strong marking and accurate kick for goal. His five goals overshadowed the emergence of James Harmes who continues to impress as a hardworking midfielder who is not only good with his clearance work but has a significant impact around the ground. Mitch White also continues to produce positive efforts in defence and his accurate and long kicking is an asset.

Bail put in a fine performance and produced good run as did Matt Jones while Ed Morris continues to do his future prospects no harm. Former Gold Coast utility Jack Hutchins was strong all day as Justin Plapp continues to mould his list of emerging players into a team with final eight aspirations after last year's disappointing result.

The team travels to Central Victoria next Saturday to take on North Ballarat at Eureka Stadium in a must win game against a traditionally difficult opponent.

2015 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 6.0.36 8.4.52 10.8.68 14.13.97

Coburg Lions 3.0.18 6.2.38 11.3.69 14.5.89

Goals

Casey Scorpions King 5 Page Spencer 2 Bail Gent Dawes McKenzie Newton

Coburg Lions Featherstone 3 Carnell Cauchi Thomas 2 Christensen Fox MacDonald Mance Younan

Best

Casey Scorpions Bail Newton Smith Harmes M Jones Hutchins

Coburg Lions Iacobaccio Clifton Allan McConnell Christensen Venditti

Statistics

Rohan Bail 1 goal 1 behind 34 disposals 26 kicks 8 handballs 14 marks 7 tackles 173 dream team points

Chris Dawes 1 goal 10 disposals 5 kicks 5 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 57 dream team points

James Harmes 1 behind 31 disposals 15 kicks 16 handballs 5 tackles 101 dream team points

Mark Jamar 2 behinds 17 disposals 14 kicks 3 handballs 7 marks 2 tackles 29 hit outs 96 dream team points

Matt Jones 1 behind 36 disposals 20 kicks 16 handballs 13 marks 7 tackles 157 dream team points

Max King 5 goals 9 disposals 7 kicks 2 handballs 4 marks 6 tackles 91 dream team points

Oscar McDonald 1 behind 18 disposals 13 kicks 5 handballs 10 marks 81 dream team points

Jordie McKenzie 1 goal 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 5 marks 48 dream team points

Ben Newton 1 goal 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 56 dream team points

Jake Spencer 2 goals 1 behind 15 disposals 8 kicks 7 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 31 hit outs 113 dream team points

Mitch White 15 disposals 12 kicks 3 handballs 8 marks 1 tackle 71 dream team points

The development team came back to earth with a thud after it was ambushed in the first quarter and remained goalless at half time. The team fought back in the second half but couldn't bridge the huge gap and went down by 25 points.

2015 AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 0.2.2 0.6 .6 4.10.34 6.12.48

Coburg Lions 6.2.38 9.4.58 11.7.73 12.11.83

Goals

Casey Scorpions Lang 2 Fritsch Hunt Paredes Petropoulos

Coburg Lions Hemala Symes 2 Corigliano Easton Gleeson Hill Holdsworth Madden Robinson Totino

Best

Casey Scorpions O'Brien Kennedy-Harris Lang Wyatt Hunt Gains

Coburg Lions Sturgess Totino Holdsworth Williams Posar Easton

Disposals K Wilson 25 Petropoulos 24 Paredes 23 Kennedy-Harris 23

Fellow posters, I have been saying from training we are making sure we 'build' the young guys properly, there is no rush, I for one, am not at all surprised King kicked 5, never misses at training, and Harmes got to play in the midfield without Michie, Riley. ANB or Tyson in there as well and shone, just let the coaching staff get on with the building

It is about time we developed our young talent properly. That and clever drafting/trading is what makes a good side, something we haven't had for nearly 10 years.

Why in the hell is JKH playing in the thirds?

Why in the hell is JKH playing in the thirds?

Take a deep breath and think about why that might be.

Why in the hell is JKH playing in the thirds?

My theory is he would've been on restricted minutes. With 4 bigs in the Seniors - King, Dawes, Spencer, Jamar - it wouldn't have been smart to have a guy sitting on the bench after using up his minutes.

Playing JKH in the D League allows us to play King in the seniors as a [censored] for tat by doing the right thing by Casey.

After a significant groin injury, where he had done nothing for a number of weeks, he needs to gain fitness playing reduced time.

