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It was a day for the bad and the ugly and very little good for the Casey Scorpions on a day when they had a season high 16 Melbourne listed players, started favourites over Collingwood VFL at Victoria Park in miserable conditions and finished with a 23 point loss that could so easily have been much more. The signs were bad early when the Scorpions kicked with the advantage of a stiff breeze but broke down in front of goal to score only three points in the first 15 minutes before a long goal off the boot of rookie Mitch White gave them a lift. However, when Magpie AFL premiership defender Ben Reid goaled well into time on, Casey's domination around the ground had been wasted. An after the siren goal by Ben Newton was much needed and then Max King booted another early in the second term to give them a 15 point buffer but from there, the Pies took over. Although Mark Jamar and Jake Spencer dominated the hit outs as usual, there was no spring in their step and the Collingwood on ball brigade sharked much of their work, outrunning and outrunning the visitors who were lucky to be just one goal in arrears at the break. The Scorps had the wind but put in an absolute shocker in the third quarter, allowing the Magpies to kick five goals straight outscore them for the term. They trailed by three goals but the game was virtually all over and even though the bitingly cold conditions moderated, the home team dominated but kicked poorly in the end. The final scoreboard did them little justice. For Casey, Jordie McKenzie was easily the team's best and his disposal looks to have improved. The Demons' forgotten man would be looking at a comeback to AFL ranks on that performance. Alex Neal-Bullen with 40 touches was a prolific ball magnet and definitely has a future in the Melbourne midfield. Rohan Bail was busy and there were flashes of good play from others but generally it was not good enough. Despite some good flashes of play from Jayden Hunt, Max King and Mitch White, all are still a way off. Casey was also hampered by injuries to Jack Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Toumpas and Ed Morris, all of who had opened brightly and the limited ground time of Christian Salem coming back from hamstring problems. The Scorpions find themselves in seventh place and with a tough final month return to Casey Fields next Sunday in a must win match up against eighth placed Werribee. 2015 Peter Jackson VFL Casey Scorpions 2.4.16 3.4.22 6.5.41 9.6.60 Collingwood 1.1.7 4.4.28 9.4.58 12.11.83 Goals Casey Scorpions Hunt King White 2 McDonald McKenzie Newton Collingwood Reid 3 Matheson Young 2 Cox Gault Hellier McKeown Williams Best Casey Scorpions McKenzie White Neal-Bullen Hunt Panozza Terlich Collingwood Dwyer Marsh Seedsman Borthwick Hellier Young Statistics Rohan Bail 1 behind 30 disposals 10 kicks 20 handballs 5 marks 9 tackles 120 dream team points Jack Fitzpatrick 7 disposals 3 kicks 4 handballs 3 marks 1 tackle 31 dream team points Mark Jamar 16 disposals 11 kicks 5 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 48 hit outs 119 dream team points Jayden Hunt 2 goals 1 behind 11 disposals 8 kicks 3 handballs 1 mark 1 tackle 49 dream team points Jay Kennedy-Harris 14 disposals 4 kicks 10 handballs 1 marks 7 tackles 63 dream team points Max King 2 goals 13 disposals 9 kicks 4 handballs 7 marks 1 tackle 1 hit out 73 dream team points Alex Neal-Bullen 40 disposals 18 kicks 22 handballs 5 marks 8 tackles 140 dream team points Oscar McDonald 1 goal disposals kicks handballs marks tackles dream team points Jordie McKenzie 1 goal 1 behind 30 disposals 17 kicks 13 handballs 6 marks 2 tackles 111 dream team points Ben Newton 1 goal disposals kicks handballs marks tackles Aidan Riley 21 disposals 8 kicks 13 handballs 1 marks 6 tackles 68 dream team points Christian Salem 8 disposals 4 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 2 tackles 37 dream team points Jake Spencer 1 behind disposals 2 kicks 7 handballs 1 mark 4 tackles 20 hit outs 60 dream team points Dean Terlich 25 disposals 11 kicks 14 handballs 3 tackles 70 dream team points Jimmy Toumpas 12 disposals 6 kicks 6 handballs 1 tackle 31 dream team points Mitch White 2 goals 17 disposals 9 kicks 8 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 83 dream team points

