Captain Mitch White has been part of the Casey furniture for much of his VFL career. He got to be front and centre on Sunday as the club celebrated his milestone 100th game as he looks towards leading his Demons to further glory.

Casey stalwart Mitch White got to raise a rare milestone on the weekend. The Demons captain was widely celebrated on a wet and windy day at Casey Fields as he played his 100th VFL game.

It wasn’t a perfect day for White and his red and blue teammates. Although Casey had to dig deep to overcome a gallant Carlton side in its low-scoring 16-point win, White said his side loved the dogged contest.

“It was a slog out there,” White told Casey Media. “That’s the way we want to play our footy – we knew what they were going to bring.

“It was about going head-to-head in the contest and luckily enough we scored a few more goals and managed to get over the line, it was great.”

It didn’t all go to plan for the Demons. White admitted Carlton had some “really high-quality midfielders” that made it hard for Casey to pull away from a fellow VFL finals contender.

The Casey skipper said his side was unhappy with the way it went forward with the ball and its method at certain stages of the match. Yet being able to execute a few extra times than the Blues meant the Demons got over the line, much to White’s delight.

When the game was on the line in the second half, White was at the centre of the action. The Casey skipper played a stellar game in the midfield for his milestone match, amassing 30 disposals, including 22 kicks and eight handballs. With six clearances and eight tackles to go with it, White was one of his side’s best players in the tight win.

“Playing in the midfield, you’re out on your legs by the end of it,” White said. “We had ‘Moose’ (teammate Jimmy Munro) go down and we were also short a rotation.

“I was exhausted, but once the ball comes near you, you forget and you’re in and after it, so it’s good fun despite being bloody tiring.”

Although it wasn’t the ideal day on field, White cherished the special moment. After a superb career, starting with Melbourne’s AFL list and four games at the highest level before forging a wonderful record with Casey, White said he loved every part of his milestone match.

White said he loved being able to represent Casey over 100 games.

“It’s pretty special to me, mostly seeing a few of my good mates who have done it before,” White said. “I saw how much it meant to them and I remembered how much I enjoyed celebrating them.

“Jimmy (Munro) is one who has done it before me. I felt all the love this week and loved it, which I’m thankful for, but to get the win was even better.”

The Casey skipper proved to be popular, with plenty of family and friends filling the Casey rooms with special t-shirts printed to commemorate the milestone. White said it was “a lot of carry on from their perspective”, but he loved being able to see his loved ones all congregate in the Casey function room and watch the match.

But White is now casting his eyes forward. His Demons are undefeated and on top of the ladder with 17 straight VFL wins. After being part of Casey’s heartbreaking VFL campaigns in both 2016 and 2018 that resulted in a losing Grand Final, the Casey skipper is intent on going one further and making Casey history in 2022.

For White, he is going to keep looking towards achieving the goal with his best mates.

“Everyone says you aren’t getting ahead of yourselves but we’re obviously in a good place at the moment,” White said. “We’re just trying to put our best foot forward and take what comes every week, as the team can change by four or five players each week.

“We’re under no illusions that there’s no easy games. We’ll take it week by week and head up to Brisbane in really good form. We’ll prepare for them and then go at it next Saturday.”

The Demons will take on Brisbane in what will be a 1v2 clash up in Queensland on Saturday afternoon.