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The Casey Scorpions were no match for Geelong in Friday night's qualifying final played in front of a 6,000 spectators at Simonds Stadium. The Cats who won by 49 points in the end not only had the advantage of the home crowd but also the edge in experience and size with a bevy of AFL listed players against the Scorpions who could only muster together seven Melbourne-listed players of who two have yet to debut and two others played no senior AFL football this year. Given the circumstances, Casey did well to stay with Geelong for a little over half a game and was well served by its VFL listed youngsters, many of who have spent much of the season in the development league team. Proceedings opened in slippery conditions which suited the smaller visitors who tasted first blood through a goal from the nippy Nathan Page. The Cats countered with two goals but the Scorps were up to the challenge with goals to the Toms, Gillies and Couch before a late goal to the home side put them 5 points up at the first break. With All Australian ruckman Mark Jamar dominating the ruck duels, Casey went out to the biggest lead (7 points) of the night early in the second term with goals from youngster Tom Corry and a second from Gillies who was a member of Geelong's VFL premiership team last year. This merely stung the Cats into action. They proceeded to produce the game's best patches of play with some fast, free flowing football to score four unanswered goals before Cam Pedersen, who was playing a strong game, drifted forward to kick a much needed goal before the half time siren. The rain came down heavily during the main break and persisted in patches for most of the rest of the night. The small contingent of Scorpion fans were given some early hope of a team revival when Will Petropoulos goalled to peg the margin back to single figures but the size and strength of the opposition was about to prevail. The Cats scored the next five goals to stretch their lead to 40 points by the final break and coasted to an easy victory in the end. The win was a triumph for Geelong coach Matthew Knights, ironically coming days after his successor became the first AFL coach to be banned from competition. Casey was best served by Pedersen (29 possessions) who unfortunately missed qualification for the finals by one game. Vice-captain Luke Tynan (26 touches) and Mitch Gent (25) were solid throughout. The Scorpions will be hoping for relief from the recent spate of injuries that has beset their team as they are due to welcome back several Melbourne listed players whose AFL duties finish at the weekend. HOW THE DEMONS FARED Dom Barry 8 kicks 7 handballs 15 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles Tom Couch 11 kicks 10 handballs 21 disposals 9 tackles 1 goal 1 Tom Gillies 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 2 goals 1 behind Mark Jamar 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 7 tackles 48 hit outs Cam Pedersen 18 kicks 10 handballs 28 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 14 hitouts 1 goal Rory Taggert 6 kicks 3 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle Josh Tynan 8 kicks 6 handballs 14 disposals 1 mark 5 tackles Casey Scorpions 3.1.19 6.2.38 7.3.45 8.3.51 Geelong 3.6.24 7.11.53 12.13.85 14.16.100 Goals Casey Scorpions Gillies 2 Corry Couch Page Pedersen Petropoulos Plummer Geelong Kersten 4 Bathie Barham Walker Stringer 2 Horlin-Smith Hunt Best Casey Scorpions Gent Pedersen Petropoulos Plummer L Tynan Riseley Geelong Sheringham Brown Horlin-Smith Corrigan Hunt Banjanin The undermanned development league team was outclassed and have bowed out of the finals. 2013 AFL Victoria Development League Casey Scorpions 1.0.6 2.2.14 4.2.26 5.2.32 Northern Blues 3.5.23 7.9.51 13.13.91 21.19.145 Goals Casey Scorpions Corrigan Jackson McInnes Meadows Neville Northern Blues Cattapan Soncin 3 Clark Dorman Dufficy Visser 2 Ballard Bonaddio Gleeson Lincoln Best Casey Scorpions Neville Godfrey McInnes Rutherford Hill Irwin Northern Blues Jenkins Cattapan Meese Ballard Dufficy Soncin

