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The Casey Scorpions were held goalless in the opening term for the second week in a row and once again paid heavily for their slow starting ways by crashing to defeat at the hands of VFL stand alone powerhouse Port Melbourne at North Port Oval on Saturday. The conditions were perfect for football, the sun was shining but the goals weren't coming for the Scorpions in the early going even though twin towers in Mark Jamar and Max Gawn were winning the hit outs in the ruck. They could easily have had a good lead at quarter time had they made the most of their opportunities and were later to rue yet another slow start. Still the 11 point quarter time deficit was easily overturned in the second term when the visitors dominated. Recruit Jordan Moncrieff kicked a goal on debut and Casey was full of run with midfielders Jordie McKenzie and Aidan Riley working hard. When Mark Jamar combined with Jack Watts for a nice goal, the Scorpions were in front and looking strong as they took a five point lead into half time. Unfortunately, that was pretty much that for the day. The teams fought tooth and nail in the third term with Casey suffering a bad loss when defender Jack Fitzpatrick copped a heavy knock and was taken to hospital by ambulance. The Borough gained the ascendancy late in the quarter to lead by 11 points at the final break and then, their superior knowledge of the ground conditions took over and they romped away winning by 23. Casey hosts Richmond for the first time next week in a game scheduled to start at 6.00pm. 2015 Peter Jackson VFL Casey Scorpions 0.4.4 4.5.29 5.6.36 7.10.52 Port Melbourne 2.3.15 3.6.24 6.11.47 10.15.75 Goals Casey Scorpions Moncrieff 2 Byrnes Fritsch McKenzie Muir Watts Port Melbourne Haretuku Lisle Pearson 2 Osborne O'Sullivan Rivett Scipione Best Casey Scorpions Riley Panozza Muir McKenzie Watts Harmes Port Melbourne Toman Tynan Langford Johnson Noonan Hayes Player Statistics Jack Fitzpatrick 3 disposals 2 kicks 1 handballs 1 marks 11 Dream Team Points [injured] Max Gawn 1 behind 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 6 marks 2 tackles 36 hit outs 84 Dream Team Points James Harmes 2 behinds 19 disposals 9 kicks 10 handballs 3 marks 6 tackles 79 Dream Team Points Mark Jamar 11 disposals 4 kicks 7 handballs 3 marks 3 tackles 31 hit outs 76 Dream Team Points Oscar McDonald 11 disposals 6 kicks 5 handballs 4 marks 2 tackles 49 Dream Team Points Jordie McKenzie 1 goal 34 disposals 14 kicks 20 handballs 8 marks 8 tackles 148 Dream Team Points Alex Neal-Bullen 24 disposals 13 kicks 11 handballs 7 marks 2 tackles 90 Dream Team Points Aidan Riley 28 disposals 9 kicks 19 handballs 5 marks 11 tackles 122 Dream Team Points Dean Terlich 17 disposals 8 kicks 9 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 68 Dream Team Points Jack Watts 1 goal 24 seconds disposals 12 kicks 12 handballs 8 marks 1 tackle 86 Dream Team Points Mitchell White 21 disposals 10 kicks 11 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 73 Dream Team Points The Development League lost its first game for the season in a tightly fought game with Max King booting four goals. 2015 AFL Victoria Development League Casey Scorpions 2.2.14 7.4.46 11.4.70 15.6.96 Port Melbourne 5.6.36 8.6.54 12.9.81 16.12.108 Goals Casey Scorpions King 4 Paredes 3 Page Rennie Thomas 2 Hannon Scott Port Melbourne McKenzie 4 Dove Macmillan Mahon Mioni 2 Dermott Patterson Taylor Vearing Best Casey Scorpions King Hillard McDonald Anderson Page Wilson Port Melbourne Macmillan Urban McKenzie Vearing Mioni Phillips

