Second-placed Casey is at home to Coburg this Sunday. Luke Armstrong previews the match.
Casey will need to be careful against the visiting Coburg who are hungry for a victory, and sit just two wins outside the top eight.
THE LAST THREE
CASEY– WIN-WIN-BYE
COBURG– WIN-BYE-LOSS
Casey has had two comprehensive victories, away against Sandringham (65 points) and at home against Collingwood (90 points); followed by a bye.
Coburg has found it tougher, with a slender home win over Bendigo by 10 points, a bye, and a 28-point loss against Collingwood.
LAST MEETING
CASEY 13.15.93 d COBURG 13.9.87
Round 2, Mantello Holden Oval, Saturday, 31st March, 2012.
Casey scraped home for a 6 point win the last time these two clubs met, with Luke Tapscott laying 10 tackles and Tom McDonald taking 10 contested marks and kicking three goals. Lynden Dunn also bagged three for the Scorpions. The stand outs for Coburg were Nick Maric, who booted four majors and was amongst the best players. Jeromey Webberley – who was delisted by the club at the end of last season – had a great match for Coburg, racking up 20 effective kicks, and 9 effective handballs.
KEY MATCH-UPS
CASEY
Tom Couch missed out on winning the J.J. Liston trophy by one single vote last year, and will be hard to tie down, notching up 41 possessions, seven inside-50s and two goals against Collingwood in round nine. Jesse Hogan will also command a good defender, being solid all year, taking nine marks and kicking 2.4 in the same match. James Magner collected 40 touches, also in round nine, and will be hard to tag. Max Gawn’s dominance of the ruck will need to be negated; he picked up 17 touches and 29 hit-outs against the Pies, and four goals against Sandringham a week earlier.
COBURG
Liam McBean has kicked 19 goals from 7 matches this year (11th on goal kicking list) and has earnt the praise of Richmond Tigers Assistant Coach Mark Williams, who said on the Richmond website; “He’s done some really good things, he’s got great agility for a tall guy, and can snap the ball as good as anyone I’ve ever seen.” Their other danger man in front of the sticks has been Aaron Edwards, who has sent home 20 majors from 6 matches this year (9th on goal kicking list), but in recent rounds he has received a call up to Richmond. Orren Stephenson has appeared in the Coburg best five times from seven matches this year, and might also prove to be a headache for Casey.
PREDICTION - Casey by 22 points.
Last Modified on 21/06/2013 17:17