Inaccurate Casey pays the price

By Marc McGowan
THE Casey Scorpions slumped to their third straight defeat with a heartbreaking 13-point loss to the Coburg Tigers at Coburg City Oval on Sunday.
It was the Scorpions’ final match until their ABC-televised contest against Werribee at Barter Card Oval on Saturday, 2 June at 1.10pm.
The Tigers provided a formidable match-up for Casey and entered the encounter on a three-game winning streak.
Kicking with the wind, the Scorpions made an encouraging start, but Coburg was just as impressive in opening up a four-point break at the first change.
It was important for Casey to begin well after the horror opening terms the club has endured this season.
The Scorpions have won the opening quarter just once this season, while facing deficits of 16, 42, 25 and 30 in rounds one, three, four and five respectively.
Both teams misfired in the second period, but the Tigers, boasting Richmond talls Jack Riewoldt (13 possessions, five goals and six marks inside 50) and Kent Kingsley up forward, managed to increase their lead to 14 points by half-time.
Alex Silvagni and Saint Max Hudghton minded the duo for the majority of the day, with the latter making a quality return from injury.
Casey came roaring back into the match courtesy of excellent displays in the midfield by captain Nigel Carmody (27 touches and six clearances), Steven Harrison (25) and Troy Makepeace (23).
However, the Scorpions’ work was undone by their set-shot kicking for goal, with Fergus Watts and fellow forward Justin Sweeney kicking three goals – but five behinds – between them for the game.
In all, Casey missed 10 set shots.
It still managed to slash the three-quarter-time margin to three points to set up an exciting final term.
Coburg had the better of the early going to open up a decent buffer, but the Scorpions, as has been customary this year, came roaring back to cut the difference to seven points late in the clash.
Enter Riewoldt, who banged through the second of his two last-quarter goals with only a few minutes to go to seal the result and consign Casey to 10th spot on the ladder.
Despite his team failing to record its second triumph for 2007, Scorpions’ coach Peter Banfield was pleased with its endeavour.
“I thought that our intent, pressure, tackling and work-rate were really good. The young blokes had a real crack at the game,” he said.
“We just missed too many crucial shots at goal. The context of the game was swinging (in the third quarter), but we just kept missing vital shots on goal.”
Banfield was encouraged by the performances of Carmody, Steven Harrison and youngster David Armitage (19).
“Our captain was fantastic. He played a sensational game and led from the front by winning a lot of quality football,” he said.
“Harrison had another solid game and Armitage’s work-rate and toughness were important factors.”
The three-week break between matches will give Casey the opportunity to rest its bodies and recover from injuries to key players, in particular gun recruit Troy Makepeace, who is suffering from a suspected groin problem.
“There will definitely be some guys who I’ll send away from the club for a week or so,” Banfield said.
“They’ll go through a conditioning phase again and we’ll get them cherry ripe.”
Makepeace’s absence from the VFL squad was listed as being due to a leg injury, but the coach revealed that this was not the complete truth.
“The injury has troubled him for the last three or four weeks. It’s not his leg – it’s a bit higher than that,” Banfield said.