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The Casey Scorpions' 2014 woes continued at home against reigning premiers, the Box Hill Hawks who dominated their round 11 encounter at Casey Fields for all but one quarter before crushing their lifeless hosts in the last to record an 85-point thrashing on the public stage in the VFL's televised match of the day. The match was in stark contrast to the previous encounter between these sides in the final home and away round of last season when they were battling for high stakes at the top of the ladder and an errant shot for goal by Dom Barry in the dying moments saw the Scorpions go down by 2 points at Box Hill City Oval, a result which consigned them to an opening finals game at the Cattery. This time, a far superior Box Hill took a stranglehold on the game early in the piece when it outscored Casey in the opening term despite kicking into the face of a strongish breeze. The home side lined up with fourteen Melbourne listed players but the Casey contingent was relatively inexperienced and missing Troy Davis, Mitch Gent, Will Petropoulos and promising youngster Ed Morris who returned from injury this week through the development league team. B: Welsh Georgiou Strauss HB: Nicholson Panozza Toumpas C: Byrnes Tapscott Barry HF: Blease Smith Harmes F: Best Fitzpatrick Kennedy-Harris FOLL: Gawn Michie Evans IC: Drew Page Rennie* Saunders Shiels * 23rd player Casey was on the back foot early and it was a bad sign that it could only penetrate the Box Hill defence twice in the opening term for goals to Smith and Fitzpatrick at the 17 and 19 minute mark respectively. The Hawks let them off the hook with their poor finishing in front of goal but such was their dominance that the game was virtually over at half time when they led by 38 points and the Scorps had managed to add another two measly points to their score. With Smith and Byrnes injured, it took quite an effort for Casey to fight its way back into the game but it did so in the third term on the back of strong work in the midfield from Michie and some hard efforts from Gawn in the ruck. At one stage the gap had been narrowed to 23 points before the visitors steadied with a late goal. In any event, the Scorpions of 2014 are not known for stirring final quarter comebacks, least of all against the wind and it was almost inevitable that they would finish again without a whimper. The Hawks simply ran away with a nine goal to nil final quarter to complete the humiliation and substantially boost their own percentage. It was hard to find any positives from the game other than the form of Michie (30 disposals) and the valiant defence of Georgiou and skipper Panozza and some running efforts from Blease who finished with 28 touches. In truth however, they were simply an inexperienced line up that was fighting an opponent in a different weight division. They face Williamstown next week at the same venue with very little about which to be enthused. 2014 Peter Jackson VFL Casey Scorpions 2.0.12 2.2.14 6.6.42 6.8.44 Box Hill Hawks 3.4.22 7.10.52 10.11.71 19.15.129 Goals Casey Scorpions Fitzpatrick 2 Smith Evans Page Smith Toumpas Box Hill Hawks McEvoy 5 Cust 4 Kelly Willsmore 2 Grimley Hallahan Iles Langford O'Donnell Simpkin Best Casey Scorpions Michie Georgiou Barry Nicholson Blease Panozza Box Hill Hawks B McEvoy Lock Woodward Simpkin Cust Kelly Match Statistics The match stats:- * Dom Barry 9 disposals 3 kicks 6 handballs 1 marks 2 tackles 30 Dream Team Points * Sam Blease 27 disposals 18 kicks 9 handballs 3 marks 83 Dream Team Points * Shannon Byrnes 2 disposals 2 handballs 4 Dream Team Points (injured) * Michael Evans 1 goal 1 behind 24 disposals 15 kicks 9 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 90 Dream Team Points * Jack Fitzpatrick 2 goals 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 5 marks 2 tackles 12 hit outs Dream Team Points * Max Gawn 23 disposals 9 kicks 14 handballs 8 marks 3 tackles 52 hit outs 137 Dream Team Points * Alexis Georgiou 17 disposals 11 kicks 6 handballs 10 marks 1 tackles 78 Dream Team Points * James Harmes 1 behind 14 disposals 8 kicks 6 handballs 4 marks 2 tackles 58 Dream Team Points * Jay Kennedy-Harris 1 behind 17 disposals 10 kicks 7 handballs 4 marks 3 tackles 64 Dream Team Points * Viv Michie 1 behind 32 disposals 23 kicks 9 handballs 7 marks 5 tackles 128 Dream Team Points * Dan Nicholson 25 disposals 15 kicks 10 handballs 9 marks 3 tackles 98 Dream Team Points * James Strauss 20 disposals 16 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 1 tackles 73 Dream Team Points * Luke Tapscott 22 disposals 12 kicks 10 handballs 3 marks 6 tackles 91 Dream Team Points * Jimmy Toumpas 1 goal 21 disposals 15 kicks 6 handballs 5 marks 6 tackles 100 Dream Team Points The development league team fought hard against a team which thrashed it by a three figure margin a fortnight ago. 2014 AFL Victoria Development League Casey Scorpions 2.4.16 3.6.24 5.7.37 5.9.39 Box Hill Hawks 1.1.7 6.6.42 10.11.71 13.16.94 Goals Casey Scorpions Davidson Gawley Lang Rutherford Symons Box Hill Hawks McEvoy Papadopoulos Thompson 2 Bond Franetic Goodwin Murphy Northe Soccio Tobin Best Casey Scorpions Scott Rutherford Jackson West Waters Corrigan Box Hill Hawks Tobin Murphy Soccio Miles Andrews Thompson