From a team point of view the highlight of Casey's win against the top team Geelong on its home turf at Simonds Stadium was its ability to bounce back from a bad loss last week and a poor opening quarter this week to get to within eight points at half time, then boot 11 goals in a sensational third term before holding steady to win in the face of a dramatic finish from the Cats. However, from a club (and I'm talking about the senior member of the alignment) point of view, the highlight was the performance of 18 year old Jesse Hogan who the Demons picked as an under age recruit in last year's GWS mini draft and to a lesser extent, that of Jack Fitzpatrick. Both youngsters booted five goals each which, given the Demons collectively managed to amass only six at Paterson's Stadium later in the day, was a revelation. Scorpions coach Rohan Welsh told reporters after the game: "(Jesse's) a key forward and is obviously going to be very exciting for the Melbourne Football Club. "He's aggressive, strong and quick, (and) they're pretty hard to come by. He knows areas of his game he needs to improve, but he's got that level head on his shoulders." Hogan did more than kick five goals. He was always dangerous in the air and around the ground. He controlled the forward line when it rallied to come back in the second quarter, was breathtakingly strong and a catalyst in the third and finally, helped down in defence when the Cats clawed back to within five points point late in the game. Fitzpatrick was also superb mainly as a forward but also did well in the ruck. He combined with Jake Spencer to help the team dominate at the stoppages, especially after ¼ time. At that stage Casey was goalless and trailled by 19 points despite having one more scoring shot. The defence, led by Cam Pedersen, Troy Davis and Joel Macdonald tightened up and with Tom Couch, David Rodan and Danny Nicholls controlling the midfield battles, Casey skipped out to a 44 point lead at one stage late in the third quarter. In the final term, Geelong came back strongly but again it was Hogan and Fitzpatrick who came to the team's rescue, each with a goal. The former also went down back to execute a few timely saves and the latter doing well with his speed around the ground and his ruckwork. In the end, Casey returned to the winners list and, on a day when it was brought to its knees on the other side of the continent, Melbourne found a star or two. HOW THE DEMONS FARED Dom Barry 5 kicks 11 handballs 16 disposals, 4 marks, 1 tackle - nice game on a wing but didn't star. Sam Blease 4 kicks, 3 handballs, 7 disposals, 2 marks, 2 tackles, 0 goals, 2 behinds - suffered a knock late in the second quarter which saw him off for the day but only had minor impact before that. Mitch Clisby 9 kicks 9 handballs 18 disposals, 3 marks - provided good run off half back Tom Couch 12 kicks, 17 handballs, 29 disposals, 1 marks, 10 tackles - returned to the scene of his father's triumphs and was one of Casey's best amassing a lot of possession. Troy Davis 8 kicks 3 handballs 11 disposals, 3 marks, 1 tackle - solid in defence. Jack Fitzpatrick 10 kicks 1 handballs 11 disposals, 4 marks, 5 tackles 25 hitouts, 5 goals - dangerous up forward with five goals and provided excellent back up in the ruck. Jesse Hogan 12 kicks 6 handballs 18 disposals, 7 marks, 3 tackles 1 hit out, 5 goals, 1 behind - to quote a local identity from Geelong who has now passed on, "fair dinkum unbelievable". Dean Kent 10 kicks, 3 handballs, 13 disposals, 1 mark, 2 tackles, 2 hit outs, 1 goal - kicked the team's first goal in the second quarter but otherwise subdued. Joel MacDonald 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals, 6 marks, 5 tackles - very strong in defence and close to a call up for the Demons. Cameron Pedersen 18 kicks, 9 handballs, 27 disposals, 11 marks, 1 tackle, 1 goal - another top game and surprising he was overlooked in favour of Gillies who was emergency for the Dees. David Rodan 13 kicks, 13 handballs, 26 disposals, 2 marks, 6 tackles, 0 goals 2 behinds- contributed strongly in the middle. Jake Spencer 4 kicks 8 handballs 12 disposals, 3 marks, 3 tackles 42 hitouts - rucked strongly and comfortable at this level but can he take the step up? Rory Taggert 8 kicks, 10 handballs, 18 disposals, 2 marks, 2 tackles 1 goal, 1 behind - bobbed in and out, worked and tackled hard and kicked a goal. Josh Tynan 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals, 1 marks, 7 tackles - has been struggling so far and this was just a fair game. Casey Scorpions 0.6.6 5.8.38 16.8.104 18.11.119 Geelong Cats 4.1.25 7.4.46 10.7.67 16.11.107 Goals Casey Scorpions Fitzpatrick Hogan 5 Best Hughes 2 Kent Pedersen Smith Taggert Geelong Cats Vardy 4 Murdoch 3 Corrigan Kersten 2 Bathie Condy Cowan Eardley Hartman Best Casey Scorpions Hogan Rodan Couch Pedersen Fitzpatrick Spencer Geelong Cats Vardy Selwood Gleeson Corrigan Condy Murdoch The development league team couldn't match top side Williamstown which it has now played twice at this early stage of the season. Casey Scorpions 2.2.14 3.5.23 5.6.36 7.11.53 Williamstown 3.3.21 9.6.60 13.11.89 16.13.109 Goals Casey Scorpions Fowler Lindsay 2 Anderson Irwin Stark Williamstown Flack 4 Bench Bugeja Deery 2 Conway Greenwood Heatherington Johnstone Mead Morris Best Casey Scorpions Lindsay Troutman McInnes Drew Long Godfrey Williamstown Wyatt Flack Johnstone Symes Gallucci Woods