MOMENTUM SWINGS by KC from Casey

April 6Apr 6

The Casey Demons secured their first win of the season by the narrow margin of four points against the Box Hill Hawks at Casey Fields on Easter Sunday morning.

It was the first win for the club’s newly appointed VFL Senior Coach Rhett McLennan and his strategy of focusing on local recruitment in the Gippsland region, where he has previously been instrumental in developing players through the Coates Talent League program.

It was a thrilling game marked momentum shifts and a dramatic finish with the result in doubt until the final seconds when Casey’s ruckman Max Heath took a game saving pack mark in defence late in the match with Box Hill making a final surge for victory.

The Hawks started brightly to hold a 15 point lead at quarter time with key forward Aidan Schubert scoring four out of their five goals. They held Casey goalless until deep into time on when Matt Jefferson and Aidan Johnson hit the target with successive goals in the space of a minute. At this stage Casey had few winners with the exception of Heath who had a stand out game dominating in the ruck. He was to continue in that vein all day winning a total of 42 hitouts, three clearances, 20 disposals and six marks

The first half of the second term saw the teams trading goal for goal until Nate Pipicelli scored a rare double goal after some undisciplined play by a Box Hill defender resulted in a free kick for a push after the Casey recruit had scored a goal. The result was a dramatic change of the lead with the Demons holding sway until a late two goal surge by the Hawks saw them regain the lead by four points at the main break.

Box Hill came out full of confidence in the third quarter with three early goals to give them a game high 22 point lead before the momentum swung again. Casey fought back to regain a narrow one point lead at three quarter time. They extended their advantage in a frenetic final term with the Hawks fighting back to be outlasted by the home side. Melbourne youngster Tom Matthews who had a relatively quiet day scored a significant goal late in the day when he bored in hard for a free and converted from close in after a 50 metre penalty.

A pleasing aspect of the win was the work of Casey’s three key prongs in attack, Johnson (12 disposals, five marks, four goals), Luker Kentfield (four goals from just seven touches and four marks) and Jefferson (16 disposals, five marks, three goals) who, between them kicked 11 goals on the day.

Xavier Taylor got among the action with 14 disposals and six marks and improved as the game progressed and while Andy Moniz-Wakefield was also solid in defence, he was not as prolific a ball winner as in the opening round. Jack Henderson who spent most of the pre-season managing a stress fracture to his sacrum amassed 14 possessions till half time when he was taken off to head up the highway to the MCG for AFL emergency duty.

The Casey-listed contingent played a prominent role in the victory with skipper Riley Bonner heading the way with 33 touches including ten in the opening term when the team was under enormous pressure from the outset.

Bonner received strongly support from a couple of newcomers playing against their old club Ethan Stanley and Luis D'Angelo, the latter a product of Traralgon and the Gippsland Power coached by McLennan. Toby SInnema showed some of his class and composure and was prominent in a number of attacking moves during those periods when the momentum was swinging his team’s way. Jarrod Gatt, Jobe Scapin and Luke Cheffers all had their moments, the latter featuring in a crucial piece of play late in the third quarter when he effected a smoother to steal the ball off a defender’s boot and score a goal to restore Casey’s lead.

As much as the momentum swings of the game worked to the benefit of Casey, it’s season momentum comes to another stop next weekend throughout the competition as a result of the interstate match between the VFL and SANFL in Adelaide in conjunction with the Gather Round.