DELTA DEMONS by KC from Casey

There was an ill wind blowing for the home side at Casey Fields on  Saturday but you wouldn’t have noticed if you turned up seven or eight minutes into the second quarter with the scoreboard showing the Casey Demons holding a lead of 7.5.47 to Footscray’s solitary point. Up to that stage, the depleted Dees combination had taken full advantage of the windy conditions and headed by veterans Nathan Jones, Jimmy Munro and Mitch White had came out of the blocks and plundered the Bulldogs’ defence.  

The game took a dramatic turn after that. The Bulldogs scored their first major at the 9 minute mark of the second quarter and went on to add five more unanswered goals to be within reach of the rapidly tiring Demons by half time.

The slaughter continued unabated and, apart from a single third quarter goal in the middle of the third term, the Demons were able to add a couple of late game junk time goals to George Grey to fall by an inglorious 37 points.

This was only Casey’s second loss for the season, the first was by just a point, but it plunged the Demons down the ladder into fifth place. No excuses are acceptable but it should be said that the Delta strain of the Covid19 panic played a crucial role in the outcome. 

While the Bulldogs AFL side was playing locally on Saturday, the Melbourne Demons were flying around the country with a large contingent of players who would otherwise have been playing for Casey. Players such Chandler, Daw, Melksham, Joel Smith, Weideman and vandenBerg should have formed the backbone of the team but instead, were flying backward and forward between Melbourne and Brisbane. The total number of changes was seven - all of them AFL listed Demons!

It was left to the very few older hands such as Jones, Nev Jetta and Jay Lockhart and the Casey older guard to lead a very green group of younger players from suburban and country competitions into the fray. Many had been playing very little football of any sort in recent weeks due to the lockdowns and it showed after the frenetic pace of the opening.

In the ensuing gloom of the day, the Demons’ mid season rookie Kye Declase once again stood out. He amassed 27 disposals and kicked a goal in a promising display. Oskar Baker also had his moments 

With Melbourne and its extended squad up in the air again this week, little respite can be expected for the Delta Demons next week.

2021 VFL Mens

Casey Demons   6.4.40 7.5.47 8.9.57 10.9.69

Footscray Bulldogs  0.1.1 6.3.39  11.5.71 16.10.106

Goals

Casey Demons Grey 3 White 2 Baker Bedford Declase Ellison Jones 

Footscray Bulldogs Cavarra McNeil West 3 Bedendo Drummond Craig-Peters Glass-McCasker McComb Vandermeer William 

Best 

Casey Demons Jones White Declase Ellison Lockhart Jetta 

Footscray Bulldogs West McComb Sullivan Bedendo Young Cavarra

Statistics 

Oskar Baker 1 goal 14 kicks 6 handballs 20 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 83 dream team points

Toby Bedford 1 goal 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 8 tackles 80 dream team points

Jack Bell 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 12 hit outs 49 dream team points

Aaron Bradtke 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 7 hit outs 22 dream team points

Jaxon Briggs 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 5 tackles 52 dream team points

Kye Declase 1 goal 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 86 dream team points

Corey Ellison 1 goals 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 6 marks 4 tackles 2 hit outs 61 dream team points

Zac Foot 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 38 dream team points

Tom Freeman 8 kicks 8 disposals 3 marks 33  dream team points

George Grey 3 goals 4 kicks 1 handballs 5 disposals 3 marks 6 tackles 62 dream team points

Jack Hutchins 4 kicks 4 disposals 4 marks 18  dream team points

Neville Jetta 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 58 dream team points

Nathan Jones 1 goals 3 behinds 20 kicks 9 handballs 29 disposals 4 marks 3 ttackles 105 dream team points

Bayley Laurie 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 41 dream team points

Jay Lockhart 11 kicks 5 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 66 dream team points

James Munro kicks handballs disposals marks tackles dream team points

Fraser Rosman 1 behind 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 42 dream team points

Deakyn Smith 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 36 dream team points

Ryan Sparkes 5 kicks 1 handballs 6 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 44 dream team points

Cory Stockdale 1 behind 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 1 mark 4 tackles 42 dream team points

Daniel Turner 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 4 marks 1 tackles 51 dream team points

Mitch White 2 goals 1 behinds 11 kicks 2 handballs 13 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 81 dream team points