By Hayley Wildes
After a stirring win over Essendon last week, the Casey Demons fell back to earth on Saturday after a disappointing second half against Port Melbourne at Casey Fields.
Despite allowing the Boroughs to score the first two goals of the game, the Demons responded with the final four goals of the first term as big man Braydon Preuss booted two goals and started to assert himself on the contest. Meanwhile, Port Melbourne squandered opportunities in front of goal.
After Mykelti Lefau goaled just before the quarter time siren, he kicked truly minutes into the second term to give Casey a 14-point lead. Port Melbourne kicked two on the trot, reducing the margin to just one-point at the 18-minute mark and the rest of the quarter was a tight battle.
At the main break, Casey held a one-point lead, 7.1 (43) to 6.6 (42).
Jimmy Munro (15 disposals), along with Corey Maynard and Corey Wagner (13 disposals each) did a mountain of work in the first half.
Whilst the first half was a tough contest between two teams who weren’t taking a backwards step, the third quarter was one-way traffic.
Port Melbourne wanted it more and after finding their range in front of goal, piled on five goals to one in a dominant quarter of football.
Unfortunately, when Casey did possess momentum at stages throughout the third quarter, they failed to make the most of their chances with five behinds.
With a quarter to play, the Boroughs held an 18-point lead, 11.6 (72) to 8.6 (54). Whilst not out of the game heading into the final term, Casey’s chances were quickly put to bed when Port Melbourne slammed on three goals in three-and-a-half minutes from the six-minute mark of the quarter.
Suddenly trailing by 36 points, the Boroughs onslaught continued as they booted two more goals to lead by a game-high 50 points. A late goal to Toby Bedford brought the margin back under 50 points and eventually, Port Melbourne won by 43 points, 16.8 (104) to 9.7 (61).
In another disappointing second half fade-out by the Demons, the Boroughs scored 11 of the final 13 goals of the game.
Despite the loss, the work of Jimmy Munro was simply extraordinary. The man in the engine room led the way with 29 disposals and an unheard of 18 tackles in a brutal display from the work horse.
Corey Wagner – who caught the red-eye back from Perth on Friday night after being an emergency for Melbourne against West Coast – also delivered an inspirational effort with 23 disposals and 9 tackles.
In exciting signs for Melbourne fans, star backman Jake Lever made a successful return from an ACL injury sustained last season. He played limited minutes, collecting 7 disposals and taking 2 marks.
Casey slips to 2-4 on the season and sits 10th on the ladder. Round 8 sees the Demons face the Seagulls in Williamstown on Sunday afternoon.
