RAIN CHECK by Whispering Jack

The Frankston Dolphins broke a run of six straight losses against their neighbours, the Casey Demons and kept their hopes for a long-awaited return to the VFL finals alive with a 27 point victory over at Kinetic Stadium.

Casey was welcomed to the Peninsula by grey skies, heavy rain and angry seas with threatening white-capped waves whipped up by gale force winds. After a slow start in the opening term when they failed to take advantage of the breeze, it appeared that the Demons had decided to take a rain check on participation in the fray in the next stanza. They were duly blown out of the game by a powerful Dolphin surge that netted seven goals to a single major and they  never recovered from the onslaught that saw them 27 points down at the main break.

To their credit however, the visitors did manage to claw back a couple of points in a fairly dull and colourless second half of football but a full comeback to challenge Frankston’s lead was out of the question.

Casey was always going to be under the pump from the moment its team selection revealed that five AFL listed players of various levels of experience were out of the side from last week’s win against Essendon. The late withdrawal of two more in Ben Brown and Taj Woewodin to be replaced by one emergency only leaving the bench one player short was a major blow. It was a major advantage for the Dolphins to have an extra on the bench when running into the wind with mud and slush under foot can be so energy slashing.

Statistically, the teams were fairly even apart from the all-important conversion rate in front of goals but this belied the fact that Frankston was a far more even in its makeup and, with a possible finals appearance beckoning, was more intense in its approach to the game in wet, blustery and bitterly cold conditions.

In any event, the statistics in the conditions that prevailed on Saturday saw different numbers than those which apply under what you would describe as “normal” playing conditions. There are less marks taken, more tackles and stoppages and many more ruck contests.

The standout on the day was Melbourne rookie Kynan Brown who announced himself as a true mudlark. He took on the contest fearlessly and racked up some big numbers, gathering 27 disposals, 11 clearances and a goal and a club season high 24 tackles. This should assure him of a senior role, if not next up, then at least the next time Simon Goodwin is handed an adverse weather report for an upcoming game.

Goodwin might also be comforted by the performance of Brown’s fellow rookie Will Verrall who had a great duel with his Dolphin counterpart in the ruck to pick up 45 hit outs, but won comfortably around the ground with 14 kicks 4 handballs and seven clearances.

Defenders Marty Hore (10 marks) and Blake Howes (six tackles) each amassed 21 touches and were backed up by Josh Schache who picked up 18 disposals in a move to defence.

Shane McAdam’s forte of his marking and kicking were affected by the conditions but he persisted with a strong performance in laying 12 tackles. Young forwards Matt Jefferson and Ollie Sestan weren’t suited to the heavy going but persisted throughout.

Casey Demons coach Taylor Whitford did all that he could in the circumstances and the list he was given. He could well have done with a couple more VFL hardened bodies like his indefatigable skipper Mitch White who toiled hard all day for his 24 disposals and 13 tackles. He had strong backing from Roan Steele, Tyler Edwards and Mitch SzybkowskI who had a point to prove against his old club. Jack Bell also provided good support as second ruckman and his two goals were invaluable. One wonders why Melbourne looked far and wide to find a back up ruckman for Max Gawn when they had a player of this calibre on their doorstep.

The Demons next start is an early one, next Saturday morning when they take on the UWS Giants at 11:35am back at Casey Fields.

CASEY DEMONS 2.1.13 3.3.21 4.9.33 5.11.41

FRANKSTON 1.0.6 8.2.50 9.4.58 10.8.68

GOALS

CASEY DEMONS Bell 2 K Brown Kentfield Peters

FRANKSTON Johnson 4 Murphy 2 Burke Gown Newnes Quirk

BEST

CASEY DEMONS K Brown White Hore Steele Verrall SzybkowskI

FRANKSTON Murphy Quirk Johnson Voss Grant Barlow

Statistics

Jed Adams 2 kicks 2 disposals 1 tackle 10 dream team points
Jack Behnk 3 kicks 2 handballs 5 disposals 4 tackles 26 dream team points
Jack Bell 2 goals 8 kicks 3 handballs 11 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 12 hit outs 68 dream team points
Kynan Brown 1 goal 16 kicks 11 handballs 27 disposals 24 tackles 175 dream team points
Tyler Edwards 18 kicks 5 handballs 23 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles 85 dream team points
Roy George 1 behind 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 40 dream team points
Max Gregory 2 kicks 4 handballs 6 disposals 7 tackles 42 dream team points
Blake Howes 13 kicks 8 handballs 21 disposals 5 marks 6 tackles 89 dream team points
Marty Hore 20 kicks 1 handball 21 disposals 10 marks 1 tackles 97 dream team points
Matt Jefferson 1 behind 6 kicks 8 handballs 14 disposals 1 mark 1 tackles 43 dream team points
Luker Kentfield 1 goal 1 kick 2 handballs 3 disposals 2 tackles 12 dream team points
Brayden Laplanche 5 kicks 5 disposals 2 tackles 23 dream team points
Shane McAdam 3 behinds 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 2 marks 12 tackles 95 dream team points
Nick Moodie 7 kicks 2 handballs 9 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 31 dream team points
Charlie Peters 1 goal 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 8 tackles 70 dream team points
Josh Schache 14 kicks 4 handballs 18 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 72 dream team points
Ollie Sestan 2 behinds 13 kicks 5 handballs 18 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 55 dream team points
Roan Steele 1 behind 19 kicks 4 handballs 23 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 87 dream team points
Mitch Szybkowski 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 1 mark 7 tackles 76 dream team points
Will Verrall 14 kicks 4 handballs 18 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 45 hitouts 107 dream team points
Mitch White 20 kicks 4 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 13 tackles 120 dream team points
Kai Windsor 7 kicks 3 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 8 tackles 63 dream team points