A WIN IS A WIN by KC from Casey

It was a case of the ends justifying the means for the Casey Demons on Sunday afternoon. They led all day, won by 35-points with 16 AFL-listers in the side and claimed top spot on the VFL ladder, but they also played some ugly football in even more ugly conditions to get there. But a win is a win.

The opposition did very little to help by going totally negative against the wind after the Demons kicked away with three goals, one to Mitch Brown followed by two to Majak Daw, midway through the opening term. After that, the game turned into a messy slog in the swirling conditions but Casey was at least able to score goals against the stiff breeze with both sides scoring two each in the second quarter to give the home team a handy 21-point lead at the main break.

The next ten minutes of football was more of a slopfest with plenty of errors from both sides, overuse of handball, more negative tactics from the Lions and some equally poor umpiring. With Majak Daw out of the game, Jacob Van Rooyen was doing some work in the ruck and the forward line was depleted and out sorts.

But suddenly, the team hit a purple patch with goals to Brown, Corey Ellison and two to Roan Steele to put them up by 8 goals with time still to go with the wind. Ironically, the first of those goals to Steele came after an exciting passage involving a string of handpasses and short passing that was very much exceptional in a day of dour football.

Late in the term Coburg hit back with their only score for the day against the wind - a goal that must have given them some belief because they went into attack in the last quarter and narrowed the Demon lead to 4 goals before Toby Bedford chipped in with a great running snap goal to finish off the opposition run.

Conditions were perfect for captain Mitch White who led the field with 26 disposals and one goal. Young goalsneak Steele from Frankston YCW showed why the recruiting staff pursued him so hard and he kicked three timely goals. Youngsters Bailey Laurie and Taj Woewodin played their best games yet for the club and provided great support for the experienced Luke Dunstan and Jake Melksham while Adam Tomlinson and Joel Smith were rock solid in defence. 

Toby Bedford stood out in his record 9th game in the first month of football for 2022 which include 5 as AFL sub for Melbourne. He was unused for the last four of those games which allowed him to subsequently take the field for Casey but that unusual run will end this week as the VFL game on Sunday at Punt Road will take place before the Anzac Eve blockbuster on Sunday night. The VFL Tigers returned to form at the weekend and it should be a great curtain raiser for the main game.

Casey Demons 3.5.23 5.7.37 9.10.64 13.12.90

Coburg 0.0.0 2.4.16 3.4.22 8.7.55

Goals

Casey Demons Steele 3 Bedford Brown Daw 2 Chandler Dunstan Ellison White 

Coburg Lowson Podhajski Silvestro 2 Jepson Thomas

Best

Casey Demons White Tomlinson Melksham Dunstan Bell Bedford Woewodin J Smith  

Coburg Podhajski Bunker Nelson Maibaum

Statistics

Oskar Baker 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 3 marks 1 tackles 52 dream team points
Toby Bedford 2 goals 7 kicks 8 handballs 15 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 72 dream team points
Jake Bell 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 29 hit outs 65 dream team points
Mitch Brown 2 goals 2 behinds 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 48 dream team points
Kade Chandler 1 goal 2 behinds 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 1 hit out 65 dream team points
Majak Daw 2 goals 2 kicks 1 handballs 3 disposals 22 dream team points [injured]
Luke Dunstan 1 goal 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 81 dream team points
Corey Ellison 1 goal 7 kicks 1 handballs 8 disposals 3 marks 1 hit out 39 dream team points
George Grey 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 26 dream team points
Ryan Koo 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 32 dream team points
Bailey Laurie 2 behinds 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 79 dream team points
Judd McVee 5 kicks 6 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 39 dream team points
Jake Melksham 1 behind 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 80 dream team points
Andy Moniz-Wakefield 1 behind 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 marks 18 dream team points
James Munro 2 kicks 9 handballs 11 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 41 dream team points
Fraser Rosman 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 2 marks 33 dream team points
Deakyn Smith 1 behind 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 1 tackles 1 hit out 36 dream team points
Joel Smith 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 4 tackles 56 dream team points
Roan Steele 3 goals 10 kicks 2 handballs 12 disposals 6 marks 70 dream team points
Adam Tomlinson 20 kicks 4 handballs 24 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 72 dream team points
Jacob Van Rooyen 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 4 hit outs 41 dream team points
Mitch White 1 goal 15 kicks 11 handballs 26 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 114 dream team points
Taj Woewodin 11 kicks 10 handballs 21  disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 76 dream team points