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Paul Amy - Leader Newspapers AS the Geelong team bus pulled out of Casey Fields and on to Berwick-Cranbourne Rd on Saturday night, Cats coach Dale Amos might have been tempted to ask for it to stop at Cranbourne police station.There he could report that his side had just had four points stolen, though not exactly in broad daylight.The Geelong camp must have felt it had been shaken down after it led all night, only to be swamped by a persevering Casey Scorpions in the Round 1 VFL clash.
Casey hit the front for the first time at the 23 minute mark of the last quarter, after a goal from Rian McGough. No often do points get cheered in football. But Scorpions supporters were clapping when a Jack Watts snap extended the lead to seven points. It was a nice insurance policy against defeat.A few minutes earlier first-year Scorpion Mitch Dowse had been paid a mark, somewhat generously by the umpire, and kicked accurately from 30m to level the scores. At that stage the Scorpions were attacking repeatedly, usually through Danny Nicholls, Ben MacReadie and McGough. Geelong, fielding 11 VFL first-gamers, became increasingly harried. It was unable to finish what it started. The tense victory made for a triumphant homecoming for Coach Bradley Gotch. The little fellow appeared to very much enjoy singing the song with his players before peeling off to answer questions from the media. A goal from Adam Varco after the half-time siren (and after a free kick) extended the Cats' lead to 20 points, 6.6 to 2.10 (Casey had two posters in that points tally).But Gotch said: ``you could just some signs late in the second quarter that we were starting to get our game going. ``During the third quarter we didn't put the scoreboard pressure on them that we would have liked. ``But I was still reasonably confident if we could stick to our guns in that last quarter we might have been able to overrun them. ``New blokes playing together were getting accustomed to the way they play. ``We started to switch the ball, we started to run the ball, took a few coast-to-coast goals in the second half by boys prepared to run and back themselves and trust their teammates. ''Although Geelong could say it was stiff to lose, Casey had a lot of the ball after quarter-time. And Amos acknowledged his Cats lacked polish. ``I thought we actually played really well,'' he said.``But I think we had 17 more turnovers ... they cost us three goals in the third quarter. 'Casey had four splendid rebounding defenders in Michael Stockdale, James Wall, Tom McNamara and Kyle Cheney. The two young Demons kept a vigilant watch on top Cat Max Rooke.Wall had 25 disposals, behind only Nicholls, and the crafty Stockdale had 22. Gotch also mentioned first-gamer Cam Purdy, a tall forward recruited from East Ringwood, and Gippsland Power graduate Dowse, a bore-in onballer.Stefan Martin was the most productive of the forwards, kicking three goals. The Scorpions play Collingwood at Casey Fields on Sunday. Casey Scorpions 0.5 2.10 6.11 9.18 (72) d Geelong 2.5 6.6 8.8 9.10 (64) Casey Scorpions goals: Martin 3 MacReadie Dowse Spencer McGough Maric Taylor. Best: McNamara Stockdale Cheney Nicholls Watts MacReadie $3000 Leader Alarah player-of-the-year award: 16 Kyle Cheney, 15 Danny Nicholls, Michael Stockdale, 14 Tom McNamara, 13 Ben MacReadie. $500 reserves award: 3 Ryan Creed, 2 Gus Patti, 1 Braedon Jones. |
