Melbourne-listed Casey Scorpion Michael Newton surveys his upfield options during his side’s four-point win on Saturday.By Marc McGowan
ALL Casey Scorpions coach Peter German could hope after Saturday’s heart-breaking four-point loss to Williamstown was that his players learned something.
But that would be of little solace for German after watching his side give up a 35-point three-quarter-time advantage to fall to its fifth defeat from 10 matches.
The Scorpions racked up 17 more inside 50s in a dominant opening three quarters and established their lead with a seven-goal-to-one third term.
Skipper Kyle Matthews watched on helplessly in the last quarter due to a leg injury as Williamstown capitalised on a suddenly tentative Casey line-up.
David Stretton started the rot with a running goal before two inexplicable Alex Silvagni kicking errors gifted majors to Matt Little and Guy O’Keefe.
It was clear the Scorpions were rattled and that wasn’t helped when Brennan Stack slashed the difference to nine points with plenty of time on the clock.
Michael Newton managed one at the other end, but the damage had been done and the Seagulls’ momentum could not be stopped.
They finally hit the front when Sam Reid kicked truly at the 29-minute mark to cap a stunning comeback from the hosts.
German admitted he held back the urge to blast his team afterwards.
“The over-riding thought at the end of the game is to get stuck into everyone, but that’s the easy way,” he said.
“If it was the last game for the year and it cost us a finals spot or something like that (then maybe a spray would have been appropriate).
“It’s a game where, if we’re smart, we can actually really use it to our advantage, but only time will tell whether it will make us smarter, wiser and maybe a bit hungrier.”
Casey looked as if it had wasted its early dominance when it booted seven behinds – and no goals – to trail by nine points in the first quarter.
This despite the Scorpions boasting eight of the first nine inside 50s of the game and amassing 10 more than Williamstown by the first break.
Melbourne forward Michael Newton was the chief culprit again with three behinds before he kicked his first major.
Goal-kicking has been a major issue for Casey all year and doesn’t appear to be a problem that’s going away anytime soon.
Shane Valenti and Addam Maric slotted the opening two goals of the second term to give the Scorpions a deserving one-point edge, but the Seagulls scrapped their way to a two-point half-time buffer.
Casey came out firing on resumption, with James Wall (24 disposals), Kyle Matthews, emerging defender Peter Faulks and Melbourne-listed Daniel Bell prominent.
The Scorpions ran all over Williamstown with quick, direct football and the Seagulls had no answer.
But German noticed some bad signs in the final five minutes of the quarter and pleaded with his players at the three-quarter-time huddle to return to the play that had served them so well.
Unfortunately there was little he could do once the last term began.
German was not surprised his side was able to more than match it with Williamstown, but found it difficult to draw any positives from the contest.
“My expectations on the playing group are that we can take it up to anyone,” he said.
“But it’s just hard to be able to give any real compliments when a game of footy is over four quarters.
“Whether that comes back to haunt us at the end of the year remains to be seen.”
Casey faces Bendigo at Casey Fields at 2pm on Sunday.
