By JARROD POTTER
VFL – ROUND 15
TWO terms rarely adds up to a win as Casey found out in a demoralising one-point defeat at the hands of Footscray.
Compounding Casey’s problems, Jake Gains and Dylan Collis had to back up from Friday night’s reserves match following the late withdrawal of Chris Dawes and Josh Wagner from the Casey squad.
But overall Casey thrived in the gale-force conditions early – roosting it long and letting the likes of Tim Smith (3), Liam Hulett and roaming ruckman Jake Spencer sort things out.
Spencer kept busy across the afternoon – burdening the lion’s share of Casey’s ruckwork against Will Minson in a captivating battle.
It showed there’s life yet in the VFL ruck division especially with sides circling Minson for trade week.
Ben Newton (2) fired early to boot the visitors ahead by 21 at the first break … but where did Casey go after that?
Against the wind, the Scorpions were bystanders, passengers and buck-passing as the Bulldogs stormed back ahead and then some.
There was no resistance of any substance when the wind blew in the Scorpions’ faces … leaving a lot to be desired after the break.
But chalk and cheese was the contrast of second and third terms – Casey was electric with the wind again. The main sails went up and Casey started to broadside the Bulldogs. From all points the Scorpions surged. Jack Hutchins, Lynden Dunn and Declan Keilty picked off the errant defensive-50 to drill it back to the likes of Alex Neal-Bullen, Viv Michie and Dean Terlich.
It was carnage throughout the visiting forward-arc as Footscray was given time to sit and admire the destructive force.
Trengove, Bugg, Michie, Cam Pedersen, Tim Smith, Smith, Paul Pattison and Ed Morris – the goals were piled to the sky in the incredible third term as Casey pushed itself back out in front.
But it wasn’t just the goals in the third, it was the intensity around the contest, the tackling and ability to contest every Footscray possession that saw Casey shine.
That tempo continued through the fourth term … at least for the start of it. The first 20 minutes belonged to Casey as it restricted the Dogs across half-back.
Former Dandenong Stingray Bailey Dale (four goals) was the Scorpions’ heartbreaker as he found his feet when it mattered most.
The Doggies barked back in the final 10 minutes as eventually the bow broke and Casey lost its nerve. The backs rushed, the midfielders scrambled and nothing could be done to stop the relentless wave of Dogs’ pressure.
Booting it back to three points, it boiled down to each contest. Heartbreakingly, Casey would kick in, it went out of bounds on the full.
Footscray would boot a point and rinse, lather, repeat. The match-winning behind came from the boot of Anthony Barry, giving the faithful the biggest celebration at the Kennel in years after claiming the 12.12 (84) to 13.5 (83) victory.
Neal-Bullen (37 possessions), Dunn (25), Clayton Oliver (25) led the way for the Scorps while Tommy Trengove (23) and Bugg (22) were also impressive in defeat.
“If we think we can compete and play two and a half quarters of footy at a level we expect, we’re kidding ourselves,” Casey coach Justin Plapp said.
“The most disappointing thing to come out of it was that we got what we deserved today – we were non-existent in the second quarter, maybe five minutes at the back end of the second quarter were we got the game on our terms and played the way we wanted it to be played.
“Then we come out and have an eight-goal third quarter and play some pretty inspiring and tough footy.
“We were always going to have our backs up against it with the wind – that played a fair part in it – we’re disappointed but the effort was still there and we couldn’t get the effort we needed over the series of the game.”
The loss bumps Casey off the top of the totem pole ahead of hosting the Sandringham Zebras at Casey Fields on Sunday morning from 11.40am.
VFL SCOREBOARD
FOOTSCRAY BULLDOGS 2.0 8.3 8.4 12.12 (84)
CASEY SCORPIONS 5.3 5.4 13.4 13.5 (83)
FOOTSCRAY
Goals: B. Dale 4, J. Staley 2, W. Minson 2, J. Russell, L. Dalgleish, A. Tashevski-Beckwith, J. Hamling.
Best: B. Dale, J. Russell, M. Honeychurch, J. Adcock, A. Barry, W. Minson.
CASEY
Goals: T. Smith 3, B. Newton 2, D. Terlich, V. Michie, P. Pattison, J. Trengove, A. Neal-Bullen, C. Pedersen, J. Spencer, T. Bugg.
Best: A. Neal-Bullen, T. Smith, L. Dunn, T. Bugg, D. Collis, V. Michie.
