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by Billy from the Bush The Casey Scorpions survived a scare at Frankston City Oval to retain equal billing with the VFL's leading sides Williamstown and North Ballarat on ten wins after defeating the plucky Dolphins by 10 points on Sunday.
The trip down the highway to play Frankston by the bay began as expected for Casey when it produced a withering opening quarter against the competition's cellar dwellers. Kicking to the Kars Street end of the ground that was favoured by the strong winds coming off Port Phillip Bay, the Scorpions were in scintillating early form as they brushed aside their hosts to rush to a 7.3.45 to 1.1.7 lead.
After that, it should have been plain sailing for Casey but the game gradually changed complexion. The Scorps held reasonably firm while kicking against the strong breeze but the Dolphins easily outscored for them for the remainder of the game playing some good inside footy, putting pressure on their opponents whenever they gained possession and inflicting pain on the rebound. In particular, they forced a number of skill errors that will need rectification over the coming week at training.
Casey just held on to win an enthralling battle but would have been disappointed to manage only two goals after quarter time in a performance that almost echoed their efforts on the other side of the bay last month against ladder leader Williamstown.
The Scorpions were hit by injury and forced to make eight changes to the team which accounted for Werribee last week. The side contained four players making their VFL senior debuts - Dean Cleven, Mark Weekes, Dean Woodhead and Demon youngster Luke Tapscott while Wade Lees also came up from the reserves for his first game of the season. However, this should not be taken as an excuse for the team's poor effort after leading by half time when they led by in excess of five goals.
The Dolphins, under coach Simon Goosey are in team building mode, and had more than a fair quota of young local talent from the Peninsula and should be commended for their spirit and endeavour in regrouping after their poor start. Given the respective ladder positions of the teams it was a tremendous effort to get lift their intensity after a poor start and to come close to causing a major upset against a third placed Casey which still had nine AFL listed players.
Utility Rohan Bail was outstanding for the second week running. He showed great pace and has a knack of being able to win and deliver the ball crisply to a team mate and could well be in contention for a plane trip to Perth next weekend. Matt Warnock was great in defence, cutting his man out of the game and winning plenty of possessions, Daniel Bell was solid and Austin Wonaeamirri seems to have shrugged off last week's shoulder problems showing some good signs although he is still struggling with consistency.
Danny Nicholls was strong with his on ball efforts and Tim Mohr was also put in a strong display. Recruit Matt Fieldsend from De La Salle played his best game yet for the club and acting skipper James Wall showed his versatility kicking three goals in the absence of some of the regular talls through injury.
With the VFL competition moving past the two-thirds mark and the season is moving into its business end, coach Brad Gotch would be satisfied with the four points but not the performance. His team will need to lift its intensity if it is to match it with the competition's other leading lights.
Casey Scorpions 7.3.45 7.6.48 8.7.55 9.10.64
Frankston 1.1.7 2.5.17 4.8.32 7.12.54
Goals
Casey Scorpions Wall 3 Bail Wonaemirri 2 MacReadie Purdy
Frankston Proctor 6 Clark
Best
Casey Scorpions Warnock Bail Nicholls Fieldsend Mohr Daniel Bell
Frankston Clark Proctor Miller Bosward Kennedy Gabriel
The Casey Reserves had a big win over lowly Frankston, the highlights being the goalkicking prowess of Brad Sykes, Matt Moore and Aaron Hillberge. David Bell was nominated as the club's best with another strong effort and young Sam Blease showed tons of class and pace on a wing. He is gradually increasing game time and should hopefully play full game with rotations next week.
Casey Scorpions 8.4 .52 10.4.64 17.12.114 24.17.161
Frankston 1.5.11 3.10.22 4.13.37 5.22.52
Goals
Casey Scorpions Sykes 6 Moore 5 Hillberge 4 Tynan 3 David Bell Plummer2 Petropoulos Smith
Frankston Alanis 2 Mitchell Hunt Anwyl
Best
Casey Scorpions Bell Sykes Tynan Egan Hillberge Blease
Frankston Sienkiewicz Mitchell Wapshott Gooda Wise Williams |