Fellow posters, I have been saying from training we are making sure we 'build' the young guys properly, there is no rush, I for one, am not at all surprised King kicked 5, never misses at training, and Harmes got to play in the midfield without Michie, Riley. ANB or Tyson in there as well and shone, just let the coaching staff get on with the building

I am glad they gave him a run in the middle its his natural position. I hope he sneaks in a couple of games for us later in the year. Love his agression and inside.

jkh is another who is probably a natural 'midfielder' but at afl level he is more of a push-up 5 / 6 half-forward type.

i imagine he'll get a run around in the vfl seniors next week, potentially at the expense of newton if he has hurt his hand?

i'm still confident that jkh is going to be a quality afl-level player. he reads the play really well, just needs to stay involved when not in the contest.

Fellow posters, I have been saying from training we are making sure we 'build' the young guys properly, there is no rush, I for one, am not at all surprised King kicked 5, never misses at training, and Harmes got to play in the midfield without Michie, Riley. ANB or Tyson in there as well and shone, just let the coaching staff get on with the building

finally we have a great group of assistant coaches & a footy dept', who know what they are doing Re deevelopment.

I'm starting to relax a little, in the belief of these fellas.

patience & tolerance is required for strong development; & strong disciplines.

was it definitely his hand? I thought he looked pretty groggy when he came off. Thought he had the wind knocked out of him at first but looked a bit rattled up stairs from what I saw.

Would explain his demeanor at the 3/4 time huddle then.

How can King kick 5 goals but not get in the best? I don't get it

I made a post one time about liking King... so I'll pretend like I knew this was coming and tell all you idiots I told you so.

But seriously, great to hear the kid has a few bags under his belt and a bag in the senior 2's. He moves like a nice footballer, I really hope he makes it.

Thanks everyone for the reports.

Listen buddy, I sorta thought I liked him first, and might have posted about it at one stage, so you need to defer to me and my expertise before you comment on King.

I see a lot of Wayne Carey in this kid...

How can King kick 5 goals but not get in the best? I don't get it

same reason as why full forwards don't win brownlows

(yes, i know plugger did once)

It is about time we developed our young talent properly. That and clever drafting/trading is what makes a good side, something we haven't had for nearly 10 years.

It's far easier for top sides to allow their young talent to develop in the 2nds. When lowly clubs are constantly losing, they get howled down by all and sundry when they play blokes that have been in the system for 4-5 years without showing much, ahead of kids with potential. If a kid at Casey shows that he may have more to offer long term than someone else in the team, then he needs to be given an opportunity. That's not to say that you burn him out if he's physically undeveloped.

As for King, it's very rare for an unheralded tall forward to become a good stay at home key forward at AFL level. From the little I've seen of King, he looks like a footballer first, athlete second, which is a good sign. He's one who I would keep at Casey for a couple of more years to physically develop into hopefully a forward/2nd ruckman.

Listen buddy, I sorta thought I liked him first, and might have posted about it at one stage, so you need to defer to me and my expertise before you comment on King.

I see a lot of Wayne Carey in this kid...

I'll see your Duck and raise you a Plugger.

Hang on, what were we talking about again?

It's far easier for top sides to allow their young talent to develop in the 2nds. When lowly clubs are constantly losing, they get howled down by all and sundry when they play blokes that have been in the system for 4-5 years without showing much, ahead of kids with potential. If a kid at Casey shows that he may have more to offer long term than someone else in the team, then he needs to be given an opportunity. That's not to say that you burn him out if he's physically undeveloped.

As for King, it's very rare for an unheralded tall forward to become a good stay at home key forward at AFL level. From the little I've seen of King, he looks like a footballer first, athlete second, which is a good sign. He's one who I would keep at Casey for a couple of more years to physically develop into hopefully a forward/2nd ruckman.

Agree. It's also much easier for a young forward to come into a strong settled team than into a forward line that has different personnel each match and is part of a struggling team.

Hopefully by the time King is ready, we'll have a stronger midfield who will get it to the forwards much more effectively, and a more settled forward line that he can just slot into.

I'll see your Duck and raise you a Plugger.

Hang on, what were we talking about again?

Plucka Duck by the sound of it (or should that be Plugger Duck?)

How can King kick 5 goals but not get in the best? I don't get it

maybe he didn't do things that were EXpected, of him. his instructions, would tell the story there.

same reason as why full forwards don't win brownless's

(yes, i know plugger did once)

who

Listen buddy, I sorta thought I liked him first, and might have posted about it at one stage, so you need to defer to me and my expertise before you comment on King.

I see a lot of Wayne Carey in this kid...

Listen here, Machsy (if that is your real name), if I could be bothered searching and found that I in fact posted about the incredible Max King first, then I'd do that and let you know all about it. If I found you posted first I'd avoid mentioning that.

lol Carey... what a noob. More like Paul Salmon with Cyril Rioli agility.