By Tyler Lewis
For Casey, it is now out of its control.
The Demons’ season was on the canvas on several occasions in the last month of football, but after a strong finish to the season, winning three of their last four – Casey now wait for the result of Box Hill and Collingwood in the final round to secure a spot in the finals.
In their final home and away match of the year, Casey met the developing Frankston side in treacherous conditions.
The Demons started the match like a side that were desperate to play finals, Toby Bedford’s run down tackle and skipper Mitch White’s goal in the opening minutes set the scene of what loomed to be a hungry Casey outfit.
The rain came at the start of the second term as did the Dolphins, with Corey Rich slamming one home from beyond the arc and Jimmy Miller pegging back the lead to within a straight kick.
But makeshift forward Jack Hutchins steadied the ship with his second immediately. A late second major to Corey Rich had the Demons margin trimmed to five points at the main break.
The conditions worsened over the interval and goals were to be cherished in the second half.
Liam Wale-Buxton snagged his first in the opening minutes of the third term, but as the conditions caused the match to be a contested slog – it was the only major for 50 minutes of play.
With nothing to lose, Frankston surged late in the match to send a scare to the Casey camp – Miller kicked his second for the Dolphins before the Demons held on to record another thrilling win.
Casey will have an interesting week on the track with their destiny now out of its hands, but coach Sam Radford says it will be a normal week as usual for his boys.
“We will just have to see how it goes,” he said.
“We will prepare, we have the bye so we have to prepare for a normal build up.
“We will just keep training, and what happens, happens.”
The wet conditions at Frankston Park suited the tackling juggernaut that is Casey; Radford said he doesn’t enjoy the wet weather footy even though it sometimes plays into their hands.
“I don’t get excited (when it rains), I want to see them play good attacking footy,” he said.
“But I know we can play in any conditions, so it certainly doesn’t worry us when it does rain.
“We know it will then be a contested game and we are pretty used to that, we are pretty comfortable with it.”
Radford aims to develop his Casey listed players throughout the year as well as aid the Melbourne-listed players into developing into true senior footballers, a tactic he believes has worked on a lot of his players.
“We have had a lot (of improvement),” he said.
“Jack Hutchins has been a key defender then gone as a forward and been outstanding, a lot of our young guys – Tom Freeman keeps improving.
“Even some of the older guys, Luke Tynan was probably struggling at the start of the year, and he has had a fantastic finish.
“I am just really happy with the depth our list and how hard every one is working.”
Casey currently sit inside the top eight, but with a bye will wait for the result of Box Hill and Collingwood to decide whether the Demons feature in September.
CASEY 2.6 3.8 4.13 4.14 (38)
FRANKSTON 0.2 3.3 3.4 4.8 (32)
CASEY
GOALS: J. Hutchins 2, M. White, L. Wale-Buxton
BEST: B. Preuss, J. Munro, J. Hutchins, L. Tynan, J. Lockhart, M. White
FRANKSTON
GOALS: C. Rich 2, J. Miller 2
BEST: N. Freeman, J. Newman, W. Fordham, L. Hiscock, S. Masterson, W. Arthurson
