THE surface saga continues at Casey Fields, with the Melbourne and Casey Scorpions football clubs being booted off the main oval for a month.
City of Casey and AFL officials last week agreed to move all pre-season training off the VFL Oval for four weeks in a bid to expedite the progress of re-laid turf at the ground.
Casey councillor Geoff Ablett confirmed that club and council representatives were briefed on the decision last Thursday night, hearing that the ground had responded slowly to resurfacing and irrigation works conducted last September and October.
“(The surface) is progressing well, but it’s still shifting a little bit, so the council and also the AFL believe it needs that four weeks to knit properly,” Cr Ablett said.
The council is hoping to host a NAB Challenge AFL fixture in March and is keen to have the surface up to standard by then.
In the meantime, the Demons will train at Gosch’s Paddock – next to its AAMI Park base – and the Scorpions have moved to Oval 2 at Casey Fields. Fellow co-tenant, Cranbourne Football Club, has used Oval 3 for its pre-season sessions.
Scorpions general manager Brian Woodman said the club agreed that the main ground would benefit from a break ahead of a busy autumn.
“We’ve still got an oval to train on which is 100m from our changerooms, so it’s no huge inconvenience,” Woodman said.
“We’ve got practice matches in March and it should be right for those.”
Demons officials were unavailable for comment.
– Paul Pickering
