NIGHTMARE by KC from Casey

[Demonland 73,106]

Late in the opening term of their game at Casey Fields on Sunday afternoon, the Casey Demons were dominating and held a lead of 31 points over Collingwood VFL. Was it the wind advantage? The fortress is well known at this time of the season for the strong winds that can mess with a game but that wasn’t the case this time. The way the hosts were playing, it looked as if a Magpie nightmare was about to unfold.

But alas for Casey, that was not to be and rather, it was exactly the opposite as from that point in things fell apart for the reigning VFL premier. They were uncharacteristically held goalless in the second term, managed only one in the third and took until halfway through the last before kicking a couple of goals that were too late to avert another bad loss at home that has seem them lose touch with the top echelon of teams on the VFL premiership table.

The story began well before the opening bounce. With two key Melbourne listed key position talls in Harry Petty and Tom McDonald and rookie ruckman Will Verrall already out injured, the Casey Demons were struck a body blow with injuries to full forward Ben Brown, key defender Daniel Turner and ruckman Jack Bell and the unavailability of Matt Buntine forcing a major recasting of the side that left it undermanned and undersized. 

When the Magpies made their comeback in the second quarter, their efforts were aided by the fact that the Casey Demons lacked the big men to go with the Magpies who dominated the air in the last three quarters.

That dominance began in the ruck where their super tall men feasted on a young light bodied learner in rookie Kyah Farris-White who recently has been plying his trade in the Coates Talent League. The youngster tried hard in the ruck but struggled around the ground and in the air. Teammate Josh Schache was also conscripted into the ruck and while he too worked hard in the ruck duels, he had his hands full with the Collingwood big men. To compound the situation, Magpie forward Nathan “Freddy” Kreuger turned things around and gave Casey coach Taylor Whitford a nightmare of his own with his strong marking and accurate kicking for his five goals.

For the Demons, it’s hard to fathom where they would have been without the return from injury of Jimmy Munro who finished the game with 21 disposals and 10 bone crunching tackles.

Early in the game youngster Matt Jefferson was dangerous up forward with the first two goals of the game but lack of opportunity kept him to only one more for the day. Another youngster in Andy Moniz-Wakefield was busy throughout and contributed a nice goal. He was unlucky not to get a second but it was touched by a teammate as it went through. Blake Howes was another young Demon who worked hard against the odds with 28 possessions that must see him closing in on an AFL debut.

Casey listed players Roan Steele and George Grey gave their hard working skipper strong support on the day and Ryan Baldi also worked hard. 

The defeat sees Casey drop to 7th on the ladder, a situation that is not likely to improve in the short terms as the Demons have a bye next weekend.

CASEY DEMONS 5.4.34 5.6.36 6.10.46 8.11.59

COLLINGWOOD VFL 1.2.8 6.3.39 9.3.57 11.7.73

GOALS

CASEY DEMONS Jefferson 3 White 2 Melksham Moniz-Wakefield Neocleous 

COLLINGWOOD VFL Krueger 5 Longmire T Wilson 2 Kelly Steene 

BEST 

CASEY DEMONS Munro Howes Moniz-Wakefield Steele White Grey

COLLINGWOOD VFL Krueger Steene Jetta Ruscoe Begg Bianco 

Statistics 

Jed Adams 1 kick 3 handballs 4 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 16 dream team points
Riley Baldi 9 kicks 6 handballs 15 disposals 5 marks 54 dream team points
Luke Dunstan 7 kicks 12 handballs 19 disposals  1 mark 1 tackle 52 dream team points 
Kyah Farris-White 1 kicks 4 handballs 5 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 15 hit outs 33 dream team points
Tom Freeman 8 kicks 1 handball 9 disposals 2 marks 29 dream team points
George Grey 9 kicks 3 handballs 12 disposals 5 marks 2 tackles 56 dream team points
Blake Howes 15 kicks 13 handballs 28 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 94 dream team points
Matt Jefferson 3 goals 1 behind 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 52 dream team points
Bailey Laurie 9 kicks 10 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 60 dream team points
Cooper Macdonald 3 kicks 3 disposals 2 tackles 14 dream team points
Tom McRae 1 behind 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 27 dream team points
Jake Melksham 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 6 handballs 16 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 69 dream team points
Andy Moniz-Wakefield 1 goal 11 kicks 7 handballs 18 disposals 6 marks 5 tackles 91 dream team points 
James Munro 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 10 tackles 108 my dream team points
Harvey Neocleous 1 goal 6 kicks 2 handballs 8 disposals 2 marks 35 dream team points
Charlie Peters 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 1 tackle 39 dream team points
Josh Schache 7 kicks 7 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 17 hit outs 70 dream team points
Oliver Sestan 1 behind 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 49 dream team points
Miles Shepherd 6 kicks 4 handballs 10 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 37 dream team points
Deaykin Smith 3 kicks 5 handballs 8 disposals 2 tackles 24 dream team points
Roan Steele 14 kicks 7 handballs 21 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 89 dream team points 
Ryan Valentine 2 behinds 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 8 hit outs 65 dream team points
Mitch White 2 goals 15 kicks 6 handballs 21 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 69 dream team points