Young gun Jesse Hogan kicked six goals in the Casey Scorpions Round 12 win against the Northern Blues in the VFL on Saturday, a game that was set up to be finals like intensity with the Blues sitting seventh and Casey third.
Casey got a quick jump on the Blues by kicking the first three goals of the game, with Hogan kicking the first two.
Casey never really looked in doubt, but the blues fought back all day and managed to hold the lead for five minutes of the game.
With a handy 16-point lead at three-quarter time, Casey was able to hang on in the fourth by kicking seven of the last ten goals and ended up running over the Blues by 28 points (Casey 13.14 – 92 def Northern 9.10 – 64).
This win puts Casey into first position on the ladder while the Blues drop to eighth.
It was again the young Jesse Hogan who was the star of the day, he worked hard by amassing 10 marks, 21 disposals and 6 goals (30 for the season) which helped play a massive part ensuring Casey held the lead and most importantly helped with securing the win.
It was a day for the big men with Hogan kicking goals and clunking marks up one end and Cam Pederson spoiling and tackling down the other.
Pederson had eight marks, four tackles and a really strong defensive effort with 11 spoils.
With a large number of intercept marks and spoils from Pederson it gave Casey’s backline players like Josh Tynan first use of the footy.
Tynan played one of his best games for the season racking up 25 disposals and working hard defensively (three tackles) and running with the ball when going into attack.
Despite the lack of experienced ruckmen with the absence of Max Gawn, Luke Hill filled the role and was ok for only his second senior game of the year.
The Blues were able to win the majority of the ruck contests (64–26) with a solid performance from Blues ruckman Nick Meese securing a whopping 45 of the 64 hitouts as the rest was shared between Carlton-listed players Robbie Warnock and Sam Rowe.
Despite the one sided ruck contests the ball was won evenly between the two sides. James Magner had and influential 27 disposals accompanied by five tackles and five inside 50s.
Magner was backed up by fellow Melbourne listed midfielder Tom Couch who had also had a respectable 27 disposals.
He was second to Magner in hardball gets but was still able to get the ball and feed it to the outside runners.
For the blues it was Nick Graham and Andrew Carrazzo (first game back from injury) that lead the disposal count from the midfield.
Blues youngster Nick Graham had 27 disposals and amassed eight clearances assisted by Carrazzo who had 22 disposals, five inside 50s and five tackles from 70 percent of game time.
Nick Duigan had a good game off the Blues’ backline having 19 disposals, four tackles, four spoils and also assisting in a few of the Blues goals.
Melbourne listed youngster Dom Barry played one of his better games for the season, he is proving his hard work by having consistent and repeat efforts on the field.
He has shown continual improvement in past two games with his composure by gathering 13 disposals and also showing his defensive pressure by having three tackles.
Troy Davis and James Strauss also played a major role in Casey securing the win with both of them playing their best games for the season.
Davis played as a key forward after previous games playing down the opposite end.
Although his kicking was a little off he had three shots at goal ending up in 1.2 and he continued to show the ability to play a key role in the Scorpions forward line.
He managed to have 17 disposals and take 7 marks. Strauss played the majority of the game on the wing, this allowed him to use his speed to provide run and carry into the forward line and from defence, he had 24 disposals.
Rory Taggert lead the way for the Scorpions in defensive pressure by racking up seven tackles, while Luke Tapscott was second best to Hogan in terms of goals by kicking two and having 19 disposals.
Not so good performances were had by Melbourne listed players Neville Jetta and Tom Gillies.
Jetta only managed ten disposals and Gillies disposal count was ok as he had 14 disposals, but lacked in defence having zero tackles.
Rohan Bail got injured early and did not partake any further in the game after that.
Carlton had a few listed players playing including Tom Bell. Bell was able to gather 23 disposals from the midfield and put them to good use.
The young Blues midfield was able to show Carlton supporters that there is class and skill coming through the VFL, this epitomised by the games of Bell, Jeremy Laidler, Graham and Dylan Buckley.
Laidler had a good game as he amassed 17 disposals and kicked a goal, this performance was matched by youngster Buckley who had 16 disposals and was also able to kick a goal.
The Blues backline was able to provide a lot of run and carry mostly through Andrew McInnes and Aaron Joseph.
While both didn’t have a huge game disposal wise McInnes was able to provide five rebound 50’s and 4 tackles while Joseph knocked up five tackles and 14 disposals.
The Scorpions’ development squad also had a win beating Northern Blues 3.7 – 25 to 7.10 52. No AFL listed players played in either side.
Results from around the VFL
Collingwood 11.9 – 75 def Port Melbourne 8.16 – 64
North Ballarat 17.12 – 114 def Sandringham Zebras 15.10 – 100
Werribee Tigers 16.13 – 109 def Essendon 11.14 – 80
Frankston Dolphins 14.22 – 106 def Bendigo 9.12 – 66
Williamstown 16.15 – 111 def Box Hill Hawks 13.8 – 86
Geelong 16.19 – 115 def Coburg Tigers 14.11 – 95
VFL Ladder after Round 12
1. Casey Scorpions
2. Geelong Cats
3. Williamstown
4. Box Hill Hawks
5. Collingwood
6. Port Melbourne
7. Werribee Tigers
8. Northern Blues
9. North Ballarat
10. Frankston
11. Sandringham
12. Essendon
13. Coburg Tigers
14. Bendigo
Round 13
Round 13 in the VFL is a split round, with ten teams playing this weekend and four teams playing the next.
Werribee Tigers will be hosting Casey next week on Sunday 14th of July. The game will be at 2.00pm at Avalon Airport Oval.
Casey currently sits first on the ladder while Werribee are sitting just inside top eight at seventh and are three wins behind the Scorpions.
If Cam Pederson stays in the side it will see him clash against old team mates while it will be the same story for ex-Melbourne listed player Jordan Gysberts.
It will be the first time the two teams have matched up against each other this season and it should make for a good game.
My prediction is that Casey will win by 25 Points (my prediction last week of Casey winning by 28 points was spot on!).
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