On 18/09/2016 at 08:00, DeeSpencer said:

Spencer - rubbish but did at least nullify Meese

 

, and big man Jake Spencer proved too strong in the ruck.

From the MFC site on the Casey PF. 

Someone agrees with me. Interested to see his stats.

  On 18/09/2016 at 09:07, SaberFang said:

Dreading next week at Etihad, another shitheap of a surface.

Disagree on this one superfang the turf boys have been working on the ground all week and it is looking VGood for Sunday. It will be a fast track which should suit both sides, to bad Hunt isn't eligible!!! go - Scorp's!!!

  On 18/09/2016 at 09:07, SaberFang said:

Dreading next week at Etihad, another shitheap of a surface.

Disagree on this one superfang the turf boys have been working on the ground all week and it is looking VGood for Sunday. It will be a fast track which should suit both sides, to bad Hunt isn't eligible!!! go - Scorp's!!!

Thanks KC and all other posters, it was great to be able to keep up with the game. finally found it on radio was it just me but did the commentators all support the "Sea gulls". Good hard fought win, what a shame for Salem, will he ever catch a break. I will watch the replay tomorrow to savour the win a bit more.

Thank's again!! Go SCORP's!!!!

  On 19/09/2016 at 01:31, jackaub said:

Yes Mo the defensive set up early in the year leaked like a sieve ie I was at the Port game in Alice. It very poor coaching and later in the season we improved by having someone staying goal side of the contest. Was so obvious it was necesary, cannot believe Roos persisted with it for as long as he did but then I dont rate Roos as very good strategic coach

You often can't go half hearted in to a change like zone defending. The price we paid for the aggressive change were the goals out the back. The trade off when we scaled it back was our scoring slowed down in the 2nd half of the year. 

I too think Dunn would be valuable as the kicker at the back of the defensive set up but he has to run and he wasn't covering the ground at all well at the start of the year. Yesterday at VFL level anyway he was excellent in his zoning and positioning. Looked fitter as well. The speed of Frost helped cover us over the back as well and Dunn will never be that quick.

Similar to Travis Cloke I think Dunny simply got too big and not fit enough for AFL footy and when combined with a few injuries he just couldn't keep up. Assuming they've realised that and changed a few things up if he has a big preseason he could bounce back pretty well next year.

  On 18/09/2016 at 10:12, ProDee said:

The biggest thing I got out of today was Joel Smith.

Pace, height, decision making, disposal and he cracked in.

A Jayden Hunt type story in the making.

Yes it was an impressive and timely performance by Smith , however, the highlights for me were Salem and Clarrie Chew Chew.

Until he was injured, Salem was back to his silken best. He was a ball magnet and very penetrating with his kicking. I was having visions of him doing just this and being a real weapon for Melbourne next year. On that form Milkshake will not be taking his spot.

Clarrie amazed me. He has matured remarkably over the season and the schoolboy seems to have disappeared. He looks to have added an even further edge of hardness. You can see how these finals will top off a development year for Clarrie and his ilk. 

  On 19/09/2016 at 08:11, Bitter but optimistic said:

Yes it was an impressive and timely performance by Smith , however, the highlights for me were Salem and Clarrie Chew Chew.

Until he was injured, Salem was back to his silken best. He was a ball magnet and very penetrating with his kicking. I was having visions of him doing just this and being a real weapon for Melbourne next year. On that form Milkshake will not be taking his spot.

Clarrie amazed me. He has matured remarkably over the season and the schoolboy seems to have disappeared. He looks to have added an even further edge of hardness. You can see how these finals will top off a development year for Clarrie and his ilk. 

Yeah, but I already knew that about Salem and Oliver.

THE TURNAROUND by KC from Casey

The Casey Scorpions have made to the 2016 VFL grand final by way of a resounding seven-goal victory over stand alone club Williamstown at North Port Oval on Sunday turning around their 44 point loss to the Seagulls from early in the season.

While the Scorpions benefitted by the obvious advantage of having 14 Demons in their side, they achieved the victory thanks to an outstanding mix of players which involved a massive contribution of Casey's VFL listed players.

Casey had to leave out Jack Grimes who has been an outstanding contributor over the past couple of months as well as leading goalkicker Liam Hulett, both due to illness during the week and this caused the side to be recast giving Tim Smith and Declan Keilty extra responsibility as talls on the forward line. The Scorpions  jumped out at the start booting four goals to nil and held a 4.6.30 to 0.1.1 lead at quarter time with Smith booting a couple and Keilty one to go with the goal scored by defender Lynden Dunn (his first for the season) when he made his foray into attack. Category B rookie Joel Smith displayed his skill garnered from an early basketball career and was causing Willy lots of discomfort.

