By JARROD POTTER
VFL ROUND 5 PREVIEW
TOP line talent will, hopefully, return for Casey Scorpions this weekend to strengthen the already-burgeoning lines against Port Melbourne.
Justin Plapp confirmed AFL-experienced duo Jack Hutchins (hamstring) and Shannon Byrnes (foot) are well in the running for senior selection this weekend when the fifth placed Scorpions clash with the Borough.
“Hutchins had a hamstring and probably could’ve played if it was a final, but we expect him to nearly be around the mark this week,” Plapp said.
“Byrnes is an important player and got a bit of a lingering foot type injury – nearly ready to play again this weekend.
“Two top line VFL players come back and the older, mature bodies, we’ll certainly need them against Port Melbourne.”
Plapp has been impressed with his side’s rapid rise back up the VFL ladder after bottoming out dramatically in 2014 – taking only five wins to finish second last only ahead of the now-defunct Bendigo Gold.
He puts it down to expanding the list’s depth and getting VFL-ready bodies throughout the list.
“Probably a little bit of hard work – identified that we wanted to add more depth to our club and make our development team a stronger identity in the club as well,” Plapp said.
“Going out and getting a little bit more mature players who we could see playing VFL senior footy definitely added to our club.
“We’ve beaten good teams – we just need to get those kids, who are on the fringe of VFL footy, going and get that extra improvement out of them.
“More getting our hands dirty and trying to find players who can play at VFL level and we think we’ve got a good group at the moment.”
Hoping to bounce back after a lacklustre outing against Sandringham, Plapp said the challenge will be to string together four quarters and make sure the mistakes against the Zebras – only putting in a solid hour of footy – aren’t repeated.
“We can use the Port Melbourne game as a benchmark,” Plapp said.
“It’s no doubt it will be a strong challenge for us – after the weekend I was thoroughly disappointed with the way we went about our footy.
“Little bit with the wind against us – couldn’t put enough scoreboard pressure on in that first quarter – where we kicked behinds.
“From the rest of the game we were battling to stay in it.
“Didn’t start well and you can’t play 60 minutes of football and expect to win.”
Casey faces Port Melbourne away on Saturday from 2pm.
