Round 11 vs. Geelong Cats

MATCH REPORT

In for Casey were Bertrand (returning for her first VFLW game in almost four years), while the teenager Barnett from Old Melburnians came in for her debut. The Cats were weakened by a few injuries and also rested a couple of players.

QTR 1

Casey got on the front foot straight away, trapping the ball inside fifty and peppering the goals. In stark contrast to games where attacking has been difficult, in the blink of an eye the Demons had five scores—unfortunately all points. You had to wonder if the inaccuracy would come back to haunt us, but it was a positive start against the ladder leaders. The pressure from our players was immense. This caused the Cats to struggle to hit a target as they were forced into repeated turnovers. Neal, working hard in and under, earned a HTB free kick thirty metres out, directly in front, and took Casey out to an 11-point lead. O’Neill with repeated efforts to lock the ball in was also rewarded with a holding the ball free and kicked truly. Late in the quarter Geelong finally managed some composed ball movement, trying to shift the Casey defence by changing the angles. They had some success in picking their way through, but the backline structure held up to ensure it was a shallow entry and spoiled to ground where there was plenty of support. A quick transition down the field saw Kirkwood, who’d been everywhere, find a paddock of space and she put one through on the siren to give Casey an impressive 24-point lead at the first change.

QTR 2

In a similar pattern to the first, the Demons began the quarter with several shots on goal to no avail, though none were particularly straightforward. Midway through the quarter, Geelong got some control of the footy and finally got a mark inside fifty, which they converted into their first goal. Buoyed by that, they upped their intensity around the footy, but Casey responded in kind. A lot of the play was between the arcs, with neither side able to get much happening in an attacking sense. After a solid first quarter, the Dees managed to sustain the pressure and took a 21-point lead into half time.

QTR 3

The first seven minutes of the third are lost to the sands of time, due to some kind of camera malfunction, or perhaps the cameraperson went to blow their nose after sniffing their way through the first half? According to their muttered voiceover, they’ll “get blamed for this somehow”, so good luck to them! Regardless, when vision returned (and the sniffing), the crowd was vocal, the score was still 21 points, and there was a real scrap for the footy on the wing. Soon after, O’Neill took a great lead-up mark and belted it to the advantage of Burke, who kicked a classy running snap to put Casey in a likely winning position. The intensity at the ball carrier continued and the game became quite congested, so there looked to be little danger of the game opening up to Geelong’s advantage. Their hopes were further weakened by the fact they were completely outsized in the ruck, though really Casey could have done more with that advantage at times.

QTR 4

While there wasn’t much scoring action in the final term, Casey concentrated of sticking to the game plan that had set up things up in the first. They didn’t allow the Cats to get any kind of momentum and ground out the game to the siren for a well-earned win. This was a really even team effort, with the midfield’s pressure helping a well-structured backline and the forwards creating plenty of opportunities while making sure there were few easy exits for the opposition. While Geelong had more of the footy, Casey made sure they couldn’t do much with it, restricted them to 15 inside fifties compared to 39. The only flaw was the goal kicking, but coming into the game we’d take that score line every day of the week! The win means Casey’s finals chances are still alive with three rounds remaining and our players should take confidence that they can match it with the best.

FINAL SCORE:

Geelong Cats 2.2.14

Casey Demons 4.11.35

Casey goalkickers: O’Neill, Neal, Kirkwood, Burke

VFLW standouts:

Woolcock – 18 disposals, 5 marks, 6 tackles

Fairchild – 20 disposals, 10 tackles, 7 clearances

Neal – 18 disposals, 6 tackles, 5 clearances

Kinnane – 16 disposals, 6 tackles, 5 clearances

Danckert – 16 disposals, 11 tackles, 5 clearances

AFLW listed:

N/A

Next week:

BYE

Round 12 vs. Essendon Bombers

Close, but not cigar!

Watched this one in a COVID-induced haze, so I'll defer to the match report provided by Ethan Hibbert on the MFC website:

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1360457/vflw-demons-leave-it-too-late

On a day that had wind conditions more suited to an empty paddock then a football field saw the Casey Demons VFLW team go down to the Essendon Bombers by five points, the finals score 3.7 25 to 4.6 30.

It was extremely windy at Casey Fields with the goalposts themselves struggling to stay upright.

A tight contest was on display with a Casey side looking to knock off a fellow final’s contender on their charge to a place in the final 6.

Given the conditions, the game was extremely contested, and it became a battle of who can win the ball in the stoppage first.

Casey were against the wind in the first term and their main objective was to prevent the advantage with the wind that the Bombers would build.

Stoppage after stoppage was a story of the game with the Demons midfielders working overtime to allow no time and space on the ball and tackle at every opportunity they could.

Essendon didn’t kick their first goal until halfway through the quarter and it was a decent start for the Demons.