The Seagulls lifted early in the second term but the resistance was soon snuffed out with the likes of Christian Salem, Clayton Oliver, Alex Neal-Bullen and the effervescent 23rd player Aloysio Ferrera getting right into the thick of things, the Scorps surged ahead to a near six goal lead, the only dampener being a concussion injury to Salem in the shadows of half time.

Having established the ascendency, the Scorpions simply locked Willy out with tight defence which crushed the life out of the opposition. The backline led by skipper Jack Hutchins, the evergreen Lynden Dunn, Colin Garland, James Munro and Mitch White was virtually impassable. While Jake Spencer and Williamstown's premiership ruckman Nick Meese battling it out in the ruck, young ruckman Oscar McInerney booted two second half goals as the game otherwise came to a standstill in the end.  

It was an impressive display of hard work, skill and power by the Scorpions who will go into the grand final  with plenty of confidence having overrun their opponent in Footscray only a fortnight earlier. The team is likely to lose Salem for the grand final against the Bulldogs but will regain Dean Terlich returning from suspension, Grimes and Hulett.

The overall team performance and its evenness all over the ground is a tribute to Justin Plapp's coaching and the way he has melded the team together. It was only a couple of seasons ago that Casey was the lowest rated team in the competition after the untimely departure of Bendigo Gold. On Sunday, the Scorpions will be playing for its ultimate prize.

Casey Scorpions 4.6.30 8.7.55 11.11.77 12.13.85

Williamstown 0.2.2 2.8.20 4.10.34 5.13.43

Goals 

Casey Scorpions Smith 3 Keilty McInerney 2 Dunn M Jones Morris Oliver Scott

Williamstown Carr Dunell  Meese  Jolley Schultz  

Best 

Casey Scorpions Oliver Dunn Neal-Bullen J Smith T Smith Hutchins

Williamstown Wheeler Fahey Bese Carr Greiser Hislop

Statistics

Lynden Dunn 1 goal 24 disposals 22 kicks 2 handballs 12 marks 3 tackles 128 dream team points

Colin Garland 13 disposals 7 kicks 6 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 45 dream team points

Matt Jones 1 goals 1 behinds 16 disposals 11 kicks 5 handballs 4 marks 6 tackles 84 dream team points

Ben Kennedy 2 behinds 9 disposals 7 kicks 2 handballs 0 marks 2 tackles 33 dream team points

Viv Michie 18 disposals 16 kicks 2 handballs 5 marks 13 tackles 120 dream team points

Alex Neal-Bullen 30 disposals 18 kicks 12 handballs 3 marks 8 tackles 118 dream team points

Ben Newton 16 disposals 12 kicks 4 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 64 dream team points

Clayton Oliver 1 goal 24 disposals 10 kicks 14 handballs 1 mark 17 tackles 5 hit outs 127 dream team points

Christian Salem 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 1 tackles 54 dream team points [injured before half time]

Joel Smith 20 disposals 11 kicks 9 handballs 7 marks 4 tackles 79 dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 behind 9 disposals 8 kicks 1 handball 3 marks 7 tackles 22 hit outs 78 dream team points

Jack Trengove 1 behind 15 disposals 7 kicks 8 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 72 dream team points

Sam Weideman 1 behinds 3 disposals 1 kicks 2 handballs 1 mark 11 dream team points

Mitch White 13 disposals 9 kicks 4 handballs 5 marks 2 tackles 59 dream team points

The Development League team faced the rampant Box Hill Hawks for the third time in a month and once again, the result was something of a disaster for Casey. They lost by 105 points.

AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 1.2.8 4.4.28 5.5.35 10.7.67

Box Hill Hawks  7.3.45 14.7.91 21.11.137 26.16.172

Goals 

Casey Scorpions Max King 2 J Anderson Cox Freeman Hillard  Hulett  Vander Haar Wilson Wyatt

Box Hill Hawks Brolic 6 Traynor 5 Langford Summers Switkowski 2 Dimasi Fisher   Gibson  Glass Gordon Kennedy Kidd McIntyre Walker

Best

Casey Scorpions Moncrieff Rutherford Fritsch Cox Wilson Di Pasquale

Box Hill Hawks Murphy Brolic Traynor Evans Switkowski O'Donnell

  On 19/09/2016 at 08:57, ProDee said:

Yeah, but I already knew that about Salem and Oliver.

Yes Salem was brilliant until he rammed into the cricket pitch.

