BLUE ON BLUES

[Demonland 71,629]

The Casey Demons all but booked their berth in the Peter Jackson VFL finals series for 2017 and kept their top four aspirations well and truly alive with an emphatic 37-point victory over the Northern Blues at Casey Fields.

On a blustery wind affected day, the Demons were quick out of the blocks and virtually sealed the game with five goals to a couple of points in the opening term. 

They continued to dominate in the second and at one stage had kicked the game's opening seven goals. By half time they held a commanding 46 point lead at half time. The Demons tapered off after half time as the Blues rallied in the third quarter but they remained well in control of the match right until the final siren thanks in part to the visitors' poor kicking for goal. 

Casey's tenth win for the season must have been highly satisfying for senior coach Justin Plapp after starting the season with only one win in the first five games before winning nine of the next 11. The victory was even  more meritorious because it was set up by the goal kicking exploits of two dangerous forwards in Casey-listers Bayley Fritsch and Yilber Zijai who, between them, booted seven goals and they way in which the young VFL players have blended in with the AFL contingent is a credit to his coaching. On Saturday he also got good service from Mitch Gent and Ben Giobbi, both more mature players who help make it all work.

 This was just as well because Plapp only had ten Melbourne list members at his disposal with Sam Frost and Corey Maynard held over for the game against St Kilda. One of his best was a player who started as a Casey player before his drafting to the Melbourne Football Club. Declan Keilty's season to date has not been as good as last year but his form has been building lately and against the Blues he was in outstanding form as the intercepting defender picking up 22 disposals and taking 11 marks. He was capably backed up in defence by Jack Trengove who had 31 touches for the day.

Plapp also had some potency in the midfield with Ben Kennedy, Jay Kennedy-Harris, Billy Stretch and Christian Salem whose outstanding form was overshadowed by a clash with the Blues' Liam Sumner that saw his name entered in the report book. The Blues' player left the ground with concussion.

With injuries mounting the Demons simply cannot afford to lose more players, especially with a big game coming up against top-of-the-ladder Williamstown.

Peter Jackson VFL 2017

Casey Demons 5.1.31 9.3.57 11.4.70 16.6.102

Northern Blues 0.2.2 1.5.11 4.9.33 8.17.65

Goals

Casey Demons Fritsch 4 Kennedy Zijai 3 Ferreira Hulett Kennedy-Harris Morris Salem Watts 

Northern Blues Palmer Wilson 2 Declase Gallucci Korcheck Thorpe

Best

Casey Demons Keilty Kennedy Trengove Salem Stretch Zijai

Northern Blues Russell Palmer Stevens Byrne O'Shea Korcheck

Statistics 

Liam Hulett 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 58 dream team points
Dion Johnstone 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 44 dream team points 
Declan Keilty 11 kicks 11 handballs 22 disposals 11 marks 1 tackle dream 89 team points
Benjamin Kennedy 3 goals 2 behinds 17 kicks 18 handballs 35 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 122 dream team points
Jay Kennedy-Harris 1 goal 11 kicks 16 handballs 27 disposals 5  marks 6 tackles 110 dream team points
Mitch King 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals tackles 26 hit outs 51 dream team points
Christian Salem 1 goal 1 behind 17 kicks 11 handballs 28 disposals 4 marks 9 tackles 117 dream team points
Billy Stretch 11 kicks 18 handballs 29 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 99 dream team points
Jack Trengove 26 kicks 6 handballs 32 disposals marks tackles 112 dream team points
Jack Watts 1 goal 2 behinds 8 kicks 14 handballs 22 disposals 6 marks 6 hit outs 86 dream team points

The Development League team suffered a setback when they narrowly went down to the Blues - an unexpected result on their home turf.

AFL Vic Development League 2017

Casey Demons 2.0.12 4.3.27 4.8.32 5.9.39 

Northern Blues 3.2.20 5.4.34 6.6.42 7.7.49

Goals 

Casey Demons Allsop  Di Pasquale  Gardiner Lefau  Vander Haar  

Northern Blues Corboy 4 Maibaum 2 Walson 

Best

Casey Demons Cox Hillard Freeman Collis Byers Allsop

Northern Blues Jones Costigan Glover Strachan Corboy Adam