By Hayley Wildes
The Casey Demons fell to 1-3 on the season after they were unable to put four quarters of football together against the Footscray Bulldogs on Saturday at Casey Fields.
In typical blustery conditions, the Bulldogs kicked with the wind in the opening term and took full advantage, slamming on the first four goals of the game within 12 minutes.
It was a dominant stretch that had the Demons on the back foot, but to the side’s credit, Casey hung tough for the remainder of the term and kicked two goals of their own – courtesy of skipper Mitch White and Kade Chandler – to trail by just two goals at the first break.
The second quarter saw the Demons play the type of tough and defensive-minded football that fans have become accustomed to in the last few seasons, and it paid dividends.
Oskar Baker slotted a pair of goals, while Sam Weideman launched a long bomb from beyond the 50-metre arc to see Casey take the lead. While dominating play, the Demons missed some opportunities with wayward kicking in front of goal.
This was compounded when Footscray’s Lukas Webb kicked a late goal to bring the Bulldogs back within a kick. At the main break, Casey held a three-point lead, 5.7 (37) to 5.4 (34).
The play of Corey Wagner was a first half highlight as the tough midfielder collected 16 disposals, while Weideman was doing a bit of everything with 13 disposals and a goal.
With the game in the balance, Casey was completely out-hunted and out-played in the third term. Much like in the first quarter, the Bulldogs put on three goals in the opening 10 minutes to hold a 16-point lead.
The Demons did well to battle out the rest of the quarter, but were unable to make any inroads up forward and went into the final break trailing by 22 points.
Desperately needing the first goal of the quarter to give themselves a chance, Casey failed to deliver and it was Footscray’s Pat Lipinski who scored the all-important first major after five minutes of play.
In his 100th VFL game for Casey, James Munro kicked a goal after 11 minutes of play, much to the delight of the Casey faithful. But it was too little too late as the Bulldogs eventually ran out 17-point winners, 11.10 (76) to 8.11 (59).
Lapses of concentration and their inability to halt momentum shifts quickly enough ultimately cost the Demons.
Corey Wagner (25 disposals), Tom Sparrow (21 disposals), Harrison Petty and Tom Freeman were best for the Demons, while in his 100th game, James Munro (21 disposals) was at his hard-nosed best at every contest.
The Demons have no time to dwell on their 1-3 start to the season, with a clash against the undefeated ladder-leaders, Essendon at Windy Hill on Saturday.
