THE 2022 VFL Women’s season is almost here, so it is time to take a look at each of the competing teams and see where they sit as another season approaches. Today Rookie Me Central takes a look at Casey, who were knocked out in an elimination final in 2021.

Melbourne’s affiliate Casey started off the season with a great win over Carlton, before the Demons lost to Essendon in Round 2. They then returned to the winners list the following week with a big win over North, before following that up with a win over the Southern Saints. Two successive losses were then followed by a great win over Hawthorn.

Then Melbourne’s AFLW regulars started to filter back into the Casey side and things started to look more up for the Dees.

They handed Port their first loss of the season in round eight, before comfortably beating North and Williamstown in successive weeks. Two losses in a row was then followed by a comfortable win over Darebin, and then a final round loss to the Bulldogs saw them finish fourth on the ladder.

This saw them up against Essendon in the Elimination Final, and they almost won it but a late 50m penalty ultimately cost them and they fell short.

Imogen Milford played a starring role up forward for the Demons last season, kicking 19 goals and almost winning the Rohenna Young Medal, but ultimately fell two goals short of winner Imogen Barnett. She was rewarded for her great season by being drafted to Carlton, and she was not the only Dee taken in the draft.

Eliza West had a stellar debut football season and was picked up as a cross coder rookie by Melbourne, while Alison Brown was also picked up by the Dees after moving across to Casey after she was delisted by St Kilda.

Dees captain Samantha Johnson spoke very positively when reflecting on how 2021 went for the Dees. 

“We set ourselves a target of making finals last season and we did,” she said. “Ideally we would have liked to have won one or a few, but I think based on the goals we set ourselves as a relatively new group last year we did achieve most of them, we did really well, but it does only drives us to set the standards higher again this year.”

Coach Peter Mercoulia agreed, noting how they had achieved the goals they’d set out earlier in the year.

Looking ahead to this season, there are a few new faces for Dees fans to keep an eye on in 2022. Both Johnson and Mercoulia spoke very highly of Rebecca Grant.

“She’s been doing really, really well in preseason” Johnson said. “She’s really cemented herself into this group really well, really leading from the front.”

But Grant’s name was not the only one to come as a recruit to watch in 2022. Tara Reader, Eloise O’Connor and Ali Dowler are some other names for fans to keep an eye on in 2022.

Like many of the other AFLW aligned clubs, Casey’s goal this season is to develop their VFLW players to make them draftable, while also upskilling any AFLW players that come down and play in the side.

“We believe that if we can achieve those two goals then hopefully we’ll be able to play some finals and give our players finals exposure and for those in the VFL program expose them to more recruiters, giving them an opportunity to live out their dream,” Mercoulia said.

Casey did have a practise match on the weekend against Essendon, where the Demons were comfortably beaten to the tune of 62 points. They have one final practice match coming up this weekend against Port Melbourne, so they have one final chance to fix any issues they have before their round one match in just under two weeks time.