YET AGAIN, a season that promised so much for the Casey Scorpions ends pear shaped after a disappointing finals series, with the senior team making a straight sets exit on Saturday, beaten this time by 62 points by the Werribee Tigers.
The centre was muddy and it was windy again at TEAC Oval, but the conditions could hardly be said to suit either team. Yet, Casey struggled all day with the ground where they have so often in recent years faced their downfall.
The inclusion of some well performed players from Melbourne proved of little assistance to the Scorpions, who started tentatively and were never allowed to get their game going.
After conceding the first three goals of the game to a keener, sharper and more enthusiastic Tigers combination, Casey struggled throughout and its key players were kept in check for most of the day.
Even in the early stages, the Tigers looked switched on while the Scorpions played indirect football. Their hesitation led to inefficient movement of the football, fumbling and turnovers, despite them having plenty of use of the football.
It took much of the first quarter for Casey to threaten as it did when Tom McNamara finally marked from a Matthew Bate pass for the first goal, but that was the only joy for the term. McNamara, who had been playing well in the midfield, was soon limping off for treatment to what appeared to be a foot injury. At quarter time, the Scorpions trailed by 25 points.
A courageous skipper's goal from Kyle Matthews got things going early in the second quarter after some early shots at goal were missed, but it was the Tigers who were making every post a winner. Two quick goals seemed to knock the resistance out of the Scorpions, who simply couldn't match Werribee's run out of the middle. The uncertainty continued, and by the main break a despondent Casey trudged into the rooms seven goals down and looking beaten.
A Brad Gotch rev up at half time saw the team run out with more purpose, but even an early goal to Lynden Dunn failed to bring about a turnaround in the team's fortunes. Werribee responded with a snapped goal, and thereafter the Tigers closed the game down, with Casey struggling to score and failing to make any leeway.
The final quarter saw things open and the Scorpions managed a few more goals - but the life had been strangled out of them; the final result representing a 106 point turnaround from the last meeting between the teams less than a month ago at Casey Fields.
On that occasion, Brendan Fevola booted six goals and received great service from the team’s midfield. However, this time the movement and delivery forward was poor, Werribee dropped two or three players back to assist their full back, and a frustrated Fevola was kept goalless. He ended up on report, a bad ending for the player who had hardly put a foot out of place in his attempt to rejuvenate his career, and one can only wish him well in his battle to regain a place on an AFL list.
A measure of the disappointment of the way the season ended was the fact that all of Casey’s better players on the day were in defence. Michael Stockdale worked hard and gave good run coming off the backline, and Matty Warnock and Tim Mohr did their prospects for the future no harm with solid games.
A disappointed Brad Gotch found it hard to say what went wrong, and was quoted in the Melbourne Age as follows:
''You've got to look at your leadership, just the individual players that you've got, do we have the right mix of talent? Maybe we've got a lot of similar type players and are they good enough to take it to that next step in September?''
The end of the season has come quickly, and next September is far away. The Casey Scorpions have plenty of time to regroup and plan for next year, with the memory of past seasons’ disappointments spurring them on to better things in the future.
Casey Scorpions 1.2.8 2.8.20 3.12.30 6.15.51
Werribee Tigers 5.3.33 9.8.62 11.12.78 16.17.113
Goals
Casey Scorpions Bate Dunn Fitzpatrick McNamara Matthews Nicholson
Werribee Tigers Ross 4 McKinley Tighe Warren 2 Castello Gleeson Harding Sharp Sullivan Tuck
Best
Casey Scorpions Stockdale Lees Warnock Panozza Mohr Nicholson
Werribee Tigers Mangan Ross Harding Sharp Martiniello McKinley
