THE CASEY Scorpions moved a step closer to making the VFL top four with an emphatic 44-point win over the Werribee Tigers at Casey Fields on Saturday.
The home side relished the sunny skies and the near perfect conditions for football. They led from go to whoa, leapfrogging the Tigers and Northern Bullants to reclaim fourth place with just one round left before the finals.
The win was the perfect response to a week of soul searching in the wake of the team's second defeat for the season at the hands of the lowly Coburg Tigers - a performance that threatened to derail Casey's 2011 finals campaign.
The Scorpions must now repeat the dose at home against the fifth placed Northern Bullants to book an appointment in the first qualifying final with undefeated ladder leader Port Melbourne.
The Tigers set out to emulate their success of earlier in the year, when they won a spiteful encounter at Chirnside Park. But after booting the game's first goal, they succumbed to the combined special talents of West Australian indigenous duo Neville Jetta and Kelvin Lawrence, who displayed some electric form in the first quarter, after Evan Panoza kicked the team's opening goal.
The much improved Lawrence booted two goals for the term and together with Jetta, started many forward thrusts to help the home side open up a 20-point lead by quarter time.
Matthew Bate continued his rich vein of form for the Scorpions with a great goal just before the break. He and Brendan Fevola (who passed 50 goals for the season during the second term) dominated up forward, as Casey stretched its lead to 33 points at half time.
The intensity dropped a little in the second half, but Casey maintained control throughout and was rarely troubled by the Tigers.
The dual ruck combination of Robbie Campbell and Max Gawn had an absorbing duel with Werribee's Hamish McIntosh, but it was the likes of Jetta (29 touches) and Tom McNamara (27 disposals) who were dominant in the middle. Dave Collins and Wade Lees proved to be excellent back-ups and co-skipper James Wall was back to his best with 23 possessions.
Meanwhile, in defence, Matthew Warnock was steady as a rock and Tim Mohr, bound for the AFL draft combine at season's end, again did his future prospects no harm, this time under the watchful eyes of a bevy of Collingwood scouts.
Jetta was easily best on ground and was unrelenting with his attack on the football right to the end, combining brilliantly with Bate and Fevola in many attacking moves.
The latter copped plenty from some of the Tiger fans near the boundary, but answered them definitively by kicking six goals from 11 kicks and taking eight marks to set up his team's win.
The home side relished the sunny skies and the near perfect conditions for football. They led from go to whoa, leapfrogging the Tigers and Northern Bullants to reclaim fourth place with just one round left before the finals.
The win was the perfect response to a week of soul searching in the wake of the team's second defeat for the season at the hands of the lowly Coburg Tigers - a performance that threatened to derail Casey's 2011 finals campaign.
The Scorpions must now repeat the dose at home against the fifth placed Northern Bullants to book an appointment in the first qualifying final with undefeated ladder leader Port Melbourne.
The Tigers set out to emulate their success of earlier in the year, when they won a spiteful encounter at Chirnside Park. But after booting the game's first goal, they succumbed to the combined special talents of West Australian indigenous duo Neville Jetta and Kelvin Lawrence, who displayed some electric form in the first quarter, after Evan Panoza kicked the team's opening goal.
The much improved Lawrence booted two goals for the term and together with Jetta, started many forward thrusts to help the home side open up a 20-point lead by quarter time.
Matthew Bate continued his rich vein of form for the Scorpions with a great goal just before the break. He and Brendan Fevola (who passed 50 goals for the season during the second term) dominated up forward, as Casey stretched its lead to 33 points at half time.
The intensity dropped a little in the second half, but Casey maintained control throughout and was rarely troubled by the Tigers.
The dual ruck combination of Robbie Campbell and Max Gawn had an absorbing duel with Werribee's Hamish McIntosh, but it was the likes of Jetta (29 touches) and Tom McNamara (27 disposals) who were dominant in the middle. Dave Collins and Wade Lees proved to be excellent back-ups and co-skipper James Wall was back to his best with 23 possessions.
