Coach: Justin Plapp (second year)
Captain: Jaack Hutchins (first year)
2015 finish: 8th
2015 best and fairest placings: 1. Aidan Riley / 2. Jack Fitzpatrick / 3. Mitch Gent
Last premiership: 1999
Alignment: Melbourne
Casey showed significant improvement in Justin Plapp’s first year as senior coach after a 2014 season in which it finished 14th with just five wins. Plapp aimed to bring the AFL-listed Demons and VFL-listed Scorpions closer off the field in order to make the team better on it, and a finals berth was the result. However, Essendon jumped Casey early in their elimination final and the Scorpions were unable to reel in the deficit, losing by 21 points.
The club’s biggest loss will be 10-year defender and captain for the last four seasons Evan Panozza, who has moved to the Gold Coast to play in the NEAFL. The Scorpions have also lost the top three finishers in their 2015 best and fairest count, with Aidan Riley delisted, Jack Fitzpatrick traded to Hawthorn and Mitch Gent playing with Noble Park in the Eastern Football League after 60 senior VFL games.
A premium was placed on contested play under Plapp, as Casey ranked in the top three clubs for hitouts, clearances, and tackles per game across last year’s home-and-away season. The loss of Melbourne’s All Australian ruckman Mark Jamar will hurt in that department but the Scorpions have signed 203cm Oscar McInerney to support Demons Jake Spencer and Max King. The contested work of Aaron Cotte – one of the club’s raft of TAC Cup signings – will also help in the middle.
However, Casey will need to find an answer to its inability to turn stoppage dominance into scores, after ranking in the bottom four clubs for goals and scores per inside 50 in 2015. Tom Baker booted 60 goals in 17 Nepean Football League games last year and could boost the club’s firepower inside 50. The Scorpions have also secured medium defender Todd Vander Haar – the son of former Essendon champion Paul – and midfielder Yarran Jaffer-Williams, a former member of the Sydney Swans Academy.
In exciting news for Melbourne fans, a trio of high AFL draft picks are likely to spend time developing at Casey, with Christian Petracca returning from an ACL injury and Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman joining the Demons in the 2015 Draft.
Ins: Damien Johnston, Daniel Johnston (Beaconsfield), Lachlan Batten, Mitch Cox, James Freeman, Jake Lovett (Dandenong Stingrays), Aaron Cotte (Eastern Ranges), Connor Ambler, Aloysio Ferreira (Gippsland Power), Oscar McInerney (Montrose), Todd Vander Haar (Old Xaverians), Tom Baker (Rosebud), Dylan Gordon (Warburton-Millgrove), Frank Anderson (Whitefriars), Yarran Jaffer-Williams (Wodonga Raiders)
Outs: Patrick Rosier, Lucas Walmsley (Frankston), Mitch Gent, Will Petropoulos (Noble Park), Joe Fisscher (Sandringham), Evan Panozza (Southport), Nathan Page (Tooradin)