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The Friday evening rush hour clash of two of the VFL’s 2024 minnows, Carlton and the Casey Demons was excruciatingly painful to watch, even if it was for the most part a close encounter. I suppose that since the game had to produce a result (a tie would have done the game some justice), the four points that went to Casey with the win, were fully justified because they went to the best team. In that respect, my opinion is based on the fact that the Blues were a lopsided combination that had a small number of players (two to be exact) propping up a mediocre rabble while the Demons were far more even, albeit most of them were very ordinary. Casey was superb in the first couple of minutes with young forward Matt Jefferson snagging the opening scores of the game before a the Blues, more particularly, their two stars took over the proceedings. At this stage the Demons appeared to be continuing where they left off from last week watching as their opponents reeled off the next five goals (the last kicked just after quarter time) to take a strong grip on the game With Casey trailing by four goals early in the second term and with no sign of last week’s hero, uncle Roy, things were desperate. A pulse was detected and the team rallied with a momentum breaking goal from Bailey Laurie who showed great commitment for most of the game. The early saviour this week however, was Koltyn Tholstrup, a young prospect who seemed to be channeling Christian Petracca with two goals in mid quarter including a beauty from a long way out. He finished with 17 disposals but his effort when the game seemed to be slipping away was significant. Suddenly, the Demons were back in the hunt. Skipper Mitch White who earlier was putting his heart and soul into the effort of keeping his team in the game was instrumental in the turn around and fittingly snagged the goal that put his team in front before half time. He finished with 20 important touches and was a tower of strength for the team all evening. As the people of Melbourne made their way home from town for the weekend, there was little to interest them at Ikon Park as the game became a dour contest with goals hard to come by. Though he was way off target and struggled with the distance of his kicking, Ben Brown was the second half hero with two of his team’s three goals for that period. His day ended with 13 disposals, six marks and a score line of 2.6 which was worth its weight in gold. Lachie Hunter continued to build on his claims for a return to the AFL after his calf issues. He started slowly but finished with equal team-high 24 possessions and took four marks. Adam Tomlinson also had 24 disposals to go with his six marks in yet another high disposal game from the consistent defender. Others to impress on an otherwise gloomy evening were Laurie with 22 disposals and five clearances while Casey listed Roan Steele played his best game of the season. It was very much touch and go in the end with the pendulum swinging Casey’s way with a series of points seeing them narrowly across the line. It was hardly an exciting finish given that most of the crowd were asking “is it over yet?” The team is back home next week against the Brisbane Lions who don’t appear to be as strong as they were last year when they made it as far as the preliminary final. CASEY DEMONS 1.3.9 6.7.43 8.9.57 9.15.69 CARLTON VFL 4.3.27 6.6.42 7.11.53 9.12.66 GOALS CASEY DEMONS B Brown Tholstrop 2 Fullarton Jefferson Laurie Neocleous CARLTON VFL Cahill McMahon 2 Carroll Lemmey Monahan O’Keefe White BEST CASEY DEMONS Hunter Laurie White Jefferson B Brown Tholstrup CARLTON VFL Binns Fantasia Marchbank Young Carroll McMahon Statistics Jed Adams 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 1 marks 3 tackles 36 dream team points Ben Brown 2 goals 6 behinds 11 kicks 2 handballs 13 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 88 dream team points Kynan Brown 1 behind 12 kicks 9 handballs 21 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 73 dream team points Paddy Cross 3 kicks 1 handballs 4 disposals 1 tackle 17 dream team points Tyler Edwards 8 kicks 8 handballs 16 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 57 dream team points Tom Fullarton 1 goal 1 behinds 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 3 marks 7 hitouts 44 dream team points Max Gregory 4 kicks 5 handballs 9 disposals 4 marks 34 dream team points Marty Hore 13 kicks 1 handballs 14 disposals 5 marks 57 dream team points Lachie Hunter 17 kicks 7 handballs 24 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 89 dream team points Matt Jefferson 1 goal 1 behind 5 kicks 4 handballs 9 disposals 2 marks 4 tackles 53 dream team points Bailey Laurie 1 goal 14 kicks 8 handballs 22 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 88 dream team points Shane McAdam 1 behind 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 1 mark 6 tackles 48 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 13 kicks 6 handballs 19 disposals 5 marks 3 tackles 73 dream team points Ned Moodie 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 1 marks 36 dream team points Harvey Neocleous 1 goal 1 behind 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 3 tackles 34 dream team points Ollie Sestan 1 behind 9 kicks 4 handballs 13 disposals 1 marks 1 tackle 37 dream team points Roan Steele 12 kicks 7 handballs 19 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 63 dream team points Koltyn Tholstrup 2 goals 1 behind 11 kicks 6 handballs 17 disposals 4 marks 70 dream team points Adam Tomlinson 16 kicks 8 handballs 24 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 82 dream team points Will Verrall 8 kicks 5 handballs 13 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 11 hitouts 53 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 15 kicks 5 handballs 20 disposals 3 tackles 75 dream team points Kai Windsor 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 20!dream team points Taj Woewodin 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 43 dream team points