By Marcus Uhe
Casey Demons are back on the VFL winner’s list this week after prevailing in a shootout at Casey Fields over a plucky North Melbourne.
With five players kicking multiple goals, the Demons kicked nine goals in each half and no less than four in a quarter in the 15-point win, 18.9 117 to 16.6 102.
The tone of the afternoon was set in the opening minutes of the contest when Mitch White immediately answered North’s opening goal from the centre clearance.
Opposed to Kangaroos star Ben Cunnington, the 2022 premiership captain tracked the ball out of the middle of the ground into the forward 50, wobbling a kick home on his left leg.
Neither side managed to kick more than two goals consecutively in the opening term, one in which the Demons finished with a narrow advantage.
But after quarter time, the Demons’ AFL listed stars begun to exert their influence.
Ben Brown, Matthew Jefferson and Josh Smith were focal points ahead of the football, with Smith and Jefferson each hitting the scoreboard and providing ample crumbing opportunities for the ground-level players in Jake Melksham and Oliver Sestan.
When Josh Schache kicked the first of the second half, it capped a run of four consecutive goals for the reigning premiers, and a half-hour period of dominance where they were afforded eight consecutive scoring shots.
Brown’s first goal of the contest midway through the third pushed the margin to a game-high 35 points, and the next seven of the contest were rotated between the two sides as the margin hung around the five goal mark.
The broadcast-side forward pocket was proving a hot-spot for goalkicking with both Melksham and Taj Woewodin bending the ball back expertly through the big sticks early in the final term from a similar location.
Casey were outscored six goals to four in the final period of the contest but it was to no avail, as the Kangaroos were coming from too far back.
The experienced outfit played at a slower tempo than their opponents, taking the heat out of the contest with 50 more marks to slow the game down in a kick-mark style of game.
Where the Demons finished with 41 more kicks, they accrued a 36 handball deficit.
Halfbacks Daniel Turner and Adam Tomlinson took 13 and 10 marks each, closely followed by Blake Howes on nine of his own.
23 disposals and two goals from Bailey Laurie filled the stat-sheet, while Melksham, Schache and Smith finished three goals each.
Football romantics would have delighted in seeing the name Cooper Harvey kicking five goals for North Melbourne, as the son of games record holder, Brent, pushes his name forward for selection at AFL level.
The Demons will cross the city next week to battle Werribee on Saturday afternoon at Avalon Airport Oval.
