By Peter Sweeney
MATTHEW Bate – whom a Melbourne team-mate believes would be a “struggling recording artist” if he didn’t play in the AFL – recently recorded his own album.
It was titled ‘Take The Bate’.
“If you haven’t heard of it, go down to your local music store and search the two-dollar bin,” Colin Garland wrote on the Demons website last week.
Whether the Frankston Dolphins had heard of ‘Take The Bate’ is debatable – but on Saturday they had no choice. They took the bait; and they had to take the Bate.
With six goals, 11 marks, 25 possessions and a best on ground performance, Matthew Bate probably kicked himself out of the Casey side to play the Northern Bullants next Sunday – and into the Melbourne team to meet the Adelaide Crows on the MCG the same afternoon.
Bate was close to a senior call-up pre last weekend. An insipid display, or rather non-display, by the Demons in Perth last Thursday night, and his prominence in a Casey dominance over the drowned Dolphins on Saturday, will surely see Bate promoted.
Thousands flocked to Casey Fields to see a Scorpion forward star.
But it was Brendan Fevola, aka Fev, whom the crowd were calling for.
Instead, it was Bate, who was later quick to verbally handpass praise on Fev, who they got.
“He gave a lot of confidence out there and played a real team game,” Bate said of Fevola, who ended with 1.4 from five shots.
He had eight disposals. Up until the last quarter, Fevola had only been heard, not seen.
Then he added four marks, as many tackles and a goal to his stats sheet – and it was still the name the kids wanted in their autograph books.
So much so that Fev, after spending time scribbling his name and posing for photos with people, just made it to the rooms to sing the Casey theme song.
“He took a lot of attention away from the other fellas on the forward line,” Bate said.
And it was a little like the mutual admiration society, when Fevola, who said it was “good to get out there and lose some fat” added, “I was pleased to encourage Matthew Bate, who played a top game”.
Indeed, the whole Casey crew did. They led by 19 points at the first break, 32 at the longest smoko and were eight goals in front turning for home.
At the end, the Frankston boys probably wished they had never left home, losing by 76 points.
Though they found gold in their most recent outing at Eureka Stadium, Ballarat, the Scorpions kicked seven straight points in the last quarter there. On Saturday, they kicked seven goals in the last term.
Except for a few “rough patches”, Casey coach Brad Gotch ticked the performance of his players.
“They (Frankston) tried to turn it into a scrap.
“They are very strong in the middle and tried to often bottle up the play by getting numbers at the ball,” Gotch said.
“We got our game going in the third (quarter) and started moving.”
And moving is something the Scorpions will have to do on Sunday, when they travel to Preston to play the Northern Bullants.
“Their ground at Cramer Street looks to be in good condition. I saw them (the Bullants) play Port Melbourne in a TV game a couple of weeks ago,” Gotch said.
“They were only beaten by three or four goals and played well.
“About 16 or 17 Carlton listed players were in their last game, while we have about the same number of Melbourne listed players.
“It will be interesting to see what happens at the (Melbourne) selection table. We will probably lose a couple and get a couple of others back. It’s all about taking your opportunity.”
The good news for Casey from last weekend didn’t only come from the league side. The reserves kicked 30 goals and won by 163 points – their second success of the season.