Casey Scorpions key-position star James Wall took over the captaincy duties in Kyle Matthews’ absence against Sandringham on Sunday. Picture: Luke Plummer.By Marc McGowan
A SECOND-HALF fadeout saw the Casey Scorpions succumb by 37 points to Victorian Football League powerhouse Sandringham at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Sunday.
The Scorpions had grabbed a 20-point half-time buffer after holding the Zebras to a solitary point in the second term, but simply ran out of legs.
The resting of Saints stars Brendon Goddard and Clinton Jones after the main break accentuated the problem and fellow St Kilda player Matthew Ferguson was not sighted after being knocked out in the second quarter.
Goddard and Jones are both in contention to play for the Saints against the Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome on Friday night.
Casey entered the contest without new captain Kyle Matthews, who suffered a slight strain to the medial ligament in his right knee at training on Wednesday night.
Matthews is aiming to return for the club’s round-three encounter with Box Hill.
James Wall tossed the coin on the weekend, but the duties may be given to another of the Scorpions’ vice-captains on Saturday night.
Sandringham booted the game’s opening three goals – including two to Demons big man Ben Holland – with the aid of a strong breeze.
Finally rugged midfielder Shane Birss, following two misses by Charlie Gardiner, slotted Casey’s first almost 20 minutes into the fixture.
Despite champion Zebra full-forward Nick Sautner kicking his first late in the term, the Scorpions, behind the efforts of teenager David Armitage, were showing signs of life.
And so it proved, as Birss shut down 2007 Fothergill-Round Medallist Shane Valenti, rookie-listed St Kilda on-baller Andrew McQualter began to win plenty of the ball and Gardiner’s influence continued to grow.
Casey produced a six-goal-to-none second quarter to turn a 19-point deficit into a 20-point half-time advantage and appeared to be in complete charge.
But Sandringham’s class began to shine through as new captain Peter Summers, Valenti, Ezra Poyas and Adem Yze snatched back the ascendancy.
The Zebras wiped out the discrepancy within the first 10 minutes of the third term before establishing a commanding 28-point lead at three-quarter time.
With 19 of the match’s 21 goals being kicked to the end favouring the breeze, the Scorpions still held some hope, but their hopes were quickly dashed.
A free kick and subsequent 50-metre penalty to Sautner gifted him his fourth major, extending the margin to 34 points.
Casey only got as close as 27 points thereafter as Sandringham finished with a five-goal-to-three final quarter.
Wall and Alex Silvagni were the most prominent Scorpions-listed players, while debutant Andrew Campbell toiled manfully against Sautner.
But Casey coach Greg Hutchison admitted the clash was always going to be a difficult one.
“We were pretty competitive, at least in the first half and even until the 20-minute mark of the third quarter we were still pretty competitive,” he said.
“But the Sandringham players were obviously a bit better around the footy than us and that was to be expected with experienced players like Summers, Valenti and Poyas – they made a fair difference.”
Hutchison was pleased with his side’s performance and is looking forward to this weekend.
“We were three-and-a-half goals in front at half-time against a pretty good side, which is a really good sign for us,” he said.
“We have another challenge this week against Frankston, who had a good win, and we need to prepare really well to give ourselves the best possible chance to win.”
The Scorpions lock horns with Frankston at Casey Fields on Saturday night at 7pm.
