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Persistence has finally paid off for Justin Plapp's Casey Scorpions with a 70 point demolition of the Footscray Bulldogs in the VFL First Qualifying Final after 11 consecutive finals defeats since the commencement of the club's alignment with the Melbourne Demons. In front of a big crowd at Casey Fields the home side opened up the game in a manner that was not dissimilar to last week's final round match up with Box Hill. The team conceded the first three goals while squandering their own opportunities with Dean Terlich being the main offender in the early going. Despite a winning midfield of Matt Jones, Viv Michie, Alex Neal-Bullen and Ben Kennedy, it took until the 25 minute mark before the Scorpions managed their first major to big man Oscar McInerney and when Angus Scott slammed one through on the siren, the Bulldogs' lead had been pegged back to three points. The second quarter was something of an arm wrestle with the Scorps wresting the lead and the Doggies fighting back until late in the term when Terlich finally managed to find the big sticks for his first, following it up soon after with a pass to Sam Weideman who goaled to give the side a handy 8 point lead going into the main break. The second half began badly for the Scorpions with Terlich on report but the tide was turning in their favour on the scoreboard with Weideman and Scott both on fire up forward and benefitting from some damaging inside work from Clayton Oliver and Neal-Bullen. By three quarter time, the team had kicked away to a comfortable five goal lead which was the same margin Casey held over Footscray in Round 15 at Whitten Oval when the Bulldogs came home in a barnstorming finish to win by a point. However, the difference was that back in July they came home with a raging gale at their backs whilst this time it was barely more than a zephyr. Still, there was plenty of fight left in the Doggies and for the first seven or eight minutes of the final quarter they gave it their all and narrowed the margin to 22 points after wasting a few chances to further narrow the gap. The Casey defence with skipper Jack Hutchins and veterans Lynden Dunn and Colin Garland to the fore was just too strong and with the weight of sheer numbers led by Jack Grimes who was once again superb around the ground and the hard work of Mitch White, the Footscray resistance cracked. The goals flowed from every source. Weideman and Scott combined well up forward. Liam Hulett chimed in for a couple and there was some impressive work from small men Ed Morris and the slick Aloysio Ferreira who was 23rd player for the day. Before you knew it, Casey had kicked eight goals for the final term and the mission to win a final was complete. The result, which gives the team a well-earned week's break before playing off for a grand final spot in a preliminary final in a fortnight's time, was a triumph for Plapp who took over a team that two years ago that finished second last, ahead only of the now defunct Bendigo Gold. Peter Jackson VFL 2016 First Elimination Final Casey Scorpions 2.3.15 7.6.48 12.6.78 20.8.128 Footscray Bulldogs 3.0.18 6.4.40 7.6.48 8.10.58 Goals Casey Scorpions Scott 4 Weideman 3 Grimes Hulett Neal-Bullen Terlich 2 M Jones McInerney Michie Oliver White Footscray Bulldogs Hamilton 3 Adcock Greenwood Hannan Jamieson Webb Best Casey Scorpions Grimes White Neal-Bullen Scott Weideman Michie Footscray Bulldogs Hamilton Smith Russell Barry Jamieson Honeychurch Statistics Lynden Dunn 24 disposals 20 kicks 4 handballs 7 marks 1 tackles 90 dream team points Colin Garland 18 disposals 15 kicks 3 handballs 8 marks 1 tackles 76 dream team points Jack Grimes 2 goals 27 disposals 16 kicks 11 handballs 7 marks 3 tackles 116 dream team points Liam Hulett 2 goals 1 behind 11 disposals 7 kicks 4 handballs 4 marks 1 tackles 60 dream team points Matt Jones 1 goal 34 disposals 18 kicks 16 handballs 10 marks 122 dream team points Ben Kennedy 21 disposals 13 kicks 8 handballs 7 marks 4 tackles 86 dream team points Viv Michie 1 goal 31 disposals 19 kicks 12 handballs 6 marks 4 tackles 119 dream team points Alex Neal-Bullen 2 goals 1 behind disposals 17 kicks 13 handballs 7 marks 2 tackles 119 dream team points Ben Newton 19 disposals 12 kicks 7 handballs 8 marks 6 tackles 96 dream team points Clayton Oliver 1 goal 1 behind 28 disposals 12 kicks 16 handballs 2 marks 3 tackles 4 hit outs 98 dream team points Jake Spencer 9 disposals 3 kicks 6 handballs 2 marks 7 tackles 24 hit outs 78 dream team points Dean Terlich 2 goals 3 behinds 24 disposals 19 kicks 5 handballs 15 marks 4 tackles 140 dream team points Jack Trengove 14 disposals 6 kicks 8 handballs 1 mark 7 tackles 62 dream team points Sam Weideman 3 goals disposals 9 kicks 5 handballs 5 marks 62 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 19 disposals 9 kicks 10 handballs 6 marks 68 dream team points AFL Victoria Development League - Second Semi Final In the curtain raiser at Casey Fields, the Scorpions opened the day in truly disappointing fashion. Having worked hard to make the finals and win the double chance after a slow start to the season, they were comprehensively beaten by 92 points and barely raised a sweat until junk time. They have a week to regroup before next week's Preliminary Final. Casey Scorpions 1.0.6 2.1.13 2.3.15 7.4.46 Box Hill Hawks 6.2.38 11.6.72 16.10.106 21.12.138 Goals Casey Scorpions Freeman 3 Vander Haar 2 Baker Jaffer-Williams Box Hill Hawks Summers 5 Cox Langford Spangher Traynor 2 Brolic Dimasi Gordon Kidd McIntyre Murphy Soccio Switkowski Best Casey Scorpions Gains Jaffer-Williams D Collis Moncrieff Max King Freeman Box Hill Hawks Brolic Fisher Langford O'Sullivan Evans Switkowski

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