THE VISIT by Ice Station

[Demonland 73,281]

When a team visits Casey Fields, it has to be prepared for an inhospitable reception from the elements. Sometimes it's a howling, swirly breeze. Sometimes it's the rain that makes conditions tough and slippery. Add that to a team that happens to be at the top of its form and the visiting team knows it's in for a long, hard day.

The Northern Blues should have seen it coming during the curtain raiser when their development league team was held to just three goals by an enthusiastic bunch of Casey Scorpions youngsters but they would hardly have expected to be held to an even lower score.

And the game was virtually over in virtually minutes with the home side dominating the stoppages in the greasy conditions. Ben Newton, the man who was to be the hero of the day, whipped the ball out of the middle, passed it to Max King who converted in the opening minute. Further goals followed at regular intervals with the hapless Blues putting up little resistance as other heroes of the day emerged. Jack Grimes showed great grit and leadership. 

Jaxon Briggs, the Casey 23rd man, a mere slip of a lad at 176cm is a local kid who has pace and a strong engine. He announced himself with two goals in the opening term on his way to a total for the day that doubled that of the opposition. Sam Weideman, another young gun with a familiar name to football goers, juggled a mark and kicked truly on his way to a four goal tally. 

The lead at quarter time was 32 points and the carnage continued to the long break with the visitors still goalless with Newton continuing to dominate and Weideman booting another couple.

Things didn't change much in the third quarter although Casey's scoring rate slowed down and the Blues ended their run of 12 consecutive goals in the shadows of three quarter time. It was a magnificent defensive performance by the Scorpions who were well led by the miserly Jack Hutchins and Lynden Dunn.

Casey did not rest on their laurels in the end - they piled on another seven goals with Newton and Alex Neal-Bullen dominating the clearances. Briggs and Weideman added to their goal tallies and Chris Dawes in his return match after a long injury lay off got into the act and kicked a couple. The visitors' mystery ended with the siren sounding and the scoreboard showing an inhospitable result for the Northern Blues - a 107 point defeat.

Casey Scorpions 5.3.33 9.6.60 12.9.81 19.11.125

Northern Blues 0.1.1  0.3.3  1.6.12  2.6.18

Goals

Casey Scorpions Briggs Weideman 4 Dawes Grimes Newton 2 Max King Morris Spencer Terlich Trengove

Northern Blues Totevski  Kerbatieh

Best

Casey Scorpions Newton Neal-Bullen Grimes T Smith Dunn Briggs

Northern Blues Graham Dick Korcheck Buckley Tutt Boekhorst

In the curtain raiser AFL Development League match, the Scorpions reversed the result of their meeting with the Blues from earlier in the year with a 92 point win. Youngster Aaron Cotte was in everything and booted four goals 

Casey Scorpions 5.3.33 10.7.67 15.12.102 17.14.116

Northern Blues 0.0.0 1.2.8 1.3.9 3.6.24

Goals

Casey Scorpions Cotte 4 Ambler Ferreira Daniel Johnston 2 Baker Gordon Hannon Jaffer-Williams Damian Johnston Machaya Moncrieff

Northern Blues Peet 2 Hickey

Best

Casey Scorpions Cotte Moncrieff McInerney Lovett Wyatt Ferreira

Northern Blues  Stevens Declase McCabe Droessler Bolger Jordan

Statistics

Chris Dawes 2 goals 10 disposals 6 kicks 4 handballs 2 marks 1 tackles 49 dream team points

Lynden Dunn 1 behind disposals 23 kicks 3 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 105 dream team points

Sam Frost 12 disposals 7 kicks 5 handballs 1 marks 2 tackles 37 dream team points

Jack Grimes 2 goals 1 behind 26 disposals 13 kicks 13 handballs 2 marks 10 tackles 127 dream team points

Max King 1 goals 14 disposals 9  kicks 5 handballs 3 marks 1 tackles 5 hit outs 58 dream team points

Oscar McDonald 13 disposals 4 kicks 9 handballs 1 marks 35 dream team points

Alex Neal-Bullen 31 disposals 15 kicks 16 handballs 13 tackles 129 dream team points

Ben Newton 2 goals disposals 19 kicks 18 handballs 4 marks 9 tackles 1 hit out 156 dream team points

Joel Smith 9 disposals 4 kicks 5 handballs 2 tackles 30  dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 goal 1 behind 11 disposals 3 kicks 8 handballs 1 mark 8 tackles 51 hit outs dream team points

Dean Terlich 1 goal disposals 12 kicks 7 handballs marks tackles 83 dream team points

Jack Trengove 1 goal 1 behind disposals 12 kicks 18 handballs 10 tackles 1 hit out 118 dream team points

Sam Weideman 4 goals 8 disposals 7 kicks 1 handball 4 marks 2 tackles 59 dream team points

Mitch White 22 disposals 11 kicks 11 handballs 3 marks 2 tackles 72 dream team points