KC from Casey

A goal to James Harmes after scrappy period of play sees Casey holding a 23 point lead closing in on the halfway mark if the quarter.

Roosters bring it down to 16 points with a goal from a free kick.

Goal to the Toumpas in the first minute of the second term but a quick reply by the Roosters.

Casey Scorpions 5.2.32 to North Ballarat 1.3.9 at the first break Goals Blease Fitzpatrick Page Smith Tapscott Disposals Michie 8, Blease, Tapscott 7, Best, Gawn, Strauss 6. Casey has introduced another newcomer in Daniel Welsh.

Thanks people. Goal to big Jack as Casey sprint to a 4 goal lead. Michie & JKH impressing.

Roosters goal but Nathan Page answers after a free. Casey 4.2.26 to 1.2.8.

Long goal to Sammy Blease and the Scorps are on a roll 20 - 2.

Tim Smith goals after a mark to give Casey a 12 point lead as the rain comes down - 2.2.14 to 0.2.2.

Tapscott gets the first goal of the day after accepting a handpass from a teammate.

Scorps win after a Neville Jetta goal with a minute to go. Casey Scorpions 3.1.19 7.5.47 7.7.49 11.8.74 Port Melbourne 4.4.28 4.5.29 7.11.53 10.11.71 Goals Gawn 2 Barry Best Blease Hunt Jetta King Salem Smith Tapscott Best Evans Jetta Blease Clisby Gawn Salem

Three quarter time and Port led by four points but a goal to Tappy puts the Scorps in front followed by one to Jayden Hunt. The lead is 9 points.

The Casey Scorpions dominated the second quarter to lead 7.5.47 to Port Melbourne 4.5.29. I'm working today and am relaying scores via SMS from a mate at the ground. I'm off interstate for two months and won't be providing reports until early June.

At quarter time Port Melbourne lead 4.4.28 to Casey Scorpions 3.1.19 with Dom Barry, Tim Smith and Max Gawn the goal kickers. Will Petropoulos is playing well for the home side.

The Scorpions have a young development league team this year (25 new players) and will struggle for depth. I suspect that lack of cash resources to recruit name players to the senior team is going to affect that aspect and it's playing list will suffer for it. They'll be hoping Melbourne doesn't have a long injury list this year.

Development League: Port Melbourne 20.4.124 too strong for Casey Scorpions 7.4.46. Newcomer Joe Fisscher kicked 3 goals.

The Casey Scorpions have now finalised their list with two late signings in former Dandenong Stingrays Angus Scott and Dale Gawley making a total of 25 newcomers at the Scorpions in 2014.

I worked the phones a bit last night and it appears that the above is a very good summation of what took place with Casey's straight kicking in the final quarter third enabling them to bring home the bacon kicking the last five goals as the wind freshened. Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 4.3.27 8.5.53 Box Hill Hawks 2.3.15 4.11.35 4.15.39 This was a pretty good result for Casey but somewhat deceptive because the Scorps had the benefit of the breeze for two of the three thirds. The other side of the coin is that the Hawks (both AFL & VFL) had very few players unavailable and their depth on the day was strong giving them the luxury of having a couple of last year's VFL premiership team playing in the development league game over three quarters at day's end. That match was as much, if not more, of a slaughter than the AFL game with a young Scorpions side being completely overrun by a more accomplished Hawks. Casey Scorpions 1.0.6 1.0.6 1.0.6 Box Hill Hawks 8.5.53 11.7.73 12.9.81

The 3/4 time score at Casey Fields sees the Scorpions 8.5.53 leading the wayward Hawks 4.15.39 ... but there's a way to go because this is a six quarter match (so it's really half time).

Can't make it today because of other commitments but I'm sure some Dlanders will hang around at Casey to keep us apprised of the events of the Casey v Box Hill game. The Hawks are also reigning VFL premiers. Unfortunately, I look like missing most of the first half of 2014 due to work so if there are any regular Casey goers who would like to fill in while I'm away, please PM Demonland or Whispering Jack.