Meanwhile, in defence, Matthew Warnock was steady as a rock and Tim Mohr, bound for the AFL draft combine at season's end, again did his future prospects no harm, this time under the watchful eyes of a bevy of Collingwood scouts.
Jetta was easily best on ground and was unrelenting with his attack on the football right to the end, combining brilliantly with Bate and Fevola in many attacking moves.
The latter copped plenty from some of the Tiger fans near the boundary, but answered them definitively by kicking six goals from 11 kicks and taking eight marks to set up his team's win.
He will have a meeting with some of his old Carlton teammates when the Scorpions battle the Bullants at Casey Fields next Saturday for the coveted fourth place on the final ladder.
Seniors
Casey Scorpions 5.0 10.4 13.9 17.11 (113)
Werribee Tigers 1.4 4.7 7.8 10.9 (69)
Casey Scorpions: Fevola 6, Bate 2, Jetta 2, Lawrence 2, Fitzpatrick, Gawn, McGough, Nicholls, Panozza
Werribee Tigers: McIntosh 3, McKinley 2, Daw, Harding, Mangan, Rockefeller, Warren
Best
Seniors
Casey Scorpions 5.0 10.4 13.9 17.11 (113)
Werribee Tigers 1.4 4.7 7.8 10.9 (69)
Casey Scorpions: Fevola 6, Bate 2, Jetta 2, Lawrence 2, Fitzpatrick, Gawn, McGough, Nicholls, Panozza
Werribee Tigers: McIntosh 3, McKinley 2, Daw, Harding, Mangan, Rockefeller, Warren
Best
Casey Scorpions: Jetta, Warnock, Lees, Campbell, Bate, McNamara
Werribee Tigers: McIntosh, Ross, Mather, O'Dwyer, Tighe, Hartigan
Werribee Tigers: McIntosh, Ross, Mather, O'Dwyer, Tighe, Hartigan
Reserves
Casey's rising reserves team made it nine wins in a row when they were untroubled in notching a solid 43-point win over Werribee.
It was a great team effort with Jess Bolton, who continues to improve with every game, David Bell and Cameron Johnston featuring among the best players and Will Petropoulos booting three goals.
The return of Austin Wonaeamirri struck a snag when he hurt his ankle in the first half of the game and the nuggety forward will undergo scans to determine the extent of the injury.
Casey Scorpions 3.2 7.3 9.7 13.13 (91)
Werribee Tigers 3.1 3.3 5.6 7.6 (48)
Goals
Casey Scorpions: Petropoulos 3, Bell 2, Purves 2, Waite 2, Purves 2, Baumgartner, Matthews, Riseley, Weekes
Werribee Tigers: Bryce 2, Larsen 2, Risol, Simpson, Still
Best
Casey Scorpions: Bolton, Bell, Johnston, Matthews, Pollard, Petropoulos
Werribee Tigers: Moloney, Sullivan, Caldow, Still, Robbins, James
Casey's rising reserves team made it nine wins in a row when they were untroubled in notching a solid 43-point win over Werribee.
It was a great team effort with Jess Bolton, who continues to improve with every game, David Bell and Cameron Johnston featuring among the best players and Will Petropoulos booting three goals.
The return of Austin Wonaeamirri struck a snag when he hurt his ankle in the first half of the game and the nuggety forward will undergo scans to determine the extent of the injury.
Casey Scorpions 3.2 7.3 9.7 13.13 (91)
Werribee Tigers 3.1 3.3 5.6 7.6 (48)
Goals
Casey Scorpions: Petropoulos 3, Bell 2, Purves 2, Waite 2, Purves 2, Baumgartner, Matthews, Riseley, Weekes
Werribee Tigers: Bryce 2, Larsen 2, Risol, Simpson, Still
Best
Casey Scorpions: Bolton, Bell, Johnston, Matthews, Pollard, Petropoulos
Werribee Tigers: Moloney, Sullivan, Caldow, Still, Robbins, James