Watched game on TV and it really highlighted :

• The difference in split seconds between AFL and VFL. that split second enabled Salem to show his polish and skells. ANB become a running ballgetter (and appearing tougher than at AFL)
• Clarrie is a gun
• Jack T lead the way eerly in the game. Showed the leadership skills that he brings to football. Will make sensational coach should he want to go that way !!
• Lyndon Dunn & Col showed they still have something to offer. And we have a good backup for Max in Spencer
• The advantage of having really good links between CAsey and MFC was that when they moved the ball it was like afl . The game style is being imprergnated into these young players and will become instinctive.
• Well dome Scorps

Casey Scorpions power past Williamstown to go into the VFL grand final

Sam Weideman was terrible in that game.  I've been a fan, his marking is good, he's a great kick and he showed an ability to get involved up the ground.  But that was an extremely disappointing performance.

Plenty been said about Clarrie and Salem who are a class above.  Dunn and ANB who are very good VFL players.  J.Smith is an exciting prospect.

I thought Michie was good, he's possibly better than a VFL player.

  On 18/09/2016 at 08:00, DeeSpencer said:

Spencer - rubbish but did at least nullify Meese

 

Williamstown Wheeler Fahey Bese Carr Greiser Hislop

Statistics

Lynden Dunn 1 goal 24 disposals 22 kicks 2 handballs 12 marks 3 tackles 128 dream team points

Colin Garland 13 disposals 7 kicks 6 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 45 dream team points

Matt Jones 1 goals 1 behinds 16 disposals 11 kicks 5 handballs 4 marks 6 tackles 84 dream team points

Ben Kennedy 2 behinds 9 disposals 7 kicks 2 handballs 0 marks 2 tackles 33 dream team points

Viv Michie 18 disposals 16 kicks 2 handballs 5 marks 13 tackles 120 dream team points

Alex Neal-Bullen 30 disposals 18 kicks 12 handballs 3 marks 8 tackles 118 dream team points

Ben Newton 16 disposals 12 kicks 4 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 64 dream team points

Clayton Oliver 1 goal 24 disposals 10 kicks 14 handballs 1 mark 17 tackles 5 hit outs 127 dream team points

Christian Salem 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 1 tackles 54 dream team points [injured before half time]

Joel Smith 20 disposals 11 kicks 9 handballs 7 marks 4 tackles 79 dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 behind 9 disposals 8 kicks 1 handball 3 marks 7 tackles 22 hit outs 78 dream team points

Jack Trengove 1 behind 15 disposals 7 kicks 8 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 72 dream team points

Sam Weideman 1 behinds 3 disposals 1 kicks 2 handballs 1 mark 11 dream team points

Mitch White 13 disposals 9 kicks 4 handballs 5 marks 2 tackles 59 dream team points

Spencer certainly wasn't rubbish. More possessions and impact than quite a few Melbourne listed players. Garland, Kennedy, Weideman, White and Newton all had less impact on the game.

Agree that he did nullify Meese, who unlike most Willy games, was not in their best players.  

  On 19/09/2016 at 23:22, Fifty-5 said:

Sam Weideman was terrible in that game.  I've been a fan, his marking is good, he's a great kick and he showed an ability to get involved up the ground.  But that was an extremely disappointing performance.

Plenty been said about Clarrie and Salem who are a class above.  Dunn and ANB who are very good VFL players.  J.Smith is an exciting prospect.

I thought Michie was good, he's possibly better than a VFL player.

Hopefully Etihad might suit Sam better, but yes he was terrible.

I hope Casey's recent success puts to bed the myth that we need a standalone VFL team.

There is no advantage over having a standalone team as opposed to being aligned to a VFL club.

  On 20/09/2016 at 01:10, Clint Bizkit said:

I hope Casey's recent success puts to bed the myth that we need a standalone VFL team.

There is no advantage over having a standalone team as opposed to being aligned to a VFL club.

Agree, although I have to say it was pretty concerning during the era when Welsh was coaching, Casey were struggling and had an exodus of all their good VFL players.  There were reports of the time about Welsh not implementing the MFC game plan at VFL level and thereby coaching towards his own ends; that's pretty terrifying when we're attempting to use the club as a vehicle for our developing players.

There has been a definite shift now, with the MFC having the appropriate amount of control required to get what it needs from Casey, particularly with Plapp being a full time MFC employee.  It's definitely paid off this year and both clubs are enjoying the spoils.  

  On 20/09/2016 at 02:00, Nasher said:

Agree, although I have to say it was pretty concerning during the era when Welsh was coaching, Casey were struggling and had an exodus of all their good VFL players.  There were reports of the time about Welsh not implementing the MFC game plan at VFL level and thereby coaching towards his own ends; that's pretty terrifying when we're attempting to use the club as a vehicle for our developing players.

There has been a definite shift now, with the MFC having the appropriate amount of control required to get what it needs from Casey, particularly with Plapp being a full time MFC employee.  It's definitely paid off this year and both clubs are enjoying the spoils.  

Fair call, but what this shows is you can have success and develop young players without the need for a standalone team if you manage things properly.