Carlton's VFL affiliate, the Northern Bullants, dropped their third game for the year on Saturday with a 37-point loss to the Casey Scorpions after getting blown away in the final quarter.

The Bullants now have six wins and three losses for the season and are placed third on the ladder. They are equal with the second-placed Williamstown on points, but now trail the top team North Ballarat by two games. 

Coach David Teague shares his thoughts on the match and how some of the Carlton-listed players performed in the close win. 

It was very disappointing. We didn't play at the intensity and level we did the previous week, so that's probably the biggest disappointment to come out of it.

They got us in the first quarter, but we had our chances. We dominated the third quarter but we only kicked two goals and then, in the last quarter, we kicked the first goal to get in front. We had our chances.

The disappointing thing was when the game was up for grabs, we folded and they kicked the last six goals.

I'm not sure why it happened. I don't know if we thought it was just going to happen once we got in front after dominating in the third, but they played some good footy, they took some risks and they got rewarded.

Brad Fisher came back to us and put in a great effort with six goals. He had the right attitude, marked the ball really well and got maximum reward for his efforts. He was playing OK in the seniors but was told there was a match up in the seniors that Carlton wanted, and playing him probably didn't allow it.

But he came back to us with the right attitude, played really well, and he's ready to go again if they want him next week.

David Ellard was good. He played midfield and a little bit forward and kicked a nice goal over his head. He probably didn't win a massive amount of the ball but he broke the lines and played well.

Richard Hadley was good inside the centre and laid 11 tackles, while Ellard had 10 and Mitch Robinson had nine, so our tackling was quite good, but Richard stood out. I think he had 17 clearances as well, which was terrific.

Jordan Russell came back for his first game for the Bullants for a fair while and he started really well so the opposition started to tag him. He led our possessions but tired late in the game, however he did a good job overall.

It was Jake Edwards' best game for the year. He played full back and kept his opponent to one goal, and he competed and every time the ball was kicked in, he was on his opponent. It was good for him to take a step forward.

It was Chris Johnson's third game and he played off the half back flank. He was OK without being great, and he probably just needs to lift his work rate a bit.

Cameron Cloke was disappointing after the week before where he was really strong in his body and took his marks. He dropped away a bit this week. When he was in the ruck, he was quite good, but as soon as the ball left his area, his work rate just wasn't up to the standard that he set the week before.

Mitch Robinson started reasonably well and Adam Hartlett played centre half forward and presented well, but our forward delivery wasn't as good as it should have been. Hartlett continued to work hard though and gave us a good option up there.

We've got Geelong next week after the split round and they've been thereabouts in a lot of games. They're about middle of the range in terms of ladder position, but it's going to be a great challenge because Geelong don't have many injuries at the moment so they have about 18 AFL listed players available for them.

We need to stop James Podsiadly if we're going to win. He's probably the best VFL player going around and when he kicks a big bag, they seem to go well. If we can hold him or limit his supply, we should go well as he's their barometer.

It's also a big ground so we need to make sure we're winning the ball. It's going to be a massive challenge for the boys. We've bounced back after defeats quite well throughout the year so hopefully we'll do the same again next week.

Casey Scorpions 6.3  7.6  8.7  14.11 (95)
Northern Bullants 3.1  6.2  8.4  9.4 (58)

Casey Scorpions
Goal kickers: L. Jurrah 4, K. Matthews 3, N. Jetta 3, P. Wheatley, P. Faulks, J. Bennell, M. Newton
Best players: J. Bennell, P. Faulks, L. Jurrah, A. Silvagni, N. Jetta, K. Matthews

Northern Bullants
Goal kickers: B. Fisher 6, A. Hartlett, D. Ellard, J. McCorkell
Best players: B. Fisher, D. Ellard, R. Hadley, J. Russell, A. Hartlett, J. Edwards