CASEY Scorpions’ coach Peter German says the farcical situation his players found themselves in for Saturday’s VFL final was not ‘fair’.
Officials from the Scorpions’ AFL affiliate Melbourne made only three players – Shane Valenti, Michael Newton and Trent Zomer – available for the elimination final clash with Collingwood.
Thirteen Demons players were eligible for the contest that saw the Magpies thrash Casey by 115 points.
The Casey-Melbourne alliance is in its first year after St Kilda ended its eight-year partnership with the Scorpions in 2008. German was disappointed with the Demons’ treatment of his club. “We need to have a look at the way the alignment is run and the protocols of it all when it comes to a situation like finals,” he said. “If they do qualify, do they play? Is it really fair on this playing group to make the finals and all of a sudden not have your best players available? I don’t think it’s fair for the players who were put in that situation today.”
Melbourne football manager Craig Notman did not return calls about his club’s decision.
The issue first arose when rookie-listed big man Zomer and midfielder Simon Buckley were the Demons’ only representatives in the round 17 game against North Ballarat last month.
The Scorpions entered that match in fourth place, but lost three of their last four games to tumble to sixth at the end of the home-and-away season.
German confirmed that Melbourne officials were keen for their players to begin their end-of-season break now ahead of an early pre-season start on 12 October. The former North Melbourne centreman has approached VFL officials about bringing the season forward two weeks to avoid a similar situation occurring in future years.
“If it goes back two weeks, it might not help a Collingwood who may go through to the finals and at least for one week there’s no game,” he said. “But that’s a small price to pay. They can still train and can still do whatever rather than going right through and putting sides like us at a disadvantage.”
German said the one positive was that young Casey players like Tim Smith, James Blaser, Nick Scanlon, Wade Lees and Michael Stockdale were given greater responsibility.
– Marc McGowan
