OUT OF THE BOX by KC from Casey

[Demonland 64,409]

The Casey Scorpions had a horror game against the Box Hill Hawks at Box Hill City Oval going down by 74 points in demoralising fashion.

The Scorpions were hit hard by the withdrawal through illness of in form defender Jack Fitzpatrick but still came into the game like their opponents with 13 AFL listed players. However, you wouldn't be able to tell that by the way the game unfolded.

There was an ill wind blowing across City Oval as the game opened under cloudy skies and on sodden turf and, apart from the opening half of the first quarter when early goals came to Nathan Page and Jordan Moncrieff, they were barely in the hunt, trailing by 27 points at half time and meekly allowing the Box Hill lead to blow out with a 10-goal second half. The result was embarrassing for a team that until a week or two ago had top four aspirations.

The Scorpions are sorely missing key forwards Tim Smith and Max King and are lacking focus in the forward division. The Hawks' defence was on top throughout and continually repelled every Casey attack. The Scorpions had Mark Jamar and Jake Spencer in ruck but not dominating as usual against the Hawks. The latter played at his best when up forward and managed two goals.

Aidan Riley stood out like a beacon among the Scorpion' midfielders, dominating with 35 possessions and five tackles. Rohan Bail kicked a couple and looked good when he was allowed the space to run with the ball but the opportunity was limited with the well drilled Hawks covering all bases.

Ben Newton, Jay Kennedy-Harris and Dean Terlich had some good patches while Christian Salem (19 touches) looks not far away from resuming at the higher level. His ball use at times was excellent.

An interesting team member was 23rd player Jake Lovett, son of former Demon star and Casey coach Brett. The 18 year-old from the Dandenong Stingrays had an encouraging debut given the team's poor performance.

The result leaves the team two games and percentage clear of a long list of contenders with three rounds of VFL competition left to play but desperately needing at least one win. That prospect is not very encouraging in the very near term given their next game is against second-placed Williamstown at home this Saturday afternoon.

Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 2.1.13 4.5.29 4.7.31 7.7.49

Box Hill Hawks 4.3.27 8.8.56 14.11.95 18.15.123

Casey Scorpions

Goals

Casey Scorpions Bail Spencer 2 Byrnes Moncrieff Page

Box Hill Hawks Lawlor 4 Grimley 4 O'Brien 2 Lock Anderson Whitecross O'Donnell Pittonet Litherland Exon Gibson

Best

Casey Scorpions Bail Riley Kielty Byrnes Newton

Box Hill Hawks Lawlor Collins Simpkin Heatherley Whitecross Pittonet

Statistics

Rohan Bail 2 goals 23 disposals 11 kicks 12 handballs 4 marks 4 tackles 88 dream team points

Jayden Hunt 6 disposals 4 kicks 2 handballs 4 marks 25 dream team points

Mark Jamar 15 disposals 14 kicks 1 handball 5 marks 5 tackles 24 hit outs 100 dream team points

Jay Kennedy-Harris - 24 disposals 13 kicks 11 handballs 4 marks 2 tackles 82 dream team points

Jordie McKenzie - 17 disposals 9 kicks 8 handballs 2 marks 4 tackles 67 dream team points

Ben Newton - 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 1 mark 5 tackles 61 dream team points

Aidan Riley - 1 behind 35 disposals 13 kicks 22 handballs 2 marks 5 tackles 114 dream team points

Christian Salem - 23 disposals 13 kicks 10 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 90 dream team points

Jake Spencer - 2 goals 14 disposals 7 kicks 7 handballs 5 marks 3 tackles 23 hit outs 92 dream team points

Billy Stretch - 11 disposals 4 kicks 7 handballs 2 marks 2 tackles 41 dream team points

Dean Terlich 1 behind - 21 disposals 13 kicks 8 handballs 3 marks 2 tackles 65 dream team points

Jimmy Toumpas 6 disposals 2 kicks 4 handballs 1 mark 1 tackle 12 dream team points

Mitch White 14 disposals 10 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 4 tackles 1 hit out 67 dream team points

The Casey development team came down to earth with a thud going down to ladder-leader Box Hill, going down by 67 points.

AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 1.2.8 3.4.22 3.6.24 4.10.34

Box Hill Hawks 4.4.28 6.4.40 11.9.75 15.11.101

Casey Scorpions

Goals

Casey Scorpions Fisscher Muir Rennie Rosier

Box Hill Hawks Murphy 3 Franetic Lewis Tobin 2 Kidd Langford Sheridan-Ferrie Summers Traynor Vizzarri

Best

Casey Scorpions Hannon McDonald Pattison Hillard Walmsley Fisscher

Box Hill Hawks Traynor Murphy Bond Langford Evans Switkowski