The Casey Demons made it 12 wins on end with yet another come-from-behind victory at home against Sandringham on Saturday night. The lowly Zebras jumped the Demons and took the lead at the two minute mark of the opening term and kicked the game’s first four goals to hold a game high 23-point lead just before quarter time.
By then, the home side was one man down after Bernie Vince hurt his AC joint in a collision with an opponent. He immediately left the field and ended the day in hospital. His season is over.
Casey’s first goal came early in the second term with a free kick to the diminutive Will Stephenson. They ground their way back into the game with four goals to one during this period to go into the sheds at half time only three points in arrears.
During the main break, the consensus among the crowd was that the Demons would overrun their opposition in the second half but it was Sandringham that came out firing and booted the first two goals of the third term to retake the initiative.
Casey fought back with a goal to Mitch King but when the Zebras immediately responded, they led 8.6.54 to 5.8.38. The goal to Sandy’s Ray Connellan came at the 10 minute mark and was to be the visitors’ last score for the game.
The next 20 minutes or so were spent by Casey clawing back the deficit as they added goals to Corey Machaya and Dean Kent and four behinds to draw to level by the final break.
The Demons finally hit the lead with a behind five minutes into the last quarter but the arm wrestle continued for what seemed an eternity but it took until the 13 minute mark for Sam Weideman to break the impasse with his second goal which gave his team a 7 point lead.
There would be another two goals later in the term but the Zebras were cooked as the Demons pushed their lead out to 21 points at the finish. In the last 50 minutes of play, Casey scored 5.7.37 to nothing. The win put it on top of the VFL ladder after Richmond lost its second game in a row.
The nature of this contest saw to it that very few players were on top throughout but special accolades must go to defenders Declan Kielty who admirably filled the large void left by Cam Pedersen in the key defensive post with his strong marking and attack on the football and skipper Jack Hutchins whose strength in the clinches was instrumental in holding back the tide early and then in shutting down the Zebras in the latter part of the game. They were very capably assisted by youngsters Dion Johnstone and Harry Petty who returned to the field after injuring his finger in the second term. Josh Wagner and Jay Lockwood were very solid as well in a strong defensive effort.
Mitch Gent and Angus Scott were busy all day and Corey Wagner maintained his consistent high standard of play.
With the loss of Vince, Tom Bugg stepped up to the plate with 31 disposals for the day and Dean Kent was excellent up forward with three telling goals when they were needed. Mitch King and Sam Weideman combined well in a game that saw a rare Casey win in the overall ruck duels. The latter also contributed two goals while up forward. Young rookie ruckman Lachie Filipovic spent much of the game on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
The Casey juggernaut moves on to Box Hill City Oval for what promises to be a hard fought tussle between two teams that will fight out the finals next month.
Peter Jackson VFL 2018
Casey Demons 0.3.3 4.8.32 7.12.54 10.15.75
Sandringham 4.1.25 5.5.35 8.6.54 8.6.54
Goals
Casey Demons Kent 3 Weideman 2 Freeman King Machaya T Smith Stephenson
Sandringham Connellan 3 Haidon 2 Clavarino Langlands Weller
Best
Casey Demons Hutchins Bugg Lockhart Keilty Weideman Kent
Sandringham Goddard Gilbert Mclean Dunstan Clavarino Seccull
Statistics
Tomas Bugg 21 kicks 10 handballs 31 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 115 dream team points
Lachlan Filipovic 1 kick 3 handballs 4 disposals 9 dream team points
James Freeman 1 goal 3 kicks 2 handballs 5 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 30 dream team points
Mitch Gent 15 kicks 7 handballs 22 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 79 dream team points
Jack Hutchins 9 kicks 5 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 62 dream team points
Dion Johnstone 13 kicks 4 handballs 17 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 66 dream team points
Declan Keilty 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 8 marks 1 tackle 79 dream team points
Dean Kent 3 goals 3 behinds 17 kicks 4 handballs 21 disposals 5 marks 6 tackles 117 dream team points
Mitch King 1 goal 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 1 tackle 26 hit outs 67 dream team points
Jay Lockhart 2 behinds 13 kicks 1 handballs 14 disposals 4 marks 6 tackles 79 dream team points
Pat McKenna 2 kicks 3 handballs 5 disposals 2 marks 2 tackles 26 dream team points
Cory Machaya 1 goal 1 behind 8 kicks 9 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 7 tackles 89 dream team points
James Munro 4 kicks 3 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 26 dream team points
Harry Petty 13 kicks 6 handballs 19 disposals 6 marks 2 tackles 75 dream team points
Tim Smith 1 goal 3 behinds 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 6 hit outs 91 dream team points
Angus Scott 16 kicks 4 handballs 20 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 70 dream team points
Will Stephenson 1 goal 3 behinds 9 kicks 1 handball 10 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 76 dream team points
Cory Stockdale 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 3 marks 54 dream team points
Bernie Vince 4 kicks 1 handballs 5 disposals 2 marks 20 dream team points
Corey Wagner 12 kicks 6 handballs 18 disposals 5 marks 7 tackles 91 dream team points
Josh Wagner 19 kicks 3 handballs 22 disposals 8 marks 4 tackles 102 dream team points
Sam Weideman 2 goals 1 behind kicks handballs disposals marks tackles 12 hit outs 76 dream team points
Mitch White 9 kicks 1 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 3 tackles 49 dream team points
