The Northern Blues have caused one of the upsets of the season, overpowering undermanned ladder leaders the Casey Scorpions by 40-points. Brendan Lucas reports.
The Blues led at every change after notching up a blistering five goal to one first term.
Nick Meese was dominant in the ruck providing first use for the Blues and finished with an incredible 21 tackles and 16 disposals.
Both Brett Thornton and Luke Mitchell starred up forward with 10 goals – half the Blues score between them.
Youngster Adam Marcon also continued his impressive form with 28 disposals.
It was all one-way traffic throughout the game though as the Scorpions struggled to cope with the Blues aggressive tackling and swift forward movements.
Young Scorpion Brayden Fowler was consistently overpowered in isolated contests on Mitchell and Thornton, as the defence struggled to cope with continuous forward 50 entries.
An upset was brewing as tension started to mount, Josh Bootsma and Tim Smith with both eyes for the ball colliding late in the second term.
The Casey Scorpions tried to mix up their game style, going man on man in the third term, but the Blues continued to deliver mark after mark.
Back-to-back goals midway through the quarter from David Ellard and Thornton pushed the lead out to 52-points.
Despite managing to kick the last four of five goals in the third term, the Scorpions still trailed at the final change by 51-points.
At three quarter time Scorpions coach Brett Lovett urged his side to have cleaner forward entries and for the backs to take the game on in order to have a chance at winning.
The Scorpions showed some spirit in the last as youngster Leigh Williams offered another target up forward taking strong marks and finishing with two goals.
Both sides finished with six goals each in the last, however it was William Petropoulos who added one to the highlight reel with a drop punt from the boundary line to finish the game adding a little spark to the Scorpions dim day.
Re-instated Blues coach Darren Harris said before the match he expected his side to put in a good showing.
"Yes, on the back of last week and the way they have been training and working hard we expected them to put in a really good effort today," he said.
Harris said he had been particularly pleased with how consistent the effort was over four quarters and was happy to be back coaching.
"For long periods of the time you saw how hard fought it was. We are really happy, we took our opportunities and our accuracy was good. But everyone is playing their role at the moment and with great spirit.
"Yes, I love coaching, I really enjoy it. I wish it worked out better for Hydey but at the end of the day I am a coach, and these players just make it that much better."
The Northern Blues face Williamstown away next week who will be pushing for a top four berth, whilst Casey face Geelong at home in a huge top four clash.
Casey Scorpions 13.10 (88) def by Northern Blues 20.8 (128)
Photo: Morgan Hancock
Last Modified on 06/08/2012 20:12