SURPRISE by Ice Station

Did anyone see that coming? The Casey Demons with just one victory for the season (against winless bottom team North Ballarat)  coming up against one of the undefeated teams of the competition. The Casey Demons who have lost three games on the trot, were listless when humiliated at Preston last week by the Northern Blues, now coming into a game with an inexperienced side containing only a handful of players having any meaningful AFL experience. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what was to unfold at Casey Fields for the Saturday night VFL game that the world nearly forgot about.

It began well enough for the home team with early goals to Mitch Gent and Aloysio Ferreira which set the tone for a night when the goals were shared equally between MFC and Casey listed players which is always a good sign. The players were running and tackling hard and throwing themselves into every contest. The disciplined Borough fought back as you would expect from the top team in the competition, to snatch the lead thanks to some brain fades by the Dees that gave away two 50 metre penalties and two goals and before you knew it, Casey was down by 15 points. But when the nippy Ferreira booted his second and State squad member Bayley Fritsch notched one just before the break, you knew that it was game on. 

Jake Melksham who was outstanding in the early going goaled to put Casey in front and that was followed by some great teamwork that resulted in a Ben Kennedy goal. The Demons had most of the play in a low scoring term and despite restricting the visitors to a single point, they held a lead of only 11 points at the main break. Casey's small brigade of Alex Neal-Bullen (an outstanding accumulator of the football), Kennedy and Jay Kennedy-Harris were also prolific ball winners.

Port opened up the second half with a lot more purpose and when they goaled to narrow the Demons' lead to five points, it caused a few hearts to flutter. Enter the previously out-of-form Liam Hulett who has been on the verge of a trip down to the Development League recently, with two straight shots in the space of two minutes  to relieve the tension. Port pegged one back shortly after but the rest of the third quarter was an arm wrestle with neither side having much impact on the scoreboard.

But the brows were furrowed in the early moments of the final term when a Port Melbourne goal raised memories of fade outs in recent games. Neal-Bullen and Kennedy-Harris came to the rescue with successive goals and suddenly, it was a procession. Hulett kicked his third and Ed Morris who has been going through a quiet patch came to life with three goals on end as the Borough stood by helplessly. It was fitting that Melksham would boot the final goal enabling the Demons to record a surprise 43 point win. 

A special mention has to be made for young ruckman Mitchel King who laboured tirelessly and was aided and abetted by Declan Keilty giving Casey a competitive edge in the ruck battles which allowed the smaller brigade to dominate. Billy Stretch was also back to his elusive best and Dion Johnstone had his moments, chasing, tackling and hustling in the forward line. Skipper Jack Hutchins was in great form and James Munro figured in some important patches of play.

Casey's win might have been a surprise but the fact that they were playing, "It's a Grand Old Flag", was not since both clubs have the same theme song. Next week is a bye week for the VFL State representative game.

Peter Jackson VFL 2017

Casey Demons  4.4.28 6.6.42 8.9.57 14.12.96

Port Melbourne 5.0.30 5.1.31 7.3.45 8.5.53

Goals

Casey Demons Morris 3 Ferreira Hulett Melksham 2 Kennedy-Harris Kennedy Fritsch Gent Neal-Bullen

Port Melbourne Conway 4 Lisle 2 Krakauer Pearson

Best

Casey Demons Melksham Munro Hutchins Neal-Bullen King Morris

Port Melbourne Mascitti Krakauer Conway Gordon Murdoch Cook

Statistics 

Liam Hulett 2 goals 1 behind 8 kicks 4 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 68 dream team points
Dion Johnstone 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 32 dream team points 
Declan Keilty 1 behind 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 17 hit outs 82 dream team points 
Ben Kennedy 1 goal 1 behind 16 kicks 10 handballs 26 disposals 8 marks 5 tackles 116 dream team points
Jay Kennedy-Harris 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 73 dream team points
Mitch King 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 1 marks 3 tackles 17 hit outs 49 dream team points
Jake Melksham 2 goals 1 behind 26 kicks 8 handballs 34 disposals 6 marks 8 tackles 159 dream team points.
Alex Neal-Bullen 1 goal 22 kicks 15 handballs 37 disposals 1 marks 3 tackles 118 dream team points.  
Billy Stretch 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 65 dream team points.  
Jack Trengove 15 kicks 5 handballs 20 disposals 8 marks 7 tackles 107 dream team points 
Mitch White 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 59 dream team points

They say that bad kicking is bad football so when you kick 1.9 in an opening quarter that you otherwise dominate, there's a fair chance that you'll lose - which is exactly what the Development League team did against Port Melbourne.

AFL Vic Development League 2017

Casey Demons 1.9.15 3.10.28 4.11.35 6.17.53

Port Melbourne 1.1.7 5.2.32 10.5.65 11.8.74

Goals

Casey Demons Di Pasquale 2 Baker Dan Johnston Machaya Rout

Port Melbourne Osborne 4 Wilson 3 De Soysa 2 Conway Goss

Best 

Casey Demons Cox Dam Johnston Dan Johnston Lok MacHaya Hiscock

Port Melbourne Conway Houghton Clarke Osborne Goss Lange