Casey’s mystery loss

By Paul Pickering
BRAD Gotch was left “stunned” and “embarrassed” by his side’s 128-point loss to Williamstown on Saturday.
The Casey coach admitted he was unsure how to respond to the Scorpions’ diabolical performance in the top-of-the-table VFL clash.
“What do you say to them?” he said after emerging from a post-match briefing with his players.
“We’ve been fantastic this year, so you’re just deflating their confidence if you go off your nut.
“We’ve been competitive in every (other) game, so I suppose you have to give them a little bit of leeway and hope that it’s an aberration.”
It was a terrible day at the office for Gotch, who returned to Point Gellibrand for the first time since his eight-year tenure as Seagulls’ coach ended last September.
His charges were humbled by Williamstown in Casey’s first televised game of the season, played in front of a bumper crowd in the only VFL or AFL fixture of the afternoon.
Gotch warned his players that the Seagulls would be “seething” after their loss to North Ballarat the previous weekend and that, with skipper Brett Johnson playing his 150th VFL game, they were always going to be hard to beat.
The inclusions of AFL talents Liam Jurrah and Jamie Bennell and towering first-gamer Jack Fitzpatrick generated plenty of pre-match excitement in the Scorpions’ camp but the enthusiasm was shortlived.
Bennell soared for a spectacular mark in the opening minutes, and Fitzpatrick snapped the Scorps’ first goal, but Willy took control late in the term to establish a three-goal quarter-time buffer.
Casey had the wind in the second and barely fired a shot, repeatedly falling down across half-forward and providing little resistance on the rebound.
The contest seemed all but over at half-time, with the Seagulls up by 35 points, and it was well and truly dead after spearhead Matthew Little booted three goals within five minutes early in the third.
Willy went on to kick nine goals for the quarter and another seven in the last, while Little – the league’s leading goalkicker – finished with eight for the afternoon in a personal-best outing.
Casey managed only four majors for the match, despite rotating the likes of Jurrah, Bennell, Austin Wonaemirri, Addam Maric and Paul Johnson through the forward half in a desperate search for a spark.
Nothing worked. Jurrah was rusty on his return from a shoulder reconstruction and the Scorpions lacked a genuine target like the injured Matthew Newton.
And Casey’s blue-collar midfield, so spirited and uncompromising in recent weeks, was no match for a Willy unit led by the likes of Brett Johnson, Tim Callan, David Stretton and Western Bulldogs regulars Callan Ward and Dylan Addison.
Running defenders Michael Stockdale (25 disposals) and Kyle Cheney (24) were among few Scorpions to impress on the big stage.
Daniel Bell was given the job of marking the Seagulls’ skipper and stuck to his task admirably, while Danny Nicholls worked hard for his 27 touches.
Tireless ruckman Paul Johnson was marginally outpointed by Willy young gun Jordan Roughead.
“They outworked us in every facet of the game,” Gotch said.
“They gave their just deserts for a one-versus-two clash, but we weren’t quite up to it … and the boys have to wear the scars of that until we play again in two weeks.”
Gotch made no excuses for his side, but wondered whether some gruelling encounters over the past month had taken the edge off his group.
“It might have caught up with us a little bit, because we got outrun today. Maybe we were cherry ripe for the taking,” he said.
The Scorpions, now sitting third on the ladder at 8-2 for the season, will have a fortnight to stew on the loss before hosting Werribee at Casey Fields on Saturday 3 July.