The Casey Scorpions have resurrected their hopes of a top two finish and home ground advantage in the first week of the finals with a narrow eight point victory over Collingwood at Victoria Park. With five rounds to go before the finals, it might have been a trifle early to go with thoughts of top two or final four finishes but, after some poor recent form and injuries restricting the number of AFL listed players to single figures (OK, ten if you count a certain unlisted Demon teenager whose presence in the team is never insignificant), things were threatening to unravel somewhat for the Scorpions. And it didn't help that the Magpies welcomed a few big names like Didak, Krakouer and Lynch to their formidable list or that about four other teams were breathing down Casey's neck for its spot near the top of the table. Collingwood won the toss and kicked to the Sherrin Stand end and the hosts were up for the challenge early, bursting out of the blocks with the first goal of the game. After a few tentative moves forward, Casey finally managed to answer through the agency of a mark and goal to Jesse Hogan. The Scorpions had much of the play for the remainder of the quarter but sprayed their shots for goal and inevitably, it was the home side that capitalised to take a four point lead into the first break. Despite Jake Spencer's dominance in the ruck, the Pies had much of the play and kicked the first of the second term after an early miss from Hogan before Best replied but the home side soon answered to regain a nine point lead. It was at this point that Hogan stepped up to the plate and took control of the game with his awesome presence and powerful marking. He gave off a couple to teammates, kicked a couple and missed one or two and when the dust settled his team held a 19 point half time lead. After the break, the game rarely hit any great heights with the tricky wind playing havoc with both sides. Collingwood went defensive on Hogan but, despite the double tagging, he continued to be a presence on the ground to finish with 25 possessions, 12 marks and three goals. The Scorpions maintained a 15 point three quarter time lead and virtually iced the game with the first two goals of the final term although a late Magpie fightback caused a few flutters. Nick Lang capped off a fine debut with two goals and 23rd player, Josh Scott from the Gippsland Power, would also be happy with a goal on debut. It was also pleasing to see former skipper Kyle Matthews burrowing away in the senior team as only he can do. Current captain Evan Panozza was steady as a rock in defence as usual. James Magner was given a tagging role on Magpie Kyle Martin (perhaps in anticipation of promotion from the rookie list) and kept him well in check for most of the game while picking up plenty of touches for himself. James Strauss (27 possessions), Josh Tynan (25) and Rory Taggert (2 goals) also did no harm to their chances for promotion particularly in view of the carnage that took place at Etihad Stadium an hour or so later. Next week sees the Scorpions playing in the match of the round against ladder leader Geelong at Casey Fields. Casey Scorpions 1.4.10 8.6.54 10.11.7113.12.90 Collingwood 2.2.14 5.5.35 8.8.56 12.10.82 Goals Casey Scorpions Hogan 3 Best Lang Spencer Taggert 2 Gent Scott Collingwood Boland Paine 3 Brett Broomhead Hellier Lynch Martin Mooney Best Casey Scorpions Hogan Magner Strauss Taggert Panozza Jetta Collingwood Didak Lynch Ramsay Oxley Allan Yagmoor Picture gallery: https://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#album/dave.savell/5905166748088302257 Melbourne future star Jesse Hogan dominates Collingwood, leading Casey Scorpions to victory

CASEY TAKES A TOP FOUR SPOT by KC from Casey Collingwood's former home ground Victoria Park might be looking a little worse for wear these days but it was a fitting scene for Brett Lovett's 150th game as a VFL coach on Saturday. The old ground where the man who now is at the helm of the Casey Scorpions fought many of his toughest battles as a player, was the backdrop to his team's latest challenge after consecutive home defeats saw them falling to from top to third spot on the 2012 Peter Jackson VFL ladder. Lovett's team responded in fine style emphatically bouncing back to winning form to prevail over the VFL Magpies by 45 points in the wet and blustery conditions. The Scorps welcomed back co-captain Kyle Matthews who has been out of the senior side since the opening round of the season with shoulder injuries and Michael Riseley who returned from a trip overseas to support his brother at the Olympics. Both were welcome additions to the side with Riseley featuring in the best players and the skipper picking