A TYPICAL Melbourne day at Casey Fields saw the Casey Demons secure their third win in a row, defeating local rival Frankston by 60 points.
After a slow first quarter, the Demons piled on the scoreboard, including a nine-goal streak in the second half, to claim victory over the Dolphins at 16.13 (109) to 7.7 (49).
It was an extremely contested and non-stop game from the offset as the Demons struggled to find time and space on the ball. Frankston was on its toes early and made the most of the poor ball-movement from the home side.
A six-goal second quarter came about from an increase in pressure around the ball and intensity through the contest. Bailey Laurie emphasised this with a beautiful chase down, a holding-the-ball tackle exciting fans on the pavilion side of the oval.
Blake Howes continued his form from last week, finding plenty of the footy, but wayward kicking from the Demons saw the team boot the ball out-on-the-full four times in the first 11 minutes.
When the ball did go forward, Andy Moniz-Wakefield was everywhere, seemingly unstoppable by the Dolphins defence, causing havoc and creating chances for Casey.
Paddy Cross was impressive on the wing, creating pressure for the ball-carrier, spreading the contest, and moving defenders out of position. It was his play on the pavilion wing in the second quarter that set the tempo for the rest of the playing group.
This team effort resulted in an incredible nine consecutive goals throughout the second and third quarters and from then on, Frankston struggled to match the contest.
The pressure was again increased for the third term, five smothers and zero goals conceded for the quarter to set up the Demons for a comfortable last period.
It wasn’t without a slight concern as the Dolphins came our firing early in the last, kicking three unanswered goals. This provided a wakeup call for the Casey players with goals from Tom Sheridan, Josh Schache, Oliver Sestan and Matthew Jefferson to round out the match.
The Sunday win makes it three in a row for the reigning premiers as they look to continue their hot start to the season next Sunday, facing Essendon away from home.
CASEY: 1.1 (7) 7.7 (49) 10.13 (73) 16.13 (109)
FRANKSTON: 3.1 (19) 3.3 (21) 3.6 (24) 7.7 (49)
BEST: Laurie, Munro, Schache, Moniz-Wakefield, Cross
GOALS: 3 Schache, 3 Jefferson, 3 Sheridan, 1 Valentine, Shepard, Sestan, Neocleous, Laurie, Dunstan, Baldi
DISPOSALS: 35 Laurie, 26 Moniz-Wakefield, 26 Dunstan, 23 Howes, 23 Grey