CASEY PRACTICE MATCH REPORT by KC from Casey I must confess I've been out of the loop and interstate visiting family over the past few weeks but the big question I had in my mind when I walked into Casey Fields was why on earth was Sam Blease running around in a low key VFL practice match against Box Hill when he should have been preparing for the NAB Cupper against the real Hawks that night? The last I heard of Blease he was racing around in a Demons intraclub game, kicking goals and destroying backline opponents with his exquisite pace and poise but apparently, he was late for a team meeting and suspended from playing in the NAB Cup opening round on the Gold Coast. A week later he had limited game time in the second half and this week he was back at Casey for an 11am lift off. Yesterday, he was good. Not the team's best and it wasn't as if he made no mistakes in a scrappy game played in perfect conditions. Early in the game, he kicked on his right foot at times when the non preferred left would have been the better option and then in the second term, he slotted a gem of a left footer from the boundary that revived his team's fortunes when the Hawks should have had a bigger lead. He kicked the first goal of the third quarter (his team's only goal for the term), was always dangerous as a small up forward and was prepared to have a dip. Later in the evening, all of Melbourne's goals were scored by players no shorter than 192cm. There were no Demons at Etihad demonstrating the pace to break lines or vibrancy or energy to do something to break the iron tight grip the Hawks had on them. Blease is a must to come back into the team that plays Port Adelaide next week. He should be joined by Tom McDonald who marked strongly from the get go and was probably Casey's best player on the day although that's not saying much, such was the lacklustre standard of the game. Things started well with Casey doing all of the attacking and scoring the first two goals of the game before the visitors regrouped through their dominant big men. They held a slender one point lead at the first break, dominated most of the second quarter and looked to have taken a strong grip on the game before Blease and McDonald's late goals put the Scorps back in the game restoring the status quo to a 1 point Box Hill lead. James Strauss put in a fine effort in his first game back after that devastating break in the Carlton game last year. His strong tackling and accurate disposal stood out but the medical people obviously decreed that one half would be enough for this week and consigned him to the sheds. One would expect him to play a full game next week at Casey and then line up in the first official game against Williamstown. If all goes well, he might be back for the Demons in round 1. They will also relish having both Jack Grimes and he in defence. Another defender who stood out was Neville Jetta who looked in good nick down back after a shoulder operation. Sadly, he turned an ankle later in the game and looks like missing several weeks with more surgery. Blease restored the Casey lead early in the third quarter but the Scorps went back into their shell allowing the Hawks to dictate the terms and kick the next three goals. With his team trailing by 14 points, new coach Brett Lovett addressed his players calmly at the three quarter time huddle encouraging them to put in that extra effort in the final quarter. Lucas Cook had been disappointing for most of the game and was outbodied by the Hawk defenders but he came back well in the last kicking a goal and moving nicely around the ground. Similarly, Kelvin Lawrence had a quiet day but came good late with the goal that put Casey in front late in the game. Moments later, a goal to Will Petropoulos sealed a 7 point win over a flagging Box Hill. Rookie Jai Sheahan showed some promise with cool play in defence. He will be a work in progress for Lovett because of the depth of key position defenders at the Demons. The most puzzling aspect of the game was the form of Jordan Gysberts. Melbourne is crying out for players with a point of difference with the ability to be creative and different in the midfield. Gysberts is usually a prolific ball winner but yesterday, he simply couldn't get going. Perhaps he needs stronger players to enable himself to get going. The Scorpions have surprised by winning both practice games to date but one was in the wet against an undermanned Port Melbourne and yesterday's game was of a poor standard. The team's player losses have been well documented and there are no obvious replacements in standard. The team's VFL players were honest toilers but struggled at times with the set up which involved moving forward around the boundary. Evan Panozza played well in defence but Danny Nicholls was well off the pace after a best on ground performance in the wet last week. Long standing skipper Kyle Matthews who made a late comeback last year after suffering head injuries in a hotel assault two years ago, did not play. Casey Scorpions 2.2.14 4.3.27 5.5.35 9.8.62 Box Hill Hawks 2.3.15 4.4.28 7.7.49 8.7.55