The top two teams in the VFL go head to head this Sunday in round 15 action. Port Melbourne and the Casey Scorpions have been the two standout sides all season; entrenched in the top five all year, and having sat one/two since round 10.
Before last weekend’s defeat at the hands of Werribee, Casey had a prime opportunity to wrestle top spot from Port in this clash. The Scorpions however now sit four points and 59% behind the ladder leaders, so a victory this weekend would only draw Casey level with the Borough in top spot.
For Port Melbourne heading into this clash, it is the perfect opportunity for Gary Ayres and his side to go two games clear on top of the ladder; helping cement a double chance for them later in the season.
Last weekend Port Melbourne stamped their authority on the game early with a seven goal to two first term, and it will be their aim again this weekend versus Casey.
“We always aim for a fast start to hopefully grab the initiative away from the opposing side,” Ayres said.
“When you weigh up how the game went the 5 goal margin we gained in the 1st quarter was the difference between the 2 sides at the end of the game.”
Despite the strong start, Sandringham challenged Port in the final term, getting the margin back to four points. However Ayres was once again pleased with how his side responded.
“Sandringham were a very tough opponent and the way they played the previous week against Casey showed they are a quality side and they were able to gain ascendency with some centre clearances that put our defence under enormous pressure.
“What good sides do is identify and then rectify to gain the momentum back and we did this by drawing on the character of our leaders and we were able to get back on top in the midfield and scored goals to put the pressure back on Sandy.”
A pleasing aspect for Port heading towards finals later this year is the number of senior players still to return from injury in the second half of the season.
“We have Brewer, Gale, Bentick, O’Farrell and Grice to return to our senior side and we believe that we can improve with these additions,” Ayres said.
“ These players plus some of our development players who are playing better now will be given an opportunity and will play an important role towards the back end of the season. They must be ready as you do not know when your chance will come.”
For Casey, Port Melbourne is the third top five team they will play in a row, currently with and 1/1 record over the first fortnight of a big month. Coach Brett Lovett is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the ladder leaders, and will look for improvement from the sides defence this weekend, after they struggled against the Tigers.
“Werribee are a good side but we really let ourselves down defensively and our intensity was not up to par. We set bench marks for these things are we just didn’t meet them on the weekend,” Lovett said.
“In saying that, we had a very young team consisting of nine players that had played less than eight games.
“I told the players that this was a clear example that if you don’t come to play you produce a result like we did.”
With Casey’s AFL aligned club Melbourne travelling interstate last weekend, Lovett will be hoping to regain a number of players that were emergencies last weekend.
“We will have a couple of players returning this weekend which should help the team. We are quite dependant on Melbourne’s list with who they play or where they play.
“They travelled interstate last week and took three extra players with them. If a few players make their way back from injury then we should be starting to get our strongest side again.“
Last Modified on 06/07/2012 17:00