It took 10 rounds for the Casey VFL side to finally lose its first game for the 2022 season, but now it’s intent on learning from its losses.

 The Demons were the breakaway leaders ahead of the pack for the first nine rounds of the VFLW season, winning all of their games and sitting two points ahead of VFLW powerhouse Essendon.

But it all changed in Round 10 when Casey travelled to Box Hill City Oval, losing to a pumped-up Hawthorn outfit and suffering its first defeat of the season.

Yet Casey VFLW coach Peter Mercoulia wasn’t fazed by the result, as he told Casey Media that there was plenty to learn from the humbling Round 10 clash.

“We were beaten by a skilful and good ball using team in Hawthorn and unfortunately didn’t bring the level of pressure and contest that we would’ve liked,” Mercoulia said. “The game itself didn’t look like what we wanted it to – our first quarter was positive and we showed glimpses there though.

“But the second and third didn’t go our way and it took for the last quarter to be more contest-based. Hawthorn picked us apart as they were defensively very skilled.”

The loss could’ve been enough to rock the boat of other sides who were used to winning, but not Casey. Mercoulia knew it would be naïve not to have an inkling that a loss could be on the way soon after nine rounds of football and decided to sit down with his club and analyse the mindset behind playing at such a high level.

“It was quite timely actually,” Mercoulia said. “We sat down when we were nine and zero and discussed what kind of club player, staff or coach we would be if we had nine losses on the board and not nine wins.

“It’s important as we want to try and create a club where you walk through the doors at Casey and don’t know if we’ve won or lost on the weekend.”

The meeting was all about Mercoulia’s “process driven” approach to fostering a welcoming environment at Casey Fields. The open forum discussion was a reminder to his players that the club has an internal goal to work towards, and that win, lose, or draw, trying to represent the club as best as possible remained paramount in the long term.

This approach held the Demons in good stead in Round 11 when they faced the strong VFLW side that is Collingwood and found itself three goals down at half time. Instead of giving up in the face of adversity, Casey came back and levelled the scores before falling just short in a nail-biting clash.

“Against Collingwood we had a lot of opportunities to score but we lost some of our forward half connection and collapsed around the contest when it mattered,” Mercoulia reflected. “Collingwood’s ability to win the contest and be much more proactive in their support layer meant they scored when we just couldn’t.”

Despite losing two consecutive matches after such a blemish-free start, Mercoulia isn’t concerned about what lay ahead in the coming weeks for his challenged side. With Dandenong Stingrays NAB league best and fairest Amber Clarke playing alongside Casey star Tahlia Fellows in an All-Stars game on the weekend instead of pulling on the Demons jumper, Mercoulia said there is plenty of talent left to come back into the side as finals pulls slowly closer. Both were named in the best players, meaning Casey will benefit when the pair come back into the side.

But he was most impressed with how his two up-and-coming players represented the club and themselves in a representative match.

“From what I heard they both presented the best versions of themselves in that game,” Mercoulia said. “I got really positive feedback on how they conducted themselves.

“One positive we want to push is ensuring that when we play for anyone, not just Casey, our players are out in the community representing our brand and what we stand for – they did a fantastic job at this, albeit they would’ve been handy playing for us.”

With the Melbourne AFLW-listed players not running around for Casey in the back half of the VFLW season as they expectantly prepare for an upcoming AFLW season, the gaps have allowed for new players to seize opportunities. From the Casey list, Mercoulia mentioned midfielder Emma Horne as one player who has “cherished the opportunity to get more midfield time in the past few weeks”, while also listing Rebecca Grant and the Wales twins as others who have shone in the absence of AFLW-listed star power.

The influx of new NAB League players from the nearby Gippsland Power and Dandenong Stingrays has also helped Mercoulia blood some new talent. He said that he will continue playing some young talented footballers in the lead up to the finals series.

“It’s massive for us to continue investing in our relationships with Gippsland and Dandenong,” Mercoulia said. “For us we ensure the wins and losses are important, but we also look at continuing to develop the youth coming through.

“We’ll continue to play three or four NAB League players up until finals in the hope they can continue to be put in the limelight and get themselves drafted.”

But for the Demons’ immediate future, Mercoulia is casting his eyes towards the traditional club in Port Melbourne, who they’ll take on in Round 12. Looking to respond with a big win after two losses, Mercoulia is excited to take on a club with such a rich history in Victorian football.

“Port Melbourne had a disappointing against Hawthorn last week but are a very proud club that I respect greatly,” he said. “I think they do a fantastic job and they’ve been around for over 100 years now.

“We respect them and are looking forward to a really good contest on Saturday.”