LICKING WOUNDS by KC from Casey

[Demonland 73,106]

When they took the field for their first home game of the season on Saturday night, the Casey Demons were only a shadow of the team that ran riot in the opening game of the season a month ago.

The club started the day with a successful result for its women’s VFL side and followed it up with the unfurling of the last Development League premiership flag. With that competition now redundant, a number of the club’s back up VFL listed team are playing in suburban competitions and not in the club’s own ranks. The consequence of this is that the cohesiveness of a club team is not always there when the AFL listed numbers are as low as they were this weekend.

 The Demons started poorly and failed to handle the ball in the slippery conditions. It took a whole quarter before Cam Pedersen managed to score the team’s first goal on the siren and they were lucky to be trailing by only 14 points at the time. 

In the absence of the team’s young ruck duo, Casey relied on a raw first-gamer from the ‘burbs in Kieren Byers who tried hard but was no match for the experiences Zac Smith and his back ups who racked up more than 80 hit outs for the night and gave Geelong’s midfield an armchair ride. By half time, the Cats had opened up a 38 point lead and Casey had only two goals on the board.

After the break, the Demons worked a lot harder and were led by the likes of Tim Smith who was relishing the week off and put great pressure on the Cats resulting in a more competitive effort. The move of Sam Frost into the forward line also provided dividends. The impetus for the revival was also provided by some solid efforts from VFL listers Jay Lockhart, Goy Lok (2 goals), the ever reliable Angus Scott and Corey Wagner. 

A few late goals in junk time made the outcome a more respectable defeat than it should have been and the bye could not have come at a better time to enable some wounds to be licked. The loss was Casey’s first defeat at home after 15 wins in a row at Casey Fields.

Casey Demons  1.1.7 2.3.15 5.4.34 9.8.62

Geelong VFL 3.3.21 8.5.53 11.8.74 12.12.84

Goals 

Casey Demons Baker Lok Scott 2 Bugg Pedersen J Smith  

Geelong VFL Jones McLachlan Reid 2 Crameri  Dobson McLachlan  Miers  Smith Tsitas  

Best

Casey Demons T Smith Lok Scott C Wagner Lockhart Frost

Geelong VFL House Buzza Smith Reid McLachlan Atkins

Statistics

Oskar Baker 2 goals 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 63 dream team points 
Tomas Bugg 1 goal 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 10 tackles 78 dream team points 
Kieren Byers 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 8 hit outs 39 dream team points 
Sean Dwyer 2 handballs 2 disposals 1 tackle 5 dream team points
Sam Frost 13 kicks 9 handballs 22 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 6 hit outs 95 dream team points 
Jeff Garlett 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 3 marks 7 tackles 87 dream team points 
Mitchell Gent 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 35 dream team points 
Dion Johnstone 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 2 tackles 42 dream team points 
Declan Keilty 1 kicks 3 handballs 4 disposals 1 marks 4 tackles 25 dream team points
Jay Kennedy-Harris 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 4 marks 6 tackles 60 dream team points 
Mykelti Lefau 1 kicks 4 handballs 5 disposals 2 tackles 16 dream team points
Jay Lockhart 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 58 dream team points 
Goy Lok 2 goals 1 behind 13 kicks 1 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 83 dream team points
Ryan Morrison  10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 70 dream team points
James Munro 8 kicks 4 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 1 hit out 53 dream team points 
Cameron Pedersen 1 goal 1 behind 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 11 hit outs 100 dream team points 
Harrison Petty 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 3 marks 5 tackles 54 dream team points
Angus Scott 2 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 9 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 77 dream team points
Joel Smith 1 goal 5 kicks 12 handballs 17 disposals 1 marks 3 tackles 51 dream team points 
Timothy Smith 12 kicks 13  handballs 25  disposals 2 marks 12 tackles 117 dream team points
Billy Stretch 6 kicks 14 handballs 20 disposals 1 mark 9 tackles 86 dream team points
Corey Wagner 13 kicks 8 handballs 21 disposals 2 marks 7 tackles 85 dream team points
Mitchell White 1 behind 14 kicks 6 handballs 20 disposals 6 marks 6 tackles 99 dream team points