STORIES by KC from Casey

There were more than a few stories about Friday night’s game between the Casey Demons and Geelong at GMHBA Stadium.

The first was one of complete domination in the first quarter (six goals to nil), ascendency in the last (five to two) and the second was about the void in between (zero to seven). The third was about how, in the end, the Demons retained their unbeaten record despite the hell of a scare they had on the rainswept spaces of the Cattery.

However, the story that folk might be telling somewhere down the track in the future is the one about how a few of the club's young guns approached readiness for higher achievements in the rain and the gloom of Corio Bay where their senior counterparts had met with a humiliating defeat only 24 hours earlier.

Casey was so quick off the blocks that they had six goals on the board in the blink of an eye with some fine input from the team’s solid mix of performers including, pleasingly, a few Demon young guns in Bailey Laurie, Jacob Van Rooyen and Taj Woewodin.

Then, after something of an arm wrestle for the first half of the second term, the Cats gained the momentum through ruckman Jonathon Ceglar (returning after a long injury lay off) and goal kicking utility Francis Evans to kick the next eight goals of the match over a period that stretched to close on the 10 minute mark of the final quarter when Laurie kicked his second.

During the period in which the Cats had the ascendency, the Demons resembled their senior counterparts from the night before as the seemed frozen when it came to their approach to goals. In between Laurie’s first goal late in the opening term and his second, Casey managed nine consecutive behinds and it appeared that it would almost certainly suffer its first loss of the VFL season.

However, once the team regained its composure, the goals flowed and the Demons returned to normality to peg back a 12 point deficit to win 11.9 (75) to 9.10 (64). Laurie (29 touches) in particular was outstanding and he and Van Rooyen showed that they are approaching readiness for higher glory while Woewodin will almost certainly have to wait for 2023. Trent Rivers and Jayden Hunt put their hands up for their more immediate return and Kade Chandler and Luke Dunstan must also be close. Sam Weideman also had his moments. Casey stalwart Jimmy Munro (24 touches) was also tough in the clinches.

In the end, the tired Demons walked off the ground having notched up their 14th win for the season having well earned a rest for next week’s bye but I suspect that some of them will not be resting at all and that rather, they have a long trip to the centre of the country ahead of them.

CASEY DEMONS 6.1.37 6.3.39 6.7.43 11.9.75

GEELONG VFL 0.3.3 4.3.27 7.6.48 9.10.64

Goals 

Casey Demons Laurie 3 Van Rooyen Weideman 2 M Brown Chandler Hunt Woewodin 

Geelong VFL Evans 5 Neale 2 Chafer Stephens 

Best 

Casey Demons Laurie Dunstan Rivers Hunt Woewodin Van Rooyen Chandler

Geelong VFL Evans Ceglar Narkle McLaughlan Narkle Byrne Capiron 

Statistics 

Oskar Baker 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 62 dream team points
Jack Bell 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 21 hit outs 53 dream team points
Mitch Brown 1 goal 11 kicks 2 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 52 dream team points
Matt Buntine 4 kicks 6 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 39 dream team points
Kade Chandler 1 goals 11 kicks 8 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 70 dream team points
George Churchill Grey 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 3 tackles 22 dream team points
Luke Dunstan 19 kicks 10 handballs 29 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 91 dream team points
Corey Ellison 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 26 dream team points
Kobe George goals 1 handball 1 disposal 2 dream team points
Jayden Hunt 1 goals 12 kicks 5 handballs 17 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 82 dream team points
Bailey Laurie 3 goals 1 behind 16 kicks 13 handballs 29 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 118 dream team points
Judd McVee 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points
Jake Melksham 1 behind 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 6 tackles 78 dream team points
James Munro 6 kicks 18 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 9 tackles 94 dream team points
Trent Rivers 11 kicks 9 handballs 20 disposals 2 marks 51 dream team points
Fraser Rosman 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 38 dream team points
Deakyn Smith 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 6 tackles 41 dream team points
Roan Steele 1 behinds 4 kicks 1 handball 5 disposals 1 tackle 14 dream team points
Adam Tomlinson 15 kicks 1 handballs 16 disposals 1 mark 47 dream team points
Jacob Van Rooyen 2 goals 9 kicks 2 handballs 11 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 5 hit outs 80 dream team points
Sam Weideman 2 goals 2 behinds 4 kicks 4 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 1 hit out 57 dream team points
Taj Woewodin 1 goal 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles dream team points
Mitch White 11  kicks 4 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 48 dream team points