THE PERFECT STORM

[Demonland 66,603]

The heavens opened up in the morning and the rain just kept pounding in buckets. It was so relentless, so heavy and so bitingly cold that they had to turn on the floodlights and even then it was difficult for the hardy spectators who made it to the ground and clearly even more difficult for the players.

In those conditions it was perhaps inevitable that Casey with 15 AFL listed players and by far the bigger-bodied of the two teams was going to triumph over Port Melbourne.

The two teams met earlier in the Round 5 game at North Port Oval that was closely fought for three quarters before the Borough prevailed but this time they were strangled by the strong tackling of the Scorpions. It was a low scoring affair early with Matt Jones the only goal scorer in the opening term but Port fought back late in the second quarter to get to within two points before goals to Viv Michie and Ed Morris just before half time gave the Scorps the break they needed.

The rain was torrential after half time and Port was completely shut down by strong tackling in the mud and the slush. The game was stop-start and shocking as a spectacle but Casey always had someone who could convert and, as a consequence, slid its way to a 49 point win that consolidated its position in the VFL top eighth.

The Casey rucks led by Mark Jamar and Jake Spencer relished the wet conditions and had the lion's share of the hit outs. They gave their on ball division an armchair ride with Viv Michie and Aidan Riley relishing the hard going. Jack Grimes put in a pleasing performance which included some strong tackling which set the scene for his possible return to AFL ranks in the near future.

Otherwise, there was not a great deal to take from the game other than that one could not accuse any of the players from taking a backward step when the going got tough.

In the end the perfect storm provided a perfect outcome for the home team.

Casey's next outing is to Visy Park on Saturday to take on the lowly Northern Blues, a game not to be taken lightly after the team succumbed to the equally poorly performed North Ballarat a few weeks ago.

2015 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 1.4.10 4.6.30 8.8.56 10.9.69

Port Melbourne 0.1.1 2.4.16 2.6.18 2.8.20

Goals

Casey Scorpions Hunt 2 Gent Grimes M Jones Michie Morris Papley Riley Scott

Port Melbourne Lisle Pearson

Best

Casey Scorpions Michie Jamar Gent Riley Hutchins Panozza

Port Melbourne Tynan Gilmore Pinwill Dickson Wooffindin Noonan

Statistics

Rohan Bail 2 behinds 15 disposals 8 kicks 7 hand passes 2 marks 8 tackles 76 dream team points

Jack Fitzpatrick 6 disposals 5 kicks 1 hand passes 3 marks 4 tackles 42 dream team points

Jack Grimes 1 goal 13 disposals 12 kicks 1 hand passes 15 tackles 102 dream team points

Jayden Hunt 2 goals 6 disposals 6 kicks 1 marks 5 tackles 50 dream team points

Mark Jamar 29 disposals 20 kicks 9 hand passes 3 marks 6 tackles 43 hit outs 140 dream team points

Matt Jones 1 goal disposals 9 kicks 2 hand passes 1 marks 9 tackles 70 dream team points

Oscar McDonald 8 disposals 8 kicks 1 marks 2 tackles 36 dream team points

Jordie McKenzie 13 disposals 8 kicks 5 hand passes 14 tackles 93 dream team points

Viv Michie 1 goal disposals 19 kicks 8 hand passes 1 mark 2 tackles dream 93 team points

Ben Newton 15 disposals 12 kicks 3 hand passes 10 tackles 78 dream team points

Aidan Riley 1 goal 1 behind 28 disposals 14 kicks 14 hand passes 9 tackles 111 dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 behind 6 disposals 6 kicks 2 marks 11 tackles 60 hit outs 121 dream team points

Dean Terlich 17 disposals 16 kicks 1 hand passes 1 marks 2 tackles dream 61 team points

Jimmy Toumpas 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 hand passes 1 marks 9 tackles 57 dream team points

Mitch White 13 disposals 10 kicks 3 hand passes 2 marks 3 tackles 54 dream team points

The Development League team returned to the winners list after some disappointing losses to teams it was expected to beat.

Casey Scorpions 5.2.32 10.3.63 14.5.89 14.5.89

Port Melbourne 0.1.1 1.3.9 2.5.17 4.9.33

Goals

Casey Scorpions Anderson 3 Page Paredes Petropoulos 2 Fritsch Fisscher Muir Thwaites Walmsley

Port Melbourne Dove Lange Patterson Rivett

Best

Casey Scorpions Keilty Wyatt Petropoulos Page Paredes Hannon

Port Melbourne Vearing Hogan Breust Answerth Hogan