Aboriginal forwards Neville Jetta and Austin Wonaeamirri starred for Melbourne in the AFL club’s intra-club match at Casey Fields on Saturday. 27192 Picture: Stewart ChambersBy Marc McGowan
CASEY Fields could be the secret to a much-improved AFL season for Melbourne.
The Demons played their intra-club match in front of around 2000 fans at the Cranbourne East venue on Saturday morning.
Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said his players showed progression from last year and directly attributed the improvement to the Casey Fields facilities.
“We’ve been able to get a really good program as far as having access to a ground,” he said.
“Two people out there said to me, ‘it must be great that you’ve got goal posts’.
“It may sound mundane, but we’ve had them since 13 October and we’ve had a great surface to train on since then.”
The Demons have a much smaller injury list compared to this time last year.
Only Russell Robertson (Achilles), Paul Wheatley (calf), Mark Jamar (foot) and Addam Maric (hip) sat out the contest, while Aaron Davey was rested.
Melbourne’s top two selections – Jack Watts and Sam Blease – in the 2008 AFL National Draft also missed due to a lack of training as they tackle their final VCE year.
Oft-injured defender Jared Rivers injured an ankle in the first quarter of Saturday’s match and did not return.
Bailey said the injury was not serious and expected him to be back on the track soon.
Ruckman Jake Spencer, defender James Frawley and Aboriginal forwards Austin Wonaeamirri and Neville Jetta all impressed.
Players signed autographs and mixed with the crowd for about half an hour after the completion of the game.
Bailey said it was all part of embracing the Casey community.
“I thought the crowd was terrific,” he said.
“A lot of people locally have come down and watched us train – over the school holidays it was brilliant.
“The more we connect with the local community and the more we get involved, the more likely they’ll come and support us.”
Bailey also praised the performances of the 13 Casey Scorpions that filled in for the intra-club clash and said it boded well for the AFL-VFL alignment.
“(Scorpions coach) Peter German has a challenging year ahead of him,” he said.
“He has a very good football brain and is very determined and will do a great job for us.
“The thing I liked about the Casey guys was that they really had a crack – we had a strong alignment with Sandringham and we have an even stronger one with Casey.”
