Aiden Lindsay in his first senior match for the season wraps up Troy Selwood in a strong tackle. 85604 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
WHERE the aberration lay in Casey’s 14-point loss to the Geelong Cats is a good question.
Did they act normally in a barnstorming second quarter, kicking eight goals to one and opening up a 20-point margin at half-time, or were they truer to their actual potential when they let Geelong walk past them in the second half, kicking nine goals to four?
There-in lays the Jekyll-Hyde dilemma at Casey – at their peak the Scorpions look unstoppable. Jack Fitzpatrick was getting the ball lace-out from the midfield brigade, led ably by Tom Couch in his usual manner and the returning Danny Nicholls.
But at their worst, the Scorpions were feeble, second to the ball and unable to impact the match.
Problems were further compounded as Leigh Williams went down in the third quarter with an ankle injury, leaving coach Brett Lovett with one less hard-marking forward option, that had worked hard all game.
The Cats ran away with the points after Casey ran out of last quarter puff – David Collins and Fitzpatrick added two consolation goals, but Casey’s defence couldn’t keep Shane Kersten (five goals), Jackson Hollmer (three) and steeplechase convert Mark Blicavs (three) quiet in the front end.
Liam Jurrah proved a footnote in the contest, kicking a goal but rarely getting near the ball. Jack Viney showed enough in his Casey return and to the relief of all fans present, didn’t chart the same course as last time he faced Geelong when he left the Cattery with a broken jaw.
“I thought we started poorly and thought our backs really let them (Geelong) get away with a couple of soft goals early on,” Lovett said. “When we’re four goals down at quarter time, it’s certainly not the way we want to play.”
“We’ve been disappointing with our starts – think the last five-six weeks we haven’t been able to get ourselves up and going early and it puts us on the back-foot.”
Lovett believed Casey’s control of the stoppages in the second term proved the difference between their best and worst.
“In the second quarter there was a bit of a breeze going that way, probably one or two goals, but I just thought we dominated the stoppages and momentum was heading our way,” Lovett said.
“We forced the ball forward and kicked the ball a bit more in that quarter and were able to play one of our best quarters, but after that our backs weren’t able to win enough one-on-ones and we were beaten down too often.
“They got a few easy goals out the back and in the end, 16 goals defensively are too many and we don’t want sides kicking that many on us.”
Lovett highlighted the efforts of Fitzpatrick snagging five goals, Couch for his tenacity at the coalface and young trio Jordan Gysberts, Jai Sheahan and Aiden Lindsay, who earned his first senior guernsey of the year.
Casey slip from first on the VFL ladder, but is only separated by percentage from Port Melbourne and Geelong.
This week’s challenge for Casey is Collingwood at Victoria Park, with a good chance the recently suspended Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan will make an appearance in the VFL colours.
Casey Scorpions
2.2 10.6 11.8 14.11(95)
Geelong Cats
6.2 7.4 11.9 16.13(109)
Casey Scorpions goals: J. Fitzpatrick 5, J. Gysberts 2, J. Viney, L. Jurrah, D. Collins, L. Williams, M. Gent, D. Nicholls, L. Cook. Best: J. Fitzpatrick, T. Couch, J. Gysberts, J. Sheahan, D. Collins, A. Lindsay.
Geelong Cats goals: S. Kersten 5, J. Hollmer 3, M. Blicavs 3, S. Byrnes 2, T. Maas, M. Brown, D. Gleeson. Best: S. Kersten, J. Stringer, T. Gillies, G. Horlin-Smith, M. Brown, S. Byrnes.
