The Bendigo Bombers’ tale of woe continued as it fell 111 points short of the Casey Scorpions at Casey Fields on Sunday.

 

The Bombers could only manage five goals for the entire game while the Scorpions piled on 21 majors and dominated all over the ground.

 

Essendon-listed players David Myers, Bachar Houli and Michael Hurley were among Bendigo’s best on the day.

 

In the first quarter Myers was a ball magnet; he gathered nine touches and showed that he is a more then capable player. Despite this, Casey managed to race out of the blocks and held a 17-point lead as the first term ended.

 

Bendigo was lucky to be just three straight kicks down after late goals to Michael Quinn and Tom Bellchambers’ kept them in the hunt. Bellchambers’ goal was the result of good teamwork between the 19-year-old and fellow youngsters Myers and Quinn.

 

Bellchambers made the tap which was roved by Myers, his smart kick hit Quinn who then delivered the ball back to Bellchambers, who slotted the goal to give Bomber fans a taste of what’s to come in future years.

 

 

Quinn had an impressive quarter; he had seven disposals from the half-back line and provided plenty of run to the Bendigo side.

 

Tyson Slattery, coming off a strong performance last week, didn’t have as much of an impact this week and, early in the second quarter, gifted the ball back to the Scorpions after kicking it directly to an opponent who was 40-metres out from goal and straight in front. Simple errors like this were all too common as many Bomber kicks missed their targets.

 

Casey outscored Bendigo three goals to one in the second quarter to push its lead out to 40-points at half time. The Bombers had had just three scoring shots up until this point compared with the Scorpions who had 18.

 

Bachar Houli gathered seven possessions in the quarter as he tried to create more scoring opportunities for Jay Neagle who had a quiet game due to lack of quality supply.

 

In defence, Michael Hurley had eight touches for the quarter as he tried to foil every attack Casey launched. Captain James Flaherty, as he does week in week out, worked extremely hard alongside Hurley, however they were unable to stop Casey from pulling away.

 

As the Bombers tired, Casey scored five goals in the third term, while John Williams’ goal was the only major Bendigo could manage.

 

Casey found plenty of the ball and moved it forward with ease, locking the ball in its attacking 50 and applying constant pressure to the Bomber defence which just couldn’t cope.

 

A major problem Bendigo had in defence was its kick-ins. Leroy Jetta, Darcy Daniher and Hurley all had problems hitting targets as Casey successfully applied the zone defence tactic. Too often the ball was turned over in the defensive 50 and some kicks even sailed across the boundary line on the full.

 

The Bombers could only manage 27 kicks between them for the quarter, Daniher leading the way with four.

 

The Scorpions completely buried Bendigo in the final quarter. Its 67 point lead at three quarter time blew out to 111 points by the final siren.

 

Casey piled on eight goals, seven of these in a row. Three of these were scored by Melbourne listed player Lynden Dunn who proved to be a handful up forward.

 

Hurley (21 disposals) had a solid game in defence and pushed forward when needed, Myers (22 disposals) was persistent all day and Houli (26 disposals) gave his all. The three of them will no doubt be pushing for senior selection in the very near future.

 

Quinn and David Zaharakis also had decent games and will look to take another step next week against Geelong. Jetta had a quiet day only managing 15 touches of the football. He will no doubt be looking to improve in the coming weeks to warrant any chance of senior selection.