up 18 touches and five hardball gets in his comeback game. The Pies had a strong complement of 16 AFL listed players including Brent Macaffer, Andrew Krakouer and Ben Johnson which exactly doubled the number of Demons running out for this game with the Scorpions. The discrepancy was offset in part by the presence of experienced campaigners in Brent Moloney and Matthew Bate who each had 23 possessions and made significant contributions to the team effort. The early going was dominated by the Scorpions kicking towards the Yarra Falls end and aided by the breeze although its swirly nature made scoring goals a difficult assignment for most of the day. Jack Fitzpatrick who booted five in a losing team last week was toubled by the windy conditions and was again off target early in the piece. Will Petropoulos finally got things ticking with the opening goal and Casey added two more whilst keeping the home team goalless for the term. The game remained a scramble in the heavy conditions as Collingwood struggled to find the goals and when they finally scored one 24 minutes into the second quarter, Josh Tynan immediately returned the favour. Just when Casey looked like going into the main break with a solid advantage, the game was turned on its head in the last minute before half time when two Magpie goals reduced their lead to just four points. As has been the case all year, Lovett's team did not panic and instead, it methodically set about taking apart the opposition with its disciplined hard attack on the football after the break. David Collins was the star picking up 28 hard won possessions in the heavy going while youngster Luke Hill amassed 32 hit outs against the highly regarded Magpie pair of Cameron Wood and Jarrod Witts. Jack Viney was a terrier in the packs collecting 24 touches including a game high 11 hard ball gets while young Tom Corry was impressive on debut with seven inside 50's. Danny Nicholls, another who recently returned from injury, was a solid contributor as was Petropoulos who finished with two handy goals. Hill's presence in the ruck has allowed Fitzpatrick to spend more time up forward and the young Demon finally responded when he hit the target with a soccer goal. Tim Smith put in a great cameo performance kicking two goals for the term and by the end of the third quarter, the Scorps held a comfortable 20-point lead. The question whether the leeway provided a sufficient buffer given that Collingwood was kicking to what had been the scoring end was answered in the affirmative with Casey kicking four unanswered goals to run over an opposition that managed only one late consolation goal in junk time by which time. By then, the Scorpions had secured their top four spot. HOW THE DEMONS FARED With only eight AFL listed players compared with 16 in the Collingwood side there might have been concerns about a repeat of the two previous weeks against the Blues and the Cats but quality games from Bate and Moloney helped Casey to a position of dominance for most of the game. Matthew Bate (10 kicks, 13 handballs, 4 marks, 5 tackles, 1 goal) - one of his team's best playing mainly in a midfield role. Lucas Cook (2 kicks, 6 handballs, 2 tackles) - the conditions didn't really suit the lanky forward who struggled to get into the game. Troy Davis (12 kicks, 2 handballs, 6 marks) - a solid game in a defence which kept its opponent down to five goals for the day. Jack Fitzpatrick (8 kicks, five handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 18 hit outs, 1 goal) - had his chances to kick three or four goals in the tough swirly conditions. Also provided good back up in the ruck. Brent Moloney (16 kicks, 7 handballs, 5 marks, 4 tackles) - his class stood out in this company where he got plenty of inside ball and kicked long with good effect. Jai Sheahan (19 kicks, 3 handballs, 4 marks, 1 tackle) - is returning to his early season form in defence. Ran hard and delivered the ball cleanly. Josh Tynan (9 kicks, 2 handballs, 4 marks, 3 tackles, 2 goals) - still making his way on return from injury and did well with two timely goals for the match. Casey Scorpions 3.5.23 4.6.30 7.11.53 11.19.85 Collingwood 0.2.2 3.8.26 4.9.33 5.10.40 Goals Casey Scorpions Petropoulos Smith Tynan 2 Bate Collins Fitzpatrick Hill McGough Collingwood Cribbin Thomas Wallace Witts Yagmoor Best Casey Scorpions Hill Collins Riseley Corry Bate Petropoulos Collingwood Gault Thomas Krakouer Riddle Ferraro Wallace The Development League team had a bye but are well placed for the finals.

