By JARROD POTTER
VICTORIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 13
ANOTHER VFL matchday… and another fadeout from Casey.
Going goal-for-goal early in the first term, Casey from there was smashed in the trenches as Richmond slammed on 10 of the next 12 goals.
Coach Rohan Welsh implored his side at quarter-time to keep fighting but to use the switch to empower their runners.
“We’ve got to switch them and break them open and spread them and then we can use our runners,” Welsh said at quarter time.
“The way we can spread them is to switch it from side to side of the ground.
“As soon as we open them up, we’ve got to go with speed – we’re not going fast enough from half back and our wings.”
Casey wasn’t able to break the lines as Richmond started to take control in the rapidly deteriorating conditions at Punt Road. It was a day for the burly Tiger types who outmuscled the Scorpions at the stoppages and ran away with a 35-point win.
Competitive in spurts, Casey could not completely match pace with the Tigers or contain the Richmond forwards as the trio of Liam McBean (5 goals), Sam Lloyd (2) and Aaron Edwards took charge.
One on-field positive for Casey this year has been the emergence of former Gippsland Power/Garfield midfielder Eddie Morris, who impressed again with 28 possessions and 12 tackles.
Aidan Riley snagged himself 25 possessions to push for his fourth AFL match with the Demons and Mitch Clisby featured strongly with 22 of his own.
Berwick goal-sneak midfielder Nathan Page seized his chances to kick three goals.
With seven games remaining in the home and away season, Casey will realistically need to win all of them to assure any chance of bouncing from 13th into the top eight.
Casey heads off on Saturday to face the Bendigo Gold for the final time, as former Beaconsfield playing-coach Austinn Jones’ side has decided to withdraw from the VFL as of the end of this season.
VFL SCOREBOARD
RICHMOND TIGERS 4.6 9.9 12.13 15.16 (106)
CASEY SCORPIONS 2.3 4.5 4.10 10.11 (71)
RICHMOND
Goals: L. McBean 5, S. Lloyd 2, M. McDonough2, B. Darrou, A. Edwards, B. Griffiths, N. Gordon, O. Stephenson, B. Lennon. Best Players: N. Wynne, S. Lloyd, B. Darrou, M. McDonough, L. McBean, E. Barlow.
CASEY
Goals: N. Page 3, E. Morris, S. Blease, J. Best, M. Evans, D. Welsh, J. Kennedy-Harris, J. Strauss. Best Players: E. Morris, A. Riley, N. Page, A. Godfrey, D. Nicholson, T. Davis.
