By Marcus Uhe
A 101-point belting of North Melbourne at Casey Fields saw the Casey Demons made a mockery of the first ever VFL wildcard week.
Led by Brodie Grundy and James Jordon, the home side was never challenged in the rout, pulling away late in the first quarter and not looking back to finish 20.14 134 to 5.3 33 victors and lock in a finals place in the process.
The Kangaroos appeared up for the fight in the early stages of the contest with the two sides trading goals in the opening 12 minutes of play.
A pair of set shot goals within two minutes to Tom McDonald late in the quarter separated the two sides, the early stages of a six goal run that established a 39-point midway through the second quarter.
Andy Moniz-Wakefield wowed with his ability to dodge tackles in traffic, kicking two in the second term to ignite his side.
Kangaroo Jack Ellwood stopped the run with a major of his own, capitalising on a bizarre dropped mark from Josh Schache before the Demons kicked the next six, holding the visitors scoreless in the process.
The 40-point lead at half time grew to 67, Moniz-Wakefield adding goals three and four in the third term as the gap between the two sides became clearer and clearer, frenetic tackling pressure in the forward half leading to a number of scoring opportunities.
Six goals to the visitor’s one in the final term saw the lead creep over the 100-point barrier thanks to some creative work at ground level from Grundy in the dying stages.
The more senior and experienced Demons easily won the inside 50 count 57-28 and clearances 44-27 thanks to a blistering performance from their midfield.
Jordon finished with 36 disposals, seven tackles, seven clearances and two goals while Grundy kept the statisticians busy with 35 touches, 21 hit outs, 11 clearances and three goals.
Moniz-Wakefield (four goals and 14 disposals) and McDonald (five goals) did the bulk of Melbourne’s scoring, Moniz-Wakefield making an excellent case to replace Jake Melksham in Melbourne’s senior side the following weekend as a like-for-like selection.
The finals begin next week for Casey when the Demons face Footscray at Box Hill City Oval on Saturday 2 September at 12pm.
Casey won the only meeting between the two sides back in round one, by 37 points at Casey Fields.