Evan Panozza has been appointed captain again for 2014. He will be supported by Mitch Gent as his vice captain with Will Petropoulos, Troy Davis, Nathan Page and Tim Smith making up the leadership group.

Casey Fields is situated at 160 Berwick - Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne East - Melway 134 E7 Saturday's practice match against Hawthorn will be followed at 4.00 pm by a match between Casey Scorpions and Box Hill Hawks which are the affiliates of the AFL clubs. The game will be over six quarters to enable as many players as possible from the various club lists to gain some match practice.

Article on the Casey Scorpions in the local Leader newspaper:- Long list of recruits for Casey Scorpions ahead of 2014 VFL season Casey's 2014 recruits are: Ricky Ferraro (Bonbeach), Troy Davis (Melbourne), Ryan Morrison (Narre Warren), Edward Morris (Gippsland Power), Matthew Rennie (Dandenong Stingrays), Joseph Fisscher (Old Haileybury), Jake Thomas (Gippsland Power), Angus Scott (Dandenong Stingrays), James Davidson (Warragul), Luke Thwaites (Tarwin), David Delpapa (Scoresby), Gavin Pears (Rowville), Andrew Murray (Wonthaggi), Luke Collins (Montmorency), Nathaniel Paredes (Gippsland Power), Kelsey Currie (Upper Ferntree Gully), Jackson McDonald (Box Hill Hawks), Joel Winderlich (MDU), Joe West (Dandenong Stingrays), Tom Wyatt (Korumburra Bena), Calum Sheils (Warragul), Jordan Symons (Traralgon), Daniel Welsh (Eastern Ranges), Kayan Bundle (Traralgon).

The Casey Scorpions have added four members of the inaugural Alex Silvagni Development Squad to their 2014 list - Jordan Symons (Traralgon), Joel Winderlich (Meeniyan-Dumbalk United), Luke Thwaites (Tarwin) and Tom Wyatt (Korumburra-Bena). These additions should just about finalise the Casey list for the year.

This week's local Cranbourne Leader has an article (no link available) that focusses on the changes over the off season at Casey and whilst it doesn't add a great deal of new information, it's nevertheless interesting. Highlights:- ■ the recent re-signing of captain Evan Panozza and rover Will Petropoulos - ~ Casey Scorpions general manager Matthew Young.■ other significant regulars to have re-signed are Ricky Plummer, Jake Best, Panozza, Tim Smith, Mitch Gent and Nathan Page; ■ the most seasoned inclusions on the Casey list are former Demon Troy Davis and former Sandringham and Collingwood VFL midfielder Ricky Ferraro. Other recruits include Ed Morris, Nathan Paredes, Jake Thomas (Gippsland Power), Matt Rennie, Joseph West (Dandenong Stingrays), Daniel Welsh (Eastern Ranges) and ex-Stingray Ryan Morrison, who played in Narre Warren's senior premiership last year. ■ the Scorpions are expected to finalise their list this week and one or two players from their inaugural Alex Silvagni Development Academy are in contention for contracts. ■ the first pre-season hitout is on Saturday, March 8 at Casey Fields, after the AFL practice match between Melbourne and Hawthorn. ■ the Scorpions will also host games against Williamstown (March 15) and Port Melbourne (March 22). ■ the club is looking for a major jumper sponsor. It was also good to see some of the Casey lads finding the footy at Thursday's MFC intraclub game.

I looked at last year's player list and I believe the number is 44 which covers the development league (old VFL reserves) team as well. I think the lists can be added to in the event of serious or long term injuries and the 23rd player rule also helps with numbers. On top of that there are the players available from the aligned club's AFL list not selected to play for them on any given week. Therefore the numbers should be adequate although we know that annually we seem to have problems with MFC player numbers available to represent Casey in finals.