WINDY DAY FOOTY by KC from Casey

Windy day footy has always been the domain of those who play the game hard: on days when the breeze gusts all over the place and the ground has been sodden by recent rains, the player needs to get all aspects of his game together and be hard of body and mind, to concentrate and attack the football.

The Casey Demons came out on their own deck in such conditions and under a mainly sunny sky and gave it a crack for half a game but they lost sight of the fundamentals of playing hard in difficult conditions in the third quarter while their opponents kept their composure and held sway in the end. Indeed, the home side was lucky still to be in the game as time on began in the final quarter when Jaxon Briggs goalled to level the scores.

In the end, Cats veteran Scott Selwood decided the issue with a goal and the visitors won by 9 points. It was Casey’s second defeat in a close game against a top eight team and virtually put put an end to the Demons’ finals hopes for 2019.

Earlier, Casey had come out of the blocks with the strong wind at their backs and scored three goals while holding the Cats scoreless. They backed that up by holding them to a single goal at the main break but when their second term with the wind came, they were outscored by the more experienced opposition. Tim Smith’s goal late in the third quarter was his team’s first for almost half a game.

And that was the problem. The undermanned and inexperienced Demons had nobody to kick goals. Nobody to come out packs with a big mark, nobody to crumb a goal from ground level and they were smashed in the hard contests. From a Melbourne perspective there is very little to work on for the future (Oskar Baker and James Jordon excepted). Let’s face it, given the club’s injury woes, if you’re not in the heart of the continent with the AFL team and you’ve been around a few years, your prospects aren’t very good.

The fact of the matter is that Melbourne’s AFL contingent were shown up by their VFL counterparts in young Tom Freeman who finished with a career best 30 possessions which included a few timely marks out of defence, hard nosed Jimmy Munro who once again displayed the fundamentals of playing in trying conditions and led the way with his 16 tackles and Jack Hutchins who was strong in defence and beat his well credentialed AFL opponent goalless.

We saw fair efforts from Kennedy Harris and Baker but most of the rest were disappointing so it was really good that the team was able to stay so close and be in the game right to the end. Had they made the most of their opportunities in the opening term, they might even have won the game.

Casey travel to the Trevor Barker Beach Oval for a meeting with old rival Sandringham. Hopefully, a better performance awaits.

2019 Hard Yakka / Totally Workwear VFL

Casey Demons 3.4.22 3.5.23 4.7.31 5.9.39

Geelong VFL 0.0.0 1.7.13 3.10.28 5.18.48

Goals 

Casey Demons  Briggs  Keilty Kennedy Harris Lefau T Smith

Geelong VFL Narkle Selwood 2 Jones 

Best 

Casey Demons Freeman Hutchins Kennedy-Harris Munro Baker Smith

Geelong VFL Narkle Jones Menegola Abbot Constable Buzza

Statistics 

Oskar Baker 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 5 tackles 83 dream team points  
Toby Bedford 2 kicks 7 handballs 9 disposals 2 tackles 26 dream team points 
Jaxon Briggs 1 goal 1 behind 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 2 tackles 31 dream team points  
Kade Chandler 2 kicks 1 handball 3 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 26 dream team points  
Wayne Collis 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 7 tackles 57 dream team points 
Tom Freeman 27 kicks 3 handballs 30 disposals 10 marks 1 tackle 118 dream team points  
Matt Gahan 2 kicks 6 handballs 8 disposals 2 tackles 26 dream team points  
Mitch Hannan 1 behind 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 50 dream team points  
Jack Hutchins 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 8 marks 3 tackles 87 dream team points  
James Jordon 1 behind 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 45 dream team points  
Declan Keilty 1 goal 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 4 hit outs 74 dream team points  
Jay Kennedy Harris 1 goal 15 kicks 5 handballs 20 disposals 6 marks 11 tackles 123 dream team points  
Mykelti Lefau 1 goal 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 57 dream team points  
Mitch Lewis 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 6 tackles 52 dream team points  
Corey Maynard 8 kicks 4 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 40 dream team points 
James Munro 7 kicks 13 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 16 tackles 119 dream team points  
Aiden Quigley 1 behind 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 8 tackles 69 dream team points
Tim Smith 1 goal 10 kicks 4 handballs 14 disposals 2 marks 11 tackles 3 hit outs 94 dream team points  
Charlie Spargo 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 6 marks 7 tackles 87 dream team points  
Cory Stockdale 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 45 dream team points 
Luke Tynan 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 54 dream team points 
Liam Wale-Buxton 2 kicks 3 handballs 5 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 25 hit outs 46 dream team points  
Mitch White 1 behind 8 kicks 8 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 55 dream team points