While the Melbourne Demons may be in a state of chaos in recent weeks, their VFL affiliate team in Casey certainly did the club proud after disposing of Sandringham by 61 points at Casey Fields on Sunday as James Hunter Smith reports.
The Zebra’s first goal came at the 7-minute mark of the third quarter in a disappointing display of football that abruptly halted their chances of making the finals.
The Scorpions made light work of their opponents and were led by former first round draft pick Cale Morton (32 disposals), Matthew Warnock (27), James Wall (26) and Brendan Fevola (5 goals).
The 18.12 (120) to 9.5 (59) win has set Casey up with a mouthwatering scramble to claim fourth spot on the Peter Jackson VFL ladder, alongside Werribee and the Bullants.
Omitted Demons star Colin Sylvia didn’t dominate the stat sheet by any stretch of the imagination yet kept key Sandringham midfielders Marcus Marigliani and James Magner relatively quiet for the first half, much to the delight of Casey coach Brad Gotch.
Gotch said the win was a great turnaround from the team’s round 18 belting from Geelong and made particular note of the Melbourne players dropped from the senior squad.
“Their attitude was great today…they jumped on board with our values down here at Casey,” he said.
“They really drew a line in the sand to say that Melbourne want Casey to be successful, and I think that’s a really good thing going forward. Now it’s about being successful week in week out.”
Gotch admitted while playing solid football was the main priority, the prospect of a top-four finish is a real possibility.
“Naturally it’s on your mind, (but) I was more worried about getting a more competitive performance today than last week,” he said.
“Now it puts us back in the mix…really our destiny is in our own hands.”
For the Zebras, youngster Tom Lynch was solid off half-back with 27 touches, while captain David Gallagher and Steve Baker had 19 disposals each.
A low scoring opening term was plagued by poor delivery inside 50, despite Casey’s ability to glide their way out of defence with relative ease.
Addam Maric eventually opened the account for the home side after shrugging off a Tom Lynch tackle to drill the first major, but the Scorpions failed to apply enough scoreboard pressure given their nine more entries inside attacking fifty during the quarter.
The Zebras gave away three free kicks and two 50m penalties early in the second term as Neville Jetta extended the lead to 20 points, promptly followed by an onslaught of Fevola goals as he booted three majors in just as many minutes.
The Scorpions were applying too much forward pressure for the visitors to handle, accumulating 20 tackles inside their attacking 50 and held a 51-point lead as they headed into the main break.
At half time, Sandringham was yet to register a single goal.
Their first major finally came through Will Johnson in the seventh minute of the third term but the game was well and truly out of reach with Casey leading by 64 points at the final break.
The Zebras’ 23rd player in Jackson Coleman showed glimpses of his future potential with two late goals in the last quarter, but a couple of quick majors to Melbourne forward Liam Jurrah saw the home side eventually run out 61-point winners.
Sandringham coach Brett Lovett said he was disappointed not only with the loss, but his team’s output over the last month.
“Our form over the last 3 or 4 weeks has been not up to it…we’ve been down a little bit on confidence, and down on the ability to use the footy effectively,” Lovett said.
“We just haven’t been playing well enough. We just have to get back to some fundamentals, win a bit more of the contested ball and use [it] a bit better.”
This week Sandringham will try to get back on the winners list as they take on Box Hill at home, while Casey clash with Coburg in a game they must win to secure a top-four position heading into the finals.
Photo by Morgan Hancock
Last Modified on 08/08/2011 17:08