CASEY TAKES A TOP FOUR SPOT by KC from Casey Collingwood's former home ground Victoria Park might be looking a little worse for wear these days but it was a fitting scene for Brett Lovett's 150th game as a VFL coach on Saturday. The old ground where the man who now is at the helm of the Casey Scorpions fought many of his toughest battles as a player, was the backdrop to his team's latest challenge after consecutive home defeats saw them falling to from top to third spot on the 2012 Peter Jackson VFL ladder. Lovett's team responded in fine style emphatically bouncing back to winning form to prevail over the VFL Magpies by 45 points in the wet and blustery conditions. The Scorps welcomed back co-captain Kyle Matthews who has been out of the senior side since the opening round of the season with shoulder injuries and Michael Riseley who returned from a trip overseas to support his brother at the Olympics. Both were welcome additions to the side with Riseley featuring in the best players and the skipper picking up 18 touches and five hardball gets in his comeback game. The Pies had a strong complement of 16 AFL listed players including Brent Macaffer, Andrew Krakouer and Ben Johnson which exactly doubled the number of Demons running out for this game with the Scorpions. The discrepancy was offset in part by the presence of experienced campaigners in Brent Moloney and Matthew Bate who each had 23 possessions and made significant contributions to the team effort. The early going was dominated by the Scorpions kicking towards the Yarra Falls end and aided by the breeze although its swirly nature made scoring goals a difficult assignment for most of the day. Jack Fitzpatrick who booted five in a losing team last week was toubled by the windy conditions and was again off target early in the piece. Will Petropoulos finally got things ticking with the opening goal and Casey added two more whilst keeping the home team goalless for the term. The game remained a scramble in the heavy conditions as Collingwood struggled to find the goals and when they finally scored one 24 minutes into the second quarter, Josh Tynan immediately returned the favour. Just when Casey looked like going into the main break with a solid advantage, the game was turned on its head in the last minute before half time when two Magpie goals reduced their lead to just four points. As has been the case all year, Lovett's team did not panic and instead, it methodically set about taking apart the opposition with its disciplined hard attack on the football after the break. David Collins was the star picking up 28 hard won possessions in the heavy going while youngster Luke Hill amassed 32 hit outs against the highly regarded Magpie pair of Cameron Wood and Jarrod Witts. Jack Viney was a terrier in the packs collecting 24 touches including a game high 11 hard ball gets while young Tom Corry was impressive on debut with seven inside 50's. Danny Nicholls, another who recently returned from injury, was a solid contributor as was Petropoulos who finished with two handy goals. Hill's presence in the ruck has allowed Fitzpatrick to spend more time up forward and the young Demon finally responded when he hit the target with a soccer goal. Tim Smith put in a great cameo performance kicking two goals for the term and by the end of the third quarter, the Scorps held a comfortable 20-point lead. The question whether the leeway provided a sufficient buffer given that Collingwood was kicking to what had been the scoring end was answered in the affirmative with Casey kicking four unanswered goals to run over an opposition that managed only one late consolation goal in junk time by which time. By then, the Scorpions had secured their top four spot. HOW THE DEMONS FARED With only eight AFL listed players compared with 16 in the Collingwood side there might have been concerns about a repeat of the two previous weeks against the Blues and the Cats but quality games from Bate and Moloney helped Casey to a position of dominance for most of the game. Matthew Bate (10 kicks, 13 handballs, 4 marks, 5 tackles, 1 goal) - one of his team's best playing mainly in a midfield role. Lucas Cook (2 kicks, 6 handballs, 2 tackles) - the conditions didn't really suit the lanky forward who struggled to get into the game. Troy Davis (12 kicks, 2 handballs, 6 marks) - a solid game in a defence which kept its opponent down to five goals for the day. Jack Fitzpatrick (8 kicks, five handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 18 hit outs, 1 goal) - had his chances to kick three or four goals in the tough swirly conditions. Also provided good back up in the ruck. Brent Moloney (16 kicks, 7 handballs, 5 marks, 4 tackles) - his class stood out in this company where he got plenty of inside ball and kicked long with good effect. Jai Sheahan (19 kicks, 3 handballs, 4 marks, 1 tackle) - is returning to his early season form in defence. Ran hard and delivered the ball cleanly. Josh Tynan (9 kicks, 2 handballs, 4 marks, 3 tackles, 2 goals) - still making his way on return from injury and did well with two timely goals for the match. Casey Scorpions 3.5.23 4.6.30 7.11.53 11.19.85 Collingwood 0.2.2 3.8.26 4.9.33 5.10.40 Goals Casey Scorpions Petropoulos Smith Tynan 2 Bate Collins Fitzpatrick Hill McGough Collingwood Cribbin Thomas Wallace Witts Yagmoor Best Casey Scorpions Hill Collins Riseley Corry Bate Petropoulos Collingwood Gault Thomas Krakouer Riddle Ferraro Wallace The Development League team had a bye but are well placed for the finals.