COR BLIMEY by KC from Casey

In years to come, the old timers will talk in wonderment about the “Avalon Avalanche” that hit Werribee’s Avalon Airport Oval on a mild winter’s afternoon at about ten minutes after the halfway mark of the game between the local Tigers and their cross town rivals, the Demons from Casey.

At that moment in time, the game was poised as if on a knifepoint. Up until the main interval, it had been the visiting team which had maintained the lead from the start but it had struggled to entirely assert its dominance in field play on the scoreboard.

The Werribee tactic had been to close down play and crowd the Casey forward line preventing the highly talented Demons from opening up a big break in the game. They had one effective forward in Sam Weideman with two goals to thank for their 17 point lead at that stage, one that should have been a lot more. The standard of the game had been poor, the pace at times was barely pedestrian.

Then, when play resumed after half time, the home side was ready to strike. It opened up the play, ran into space and for ten minutes took over the proceedings. But for their inaccuracy in front of goal — they kicked 2.4 from several forays into the forward line punctuated by Weideman’s third goal in the middle of their run — they would have been able to snatch away the ascendency in the game and grab a nice lead. As it was, they were down by just seven points but you could sense alarm bells ringing in the Demon camp.

Then the avalanche struck. In the space of seven minutes, the Demons ran the Tigers ragged with their superior pace and ball movement into attack with five different players scoring goals to catapult them into an unassailable position.

One of the goalkickers was newcomer Kye Declase who was recently plucked away from Werribee per medium of the the Midseason Draft and who has a future in the game. The other was a surprise packet playing just his fourth game. His goal at the 17 minute mark of the third term was his first in the VFL and made up one of the stories of the day.

Corey Ellison is a local product from Cranbourne who spent a couple of years on the fringes at the Dandenong Stingrays and missed out on playing alongside teammate Toby Bedford in their 2018 premiership. (Ironically, it was Bedford who kicked the first of those five avalanche goals after some exciting play from Jake Bowey turned defence into devastating attack).

After committing to Casey last year, Ellison took to the gym and built himself up during the lockdown and did his preseason with the Demons but the presence of Ben Brown and Weideman meant he was consigned more into defence. He was selected there for this game but, as fate would have it, he was up forward in the third term. Late in the quarter, he managed two quick goals and with the game free and open at last, he added another three in the final term to make it six for the game to match his six goal haul for Cranbourne on Anzac Eve which gained the high flyer his VFL debut on a Thursday night against North Melbourne back at the end of April.

Earlier in the day, Bowey had shown his class and composure and signaled that his elevation to the big time was not far away. Weideman was in his element as a key forward who at times roamed far and wide to generate some attacking spark for the team. The experience of Aaron vandenBerg and Jake Melksham shone out in the second half and Tom Sparrow had some big moments before injuring himself late in the game. The two midseason draftees Declase and Kye Turner are coming on nicely.

Apart from Ellison, the Casey listed contingent was well led by Mitch White and the tackling machine that is Jimmy Munro. George Grey also showed some flashes of pace and brilliance.

With another percentage boosting win to give it a 7-1 record, it is believed that a finals berth beckons in the magical mystery competition that is the VFL in 2021. But all of that depends on a bigger landscape as we await the next avalanche.

CASEY DEMONS 3.0.18 5.5.35 13.8.86 17.14.116

WERRIBEE TIGERS 1.2.8 2.6.18 5.10.40 7.15.57

GOALS

Casey Demons Ellison 6 Weideman 3 Chandler 2 Bedford Declase Grey Melksham Munro Sparrow

Werribee Tigers Kemp Thar 2 Buzza Malual Pinnuck

BEST

Casey Demons vandenBerg Ellison Lockhart Melksham Weideman Declase

Werribee Tigers Sodomaco Garoni Thar Pinnuck Gribble Hayes

Statistics

Oskar Baker 11 kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 71 dream team points
Toby Bedford 1 goal 1 behind 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 73 dream team points
Jake Bowey 1 behind 15 kicks 4 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 87 dream team points
Aaron Bradtke 7 kicks 4 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 44 dream team points
Kade Chandler 2 goals 2 behinds 9 kicks 1 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 60 dream team points
Majak Daw 10 kicks 3  handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 33 hit outs 90 dream team points
Kye Declase 1 goal 1 behind 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 1 tackle 83 dream team points
Corey Ellison 6 goals 1 behind 10 kicks 1 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 106 dream team points
Zac Foot 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 83 dream team points
George Grey 1 goal 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 1 mark 5  tackles 57 dream team points
Neville Jetta 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points
Jay Lockhart 20 kicks 4 handballs 24 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 96 dream team points
Jake Melksham 1 goal 1 behind 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 86 dream team points
James Munro 1 goal 1 behind 9 kicks 10 handballs 19 disposals 1 mark 10 tackles 86 dream team points
Fraser Rosman 1 tackle 4 dream team points [injured]
Miles Shepherd 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 38 dream team points
Joel Smith 14 kicks 4 handballs 18 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 68 dream team points
Tom Sparrow 1 goal 10 kicks 10 handballs 20 disposals 4 marks 7 tackles 96 dream team points
Daniel Turner 11 kicks 3 handballs 14 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 58 dream team points
Aaron vandenBerg 3 behinds 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 10 tackles 101 dream team points
Sam Weideman 3 goals 10 kicks 8 handballs 18 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 4 hit outs 101 dream team points
Mitch White 1 behind 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 55 dream team points