Another goal followed from a perfect centre clearance saw the Demons concede three for the first quarter.

Roles reversed in the second and the Bombers were excellent, not allowing Casey to get the ball forward with the wind at all.

Unfortunately, Ciara Burke’s goal was the only major for the term with the home side inaccurate in front of the goal, kicking five behinds.

A factor that would prove costly later in the match.

The third period for Casey was all about limiting the damage and keeping the margin as small as possible so they could try and claw it back in the final quarter.

Also, inaccurate in front of goal, the Bombers kicked four straight behinds and only one goal in the third quarter and would have been worried that they didn’t kill the game.

19-points down, with the wind and Casey had all the belief going into the final term that they could claw back a result.

Contest to contest, stoppage to stoppage, Essendon played the conditions perfectly to not allow the Demons opportunities to bring the game back.

The Bombers forced the ball wide and out of bounds to kill the clock and make the task grow for the home team.

In the hunt for a potential finals place, Casey had all the hope and motivation they needed.

A Brooke Borchard goal in the sixth minute gave an even bigger boost of momentum and Casey could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Amber Kinnane converted to make it a one goal game with 4 minutes left.

A behind from the centre clearance meant that a goal would be a game winning score for the Demons, but as they had done so expertly throughout the game, the Bombers held on.

Flooding the backline with every player on the field and preventing any loose ball, the away side where able to hold on, winning by five points.

The loss sees Casey now face an almost impossible chance of making finals.

Mathematically, they can still slip in but the job at hand is enormous and requires other results to go their way, for the Demons to have the slightest of opportunities to play finals in 2023.

Despite the disappointing outcome, Casey will be sure to play their best football and finish the year on a high for the remaining two rounds.

 

CASEY DEMONS: 0.0  1.5  1.5  3.7 (25)

ESSENDON BOMBERS: 3.2  3.2  4.6  4.6 (30)

 

BEST: Burn, O'Neill, Fairchild, Phillips, Proy, Kinnane

DISPOSALS: 25 Danckert, 21 Fairchild, 16 Burn, 14 Neal, 13 O’Neill

Clearly I fell off the bandwagon once finals were out of the picture! Have I become THAT kind of supporter?! For shame!

In the interests of completion, I'll finish this off briefly: Casey rounded out the season with a 27-point loss to Box Hill and a stirring 10-point win against Port Melbourne (who went on to finish the H&A season 2nd). A mid-season slump cost our team the chance at finals - by the time they'd regained some form and team cohesion, the bye interrupted the momentum and there weren't enough games left. The strong start to the season, retrospectively clearly aided by some AFLW talent, seems a long time ago! But the Dees did build throughout and found some connection towards the end. Certainly, our players' endeavour and hunger for the contest never wavered regardless of the opposition. A few close results in the other direction and it could have been a different story.

It was good to see some stalwarts continue their VFLW careers plus a wide array of new talent including plenty of debuts and other young players who improved week on week. Congrats to all who featured. While there was no Eliza West-esque "get her now" standout, I enjoyed watching players like O'Neill, Hogg, Woolcock and Neal, just to name a few. Danckert is one I can see making it back onto an AFLW list, actually. And it was a highlight to watch the first Demon father-daughter prospect where I remember the father, in Rigoni.

1 hour ago, Dees_In_October said:

Clearly I fell off the bandwagon once finals were out of the picture! Have I become THAT kind of supporter?! For shame!

In the interests of completion, I'll finish this off briefly: Casey rounded out the season with a 27-point loss to Box Hill and a stirring 10-point win against Port Melbourne (who went on to finish the H&A season 2nd). A mid-season slump cost our team the chance at finals - by the time they'd regained some form and team cohesion, the bye interrupted the momentum and there weren't enough games left. The strong start to the season, retrospectively clearly aided by some AFLW talent, seems a long time ago! But the Dees did build throughout and found some connection towards the end. Certainly, our players' endeavour and hunger for the contest never wavered regardless of the opposition. A few close results in the other direction and it could have been a different story.

It was good to see some stalwarts continue their VFLW careers plus a wide array of new talent including plenty of debuts and other young players who improved week on week. Congrats to all who featured. While there was no Eliza West-esque "get her now" standout, I enjoyed watching players like O'Neill, Hogg, Woolcock and Neal, just to name a few. Danckert is one I can see making it back onto an AFLW list, actually. And it was a highlight to watch the first Demon father-daughter prospect where I remember the father, in Rigoni.

...and, on topic but also a must-view more widely for all of us in this time of doubting our club - particularly its very integral Casey component - there's this:

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/1371717/vflw-rd14-peter-mercoulia-post-match?videoId=1371717&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1688360032001

Great passion, emotion and insight. Well done, Peter. Well done, Casey. Well done, girls.