OUR FRIEND THE WIND by KC from Casey

The Casey Demons continued their winning run against Footscray  on Sunday to make it nine in a row after a hard fought battle in a wind affected game at Casey Fields

The winning result was however, not as easy and straightforward as one would have anticipated especially after some withdrawals from the team through injuries. At half time, the  Demons were staring at defeat for the first time in two and a half months after the Bulldogs took full advantage of the northerly wind blowing down the ground, kicking four goals in time on to take a 20 point lead into the sheds at the main break.

But it is not for nothing that the Demons are sitting in second place on the VFL premiership ladder and they showed their class by holding the Dogs scoreless in the premiership quarter while they piled on five goals four behinds of their own and then they narrowly outscored their opponent in the last to win by 15 points.

Footscray, which is battling with a log jam of teams for a finals berth were never one to be taken lightly, given that they are one of only two clubs this season to have beaten ladder leaders Richmond. So while the home team scored the first goal through James Munro, the determined Doggies defended strongly against the wind and held them to a lead of only a goal.

After an arm-wrestle for much of the first half of the second term, Footscray edged ahead to lead by 26 points in the shadows of half time before a handy Angus Scott major against the run of play gave the Demons some breathing space. Sam Weideman who had been a little off target in the first half came to the fore with the first goal after the main break and two more in the last quarter. That was enough to see the team home particularly as our friend the wind decided to moderate a little and the Bulldogs' legs seemed to tire as well and the game came to a spluttering halt with the Dees well in control.

When the heat was on, Casey was well served in defence by Jay Lockhart, Declan Keilty and the Wagner brothers and skipper Jack Hutchins. Cam Pedersen was strong throughout and Dom Tyson had far too much skill and ball winning ability in the middle for the Demons. Aaron vandenBerg backed up his excellent first up return game with another solid performance and will be challenging soon for a place in the Melbourne senior side.

Next up for Casey is an away game against Geelong VFL at GMHBA Stadium when second place and a home final could well be determined.

Peter Jackson VFL 2018

Casey Demons 4.1.25 6.2.38 11.6.73 13.10.88

Footscray VFL 3.1.19 9.4.58 9.4.58 11.6.72

Goals 

Casey Demons Weideman 4 Munro 2 Baker Lok Pedersen Scott T Smith vandenBerg C Wagner

Footscray VFL Greene 4 Young 2 Hamad Porter Smith Webb William

Best 

Casey Demons Lockhart C Wagner Weideman Tyson J Wagner Munro

Footscray VFL Greene Webb Porter Olsson Sullivan Hayes

Statistics

Oskar Baker 1 goal 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 50 dream team points
Tomas Bugg 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 5 tackles 54 dream team points
Lachlan Filipovic 2 kicks 7 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 16 hit outs 44 dream team points
Mitch Gent 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 29 dream team points
Jack Hutchins 8 kicks 6 handballs 14 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 43 dream team points
Declan Keilty 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 3 marks 34 dream team points
Dean Kent 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 70 dream team points
Mitchell King 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 32 hit outs 55 dream team points
Jay Lockhart 1 behind 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 67 dream team points
Goy Lok 1 goal 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 53 dream team points
Pat McKenna 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 42 dream team points
Corey Machaya 1 behind 4 kicks 7 handballs 11 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 43 dream team points
James Munro 2 goals 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 9 tackles 96 dream team points
Cameron Pedersen 1 goal 17 kicks 8 handballs 25 disposals 7 marks 4 tackles 110 dream team points  
Harrison Petty 3 kicks 8 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 36 dream team points  
Angus Scott 1 goal 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 63 dream team points
Tim Smith 1 goal 2 behinds 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 57 dream team points
Corey Stockdale 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 8 tackles 46 dream team points
Dom Tyson 12 kicks 13 handballs 25 disposals 4 marks 12 tackles 121 dream team points
Aaron vandenBerg 1 goal 7 kicks 13 handballs 20 disposals 1 mark 8 tackles 82 dream team points
Corey Wagner 1 goal 18 kicks 7 handballs 25 disposals 2 marks 17 tackles 149 dream team points
Josh Wagner 9 kicks 8 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 60 dream team points
Sam Weideman 4 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 7 hit outs 104 dream team points