Right: Andrew McQualter sizes up his options as he prepares to handball.By Marc McGowan
ONE moment in the third quarter of Sunday’s match summed up the Casey Scorpions’ 118-point humiliation of the Northern Bullants at Casey Fields.
A long kick inside 50 metres cleared seven-goal hero Matthew Ferguson’s head, only for the former Gippsland Power star to chase it down, slip, then pick himself up off the deck and snap truly from 20 metres.
The play highlighted Ferguson’s supreme hold over the weekend contest and the Bullants’ complete failure to do anything about it.
The 188-centimetre Ferguson has had a couple of stints up forward in recent weeks, but this was his first full match there after earning his reputation as a rebounding defender.
He had 13 shots on goal, booting 7.5 and kicking one out-on-the-full, to clearly be the best man on the ground.
Ferguson’s marking was a strong feature of his performance, but he was equally as adept scrapping for possession at the fall of the ball.
At one stage the score was 80-3 before Carlton ruckman Shaun Hampson finally registered Northern’s first six-pointer almost 26 minutes into the second term.
Other than midfielder Adam Iacobucci, former Saint and Blue Matthew Lappin and the odd mark up forward from Jason Saddington, nothing went right for the Bullants in the first half.
There was no shortage of winners in the Scorpions’ camp, with Clinton Jones dashing forward relentlessly, Aaron Fiora’s class shining brightly and on-baller Andrew McQualter becoming more prominent as the game went on.
When the ball did go forward, Alex Silvagni and James Wall stood strong, while James Taylor was as rugged as ever.
A 76-point half-time lead quickly stretched to 92 before Northern – through Lappin, Paul Colbert and David Teague – finally offered some resistance in kicking the last three majors of the third quarter to outscore Casey for the term.
Two 50-metre penalties – the second bizarrely conceded after Lappin walked through the mark – handed Chris Dunne and the Scorpions the opening goal of the fourth quarter.
It was the first of nine Casey majors for the term, with the highlight being Jack Steven’s third goal, when he cut off a Bullant pass and strolled inside 50 metres before slotting the ball through the big sticks.
Scorpions coach Greg Hutchison said the lopsided result was a reward for his team’s professionalism.
“They’re a pretty responsible group, they prepare themselves really well, they’re well organised and their work at the stoppages and the inside ball early was terrific,” he said.
“Our ability to win the stoppages and get involved at the clearances was really good and a credit to them.”
Much of the talk after the match surrounded Ferguson’s dazzling performance.
“I’ve been trying to get him up there for a while and he did pretty well today – it was a good effort,” Hutchison said.
“It’s going to be difficult for him to play that key-forward role (at AFL level), but what he did was he presented, he led well, he marked well – he didn’t convert as well as he should have – but overall his effort and his tackling was fantastic.”
The win moved Casey into third place and it will look to cement its spot in the top four against Collingwood at Casey Fields on Saturday.
The fixture begins at 1.10pm and will be broadcast live on ABC television.
