AFTER THE GOLD RUSH by Ice Station

Eureka Stadium has never been a happy hunting ground for the Casey Scorpions. Visitors from the other side of Melbourne face a long drive and find it a cold and forbidding place and the home crowd will always let you know that you're in for a tough day at the office.

The Scorpions arrived in town with the pain from  last week's defeat at the hands of Collingwood still strongly etched in their minds. They simply could not afford to allow the uncertainty of a possible loss of form to destroy what they had worked so hard to build in the first half of the season. At the end of the day, they fulfilled their part of the contract with a handsome 91-point win after some early flutters caused mainly by some inaccurate kicking for goal.

The Scorpions were aided by some good fortune. The North Ballarat Roosters are no longer aligned with the AFL Kangaroos and have been struggling at the foot of the VFL table. For the club which has been a dominant force over the past decade, the gold rush is over.

Last week they lost their best player, ruckman Orren Stephenson with a knee injury which gave the Scorps' in-form big man Jake Spencer free rein to cause carnage on the home side firstly in the ruck and then in front of goal booting four for the day.

The Roosters also lost three players in the opening quarter, all of them forced off the ground for the rest of the day and causing havoc with their rotations. North Ballarat was therefore undersized and undermanned and, after a brief period of early resistance, were blown away by the superiority all over the ground of the Melbourne-aligned Scorpions.

The quarter time lead of 25 points quickly blew out to 65 points on the back of a dominant midfield led by Matt Jones, Alex Neal-Bullen and Angus Brayshaw who gave young Demon forwards Liam Hulett and James Harmes plenty of opportunities to score and they didn't let the team down. 

The Scorpions coasted through the third term but lifted their intensity into the last quarter with Spencer taking the opportunity to use his height and size to advantage and destroy the hapless Roosters. Had the team kicked straighter in the last, it would almost certainly have been another 100-point demolition. 

For the most part of the day, it was an impressive performance with the team running in numbers and using the advantage of superior bench numbers to the fullest. The Demons would have been pleased with the output of Jones, Neal-Bullen and Ben Newton in the middle and the sheer brilliance of youngsters Brayshaw (returning from an extended lay off with concussion) and Harmes and the four goals from Hulett. The experience of Colin Garland and Jack Grimes was invaluable - all factors which underline Melbourne's improved depth this year. Of the Casey listed players James Munro continued his good work this season and small man Angus Scott was busy, particularly around goal.

The Scorpions have retaken top spot on the ladder and go into the bye week well placed to continue their finals assault in the second half of  the season.

Peter Jackson VFL 2016

Casey Scorpions 5.7.37 11.12.78 16.12.108 19.21.135 

North Ballarat 2.0.12 2.1.13 5.1.31 7.2.44

Goals 

Casey Scorpions Hulett Spencer 4 Harmes 3 Brayshaw Scott 2 Garlett King Newton T Smith

North Ballarat S Hooper 3 George A Hooper Kiel Templeton 

Best 

Casey Scorpions Harmes M Jones Brayshaw Neal-Bullen Spencer Garland

North Ballarat S Hooper Marshall A Hooper George Kiel Austin

Statistics  

The Development League team upset fourth placed Werribee in their game played away under lights to keep in touch in the finals race.

AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 4.5.29 7.9.51 12.14.86

Werribee 0.4.4 3.7.25 4.7.31 5.10.40

Goals 

Casey Scorpions Baker Freeman D Johnston Muir 2 Hannon McDonald Machaya Rutherford

Werribee Barrack Butt Kershaw Sharp VanDenBerg

Best

Casey Scorpions Rutherford Gordon J McDonald McInerney Wison Hillard

Werribee Conway Petterwood Holman Nielson Sharp  VanDenBerg