David Biagi has endured a tough season after winning the Scorpions’ best and fairest last year, but helped spark his side in its 10-point victory over Port Melbourne on Saturday.By Marc McGowan
AFTER round eight of the Victorian Football League season, the Casey Scorpions boasted just a win and a draw from seven matches.
Fast forward to the end of the home-and-away rounds and the Scorpions sit in sixth place, with a home final to come, and victories in eight of their last 11 games.
Casey has shown it can win in a variety of circumstances, too. Saturday’s scrappy 10-point success over the Frankston Dolphins at Casey Fields was another example of that.
It came without on-field general and former Kangaroo Troy Makepeace, who missed for the second week running with a leg injury.
Kicking into a tricky wind favouring the South Gippsland Highway end, the Scorpions battled hard in the opening term.
They drilled the first major of the afternoon through Stefan Garrubba, who continued his strong goalkicking form after bagging four the weekend before.
The 21-year-old midfielder’s second of the day gave them the ascendancy again midway through the stanza, but the Dolphins made good use of the solid breeze to snatch a 10-point quarter-time lead.
However, with rookie-listed Saint Jarryn Geary (20 possessions) quelling the influence of star Frankston forward Justin Berry, Casey captain Nigel Carmody (30) in magnificent touch, and Clinton Jones (36) winning the ball at will, the Scorpions came storming back.
St Kilda big man Fergus Watts goaled from a free kick before snapping a successful off-balance shot to put Casey in front.
The Scorpions dominated out of the centre and capped off the period with six-pointers to Kyle Matthews and James Gwilt to create a 17-point buffer at half-time.
They looked set to go on with the job after the main break and twice restored their edge with goals to Adam Parker and Watts in the third term, but suddenly proceedings went awry.
The Dolphins began to assume control from the stoppages and took advantage of several Casey errors from defence to charge ahead with three straight majors.
Another two Frankston kicks produced maximum value and the visitors rollicked out to a 16-point edge at three-quarter-time behind the influence of inspirational final-gamer Daniel Clarke.
Scorpions coach Peter Banfield berated his players at the huddle and pleaded for them to find a spark.
Unfortunately, it was the impressive Byron Barry (20) who ran in and kicked the final stanza’s opening goal for the Dolphins to silence the crowd as they jumped out to a 22-point cushion.
It seemed to be the energiser Casey required. Barely 30 seconds later, Andrew McQualter strolled in and banged through a long-awaited major at the 13-minute mark.
Last year’s best and fairest winner David Biagi, making his return to the seniors after a stint in the reserves, then quickly snapped a goal from 20 metres and the Scorpions were away.
By the time Jones split the big sticks for his first, Casey had managed five in a row and had the contest well in hand.
Banfield rejoiced in the triumph, which confirmed the club’s first September appearance since 2003.
“I don’t know how we won. It was an ugly game – we were flat and tired,” he said.
“A lot of players I didn’t think played that well today, so to win was a super effort.”
The top-eight finish is the result of a complete rebuild by Banfield when he joined the Scorpions three seasons ago and Casey endured much pain during this time.
“I’m delighted with where we’ve come from three years ago. We’ve made some important steps and we’ve now got good young players at the club,” he said.
“To play finals football is fantastic. Now we want to go and win a final, and that’s really important.”
The Scorpions’ elimination final combatant is Port Melbourne. The Scorpions will enter the clash confident after defeating the Borough in both match-ups this year.
