SUMMARY 

CASEY fell to its third loss of the early season at the hands of Footscray on Sunday at Casey Fields.

A stellar second quarter saw the Demons power back into the contest. But a fade out in the second half has seen the Bulldogs overrun our boys.

Corey Wagner and Oskar Baker were the standouts in an otherwise tough day for the boys.

THE NUMBERS

DISPOSALS: Wagner 25, Munro, Sparrow, Weideman 21, Baker, Di Pasquale 20

GOALS: Weidemen, Baker 2, White, Chandler, Munro, Quigley

Corey Wagner showcasing sublime skill

After returning to the Casey side, Wagner has instantly provided class to the Demons midfield. The savvy ball magnet racked up 25 touches on the weekend and recorded five tackles in a solid outing.

In his two games back with Casey, Wagner has averaged 22 disposals a contest, and if he continues this style of play, he will thrust his name forward back into the selection mix.

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Third quarters continue to be an area of concern

For the third time this season, we failed to kick a goal in the third quarter, while our opponent piled on the pain at the other end.

In the case of the Bulldogs, the visitors were able to kick four unanswered goals which broke open the match and left the Demons a task too great to peg back.

James Munro the milestone man

The game on the weekend signaled the 100th for beloved club stalwart Jimmy Munro.

Celebrated internally as the ‘heart and soul’ of the side, Munro gave his usual relentless effort all-day, racking up 21 disposals, and even kicking a goal to celebrate the incredible achievement.

Here’s to another 100 games.

Lack of height becoming an issue

With Declan Keilty given his deserving AFL debut, Oscar McDonald selected back in the AFL side, and Tim Smith out with back soreness, one observation of the weekend was the apparent lack of size in the Casey backlines.

Harry Petty and Jack Hutchins battled all game long, but going up against big forwards like Tom Boyd and Josh Schache saw many of the contested marking packs go in favour of the visitors.


Escaped with a clean bill of health

Casey came through the match unscathed from injury, Mitch Lewis copped an errant shoulder to the eye socket which bruised immediately in the second quarter, and Jaxon Briggs tweaked an ankle in the third quarter but both played out the end of the match without much discomfort.

 

A word from the coach

“Another tough game against a good opponent, I felt the Bulldogs maximised getting out of the blocks and kicking the first four goals in the first 10 minutes,” Jade Rawlings told Melbourne Media.

“Our boys were able to fight back and get in front, but just before halftime a costly goal.

“In the second half they were a bit stronger around the ball, a bit cleaner, used the ball better… We were just a bit too far off the mark.”

 

Looking forward

The season doesn’t get any easier for a Casey side desperate to string together a consistent four-quarter effort, as the team heads to Windy Hill to face the undefeated Essendon squad at 2pm on Saturday.

These sides last met in the second preliminary final of the 2018 season, with Casey emerging victorious by eight points. Let’s hope we can get the same result this round.

This weekend also sees the first round of our Casey Demons VFLW season, with the VFLW game starting at 11:30am as a curtain-raiser for the VFL game.