This weekend proved to be the worst of times for the fourteenth placed Casey Scorpions to travel to North Port Oval to take on top of the ladder Port Melbourne who were already two games clear of the rest of the competition. Casey was coming off an improved patch of form after a disastrous season, having won two of their last three games and narrowly lost the other but they also lost their dominant ruckman Max Gawn to the AFL and their list of Demon players was continuing to shrink as it normally does at this time of year (only nine played, including two rookies). The Scorpions have performed at their worst this year against experienced hard bodied teams which is a perfect match for the Port Melbourne description and the Borough were buoyed by the news that premiership coach Gary Ayres will continue in the job for 2015. The majority of the VFL listed players in the Casey team have played less than a dozen VFL senior games and this week's crop included another two debutants in Alex Carr from Gippsland Power and Sean Corrigan who has spent the last couple of seasons in the development league team. The Casey team lacked the height, the size and the fitness to go with their more seasoned opponents, a factor that was evident all over the ground and in particular the key positions. As a result, apart from an early burst with the aid of the breeze led by two goals from Jack Fitzpatrick and one from Jake Best, the game was a complete mismatch. Port overpowered the Scorpions late in the opening term to take a nine-point lead at the first break but then the game got ugly as the Borough kicked clear with 19 goals to four in the final three quarters to record a resounding 108-point victory. The undersized and undermanned Scorpions received a major blow early in the third term when Alex Georgiou was felled behind the play and was taken off the ground in a groggy condition. He took no further part in the game. The final quarter was a total capitulation for Casey with Port kicking ten unanswered goals until Christian Salem, one of Casey's better players on the day, booted his second goal moments before the final siren. Rookie James Harmes put in a promising display, as did impressive Casey youngster Ed Morris. Jack Fitzpatrick worked hard against the odds and Evan Panozza toiled hard as leader but that was just about it for the day. 2014 Peter Jackson VFL Casey Scorpions 3.2.20 3.2.20 6.4.40 7.6.48 Port Melbourne 4.5.29 10.11.71 13.16.94 23.18.156 Goals Casey Scorpions Fitzpatrick Salem 2 Best Davis Smith Port Melbourne Connors 5 Lange 4 Johnson O'Sullivan 2 Bonaddio Davies Johnston Magner Mascitti O'Sullivan Pinwill Sandilands Thornton Wooffindin Casey Scorpions Rutherford Harmes Morris Salem Fitzpatrick Georgiou Port Melbourne Lange Pinwill Wooffindin Valenti Connors O'Sullivan Statistics Mitch Clisby 19 disposals 11 kicks 8 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 86 Dream Team Points Michael Evans 17 disposals 7 kicks 10 handballs 5 marks 2 tackles 61 Dream Team Points Jack Fitzpatrick 2 goals 15 disposals 11 kicks 4 handballs 9 marks 1 tackles 41 hit outs 125 Dream Team Points Alexis Georgiou 7 disposals 5 kicks 2 handballs 2 marks 2 tackles 34 Dream Team Points James Harmes 16 disposals 7 kicks 9 handballs 3 marks 6 tackles 74 Dream Team Points Dan Nicholson 19 disposals 11 kicks 8 handballs 10 marks 1 tackles 80 Dream Team Points Christian Salem 2 goals 1 behind 21 disposals 12 kicks 9 handballs 1 marks 4 tackles 83 Dream Team Points James Strauss 17 disposals 14 kicks 3 handballs 3 marks 2 tackles 66 Dream Team Points Dean Terlich 16 disposals 8 kicks 8 handballs 6 marks 2 tackles 64 Dream Team Points In the early game, the Borough have thrashed the young Scorps by 112 points after visitors made a promising start in the opening quarter. 2014 AFL Victoria Development League Casey Scorpions 3.5.23 3.6.24 4.9.33 4.10.34 Port Melbourne 1.4.10 9.10.64 16.13.109 21.20.146 Goals Casey Scorpions Fisscher 2 Collins Corry Port Melbourne Prowse 6 Clarke Rowe 3 Breust 2 Hogan 2 Hayes Henderson McKenzie Scipione Woods Best Casey Scorpions Fisscher Jackson Anderson Pears Smith Corry Port Melbourne Muling Prowse Prowse Hayes Johnston McKenzie