We headed down to Casey Fields for our Easter Sunday clash to build on our solid performance against Williamstown last week. With the Channel 7 cameras in attendance and no other free-to-air football on TV on Sunday afternoon, it was an excellent chance for our players to gain exposure on the big stage against a quality opponent in last year’s reigning premiers.
The Dolphins were outstanding at the coalface early and were rewarded with a 12-point lead at quarter-time. Bailey Lambert kicked two opening quarter goals from almost identical positions on the ground for the Dolphins to hold a 12 point lead at quarter time. Our midfield was on top and every time Jackson Voss or Ryley Stoddart had the ball in their hands off half-back something positive was happening.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to cheer for the next two quarters as Casey used the breeze to perfection and started to get on top. A six goals to zero second quarter took the wind out of Frankston’s sails. However, Casey then kicked three goals against the wind in the 3rd quarter, and Frankston squandered opportunities.
Some hope was restored early in the last, with almost a mirror image of the Williamstown game where Frankston kicked three quick goals into the wind to have the Demons on the hop. However, from there it was again all Casey kicking the final six goals of the game to blow the margin out to 60 points. Probably not an accurate reflection of the effort put in by Frankston, however, missed opportunities forward of centre cost the side dearly.
There is a reason Casey are 3-0 to start the year and have won 24 of their last 25 games, including last year’s premiership. They are a class act and will again be hard to beat in 2023.
We had some significant contributors across the day and the stats show it could have been much closer than the final margin indicates.
Will Fordham (33 disposals, six marks, eight clearances, six inside-50s) was back to his best, Trent Mynott (29 disposals, nine clearances, six entries), Jackson Voss (30 disposals, eight marks), Ryley Stoddart (31 disposals, 10 marks) and Kai Owens (27 disposals, five tackles, nine clearances, six entries) worked themselves to a standstill for Frankston, while Connor Riley (26 disposals, seven marks) and Seb Quirk (22, seven tackles, one goal) weren’t far behind.
TEAM STATS
Disposals:
Casey Frankston
371 370
Inside 50s:
Casey Frankston
61 49
Hit-outs
Casey Frankston
40 47
Clearances
Casey Frankston
39 47
Marks
Casey Frankston
76 90
Tackles
Casey Frankston
77 61
Photos – Marcus Robertson
