The Dandenong Southern Stingrays bounced back from a disappointing Round 8 loss with a hard fought and controlling win over Bendigo Pioneers by 40 points, which was played at Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo on Sunday.
The game had a better start to last week with the Stingrays kicking with more purpose as they rebounded inside 50 numerous times capitalizing on the scoreboard. Single Goals to key forward Matt Rennie and running players Jason Pongracic, Daniel Jackson, whilst the hardworking Tim McGenniss kick two by time the siren sounded for the end of the first. The Stingrays had a couple of good chances to post more majors but failed. There were many positive though which was they were controlling most of the play and utilized the breeze to their full advantage, whilst locking out the Pioneers for the quarter on the scoreboard. The quarter time break allowed Stingrays Coach Graeme Yeats to slightly tweak the team and to reassure them that what they had done so far was on track and to continue with hard running, hitting the leading targets and the backs concentrate on locking down and winning the 50/50 contests, the scoreboard will take care of itself. At the end of the first the Stingrays completely dominated the scoring with 5.5.35 to 0.0.0 for Bendigo.
The second term was a tighter contest with the Pioneers gaining a little bit of momentum through the midfield and kicking truly in the first part of the quarter as they took advantage of unforced errors and silly frees kicks. The Stingrays continued with drive from the defensive back six and the midfield group continued with some fantastic gut running to win the football with some strong defensive pressure to feed the Forwards, but entry into the forward line was shallow and unproductive that allowed the Pioneers to build and drive forward and kick goals. The Pioneers wasted many opportunities and could have closed the gap even further on the scoreboard. The Stingrays finally settled after 10 minutes of play through a nice goal through Damien Lawrence, which ended up being their only major for the quarter. At the major break the Stingrays held a 26 point lead. Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats asked from his young team to settle when driving forward instead of kicking it to a contest, pleaded for better starting positions for the backs and the Mids must get back to the basic’s and win the 50/50 contest like they had in the first. Nick Newman and Billy Rolfe were working very hard with some very good gut running, whilst Jake Calvert had 4 run down tackles by half time to keep the ball inside 50 for the Stingrays.
The third mirrored the start of the second with a goal in the first 30 seconds, but this time it was the Stingrays who broke out of the middle through some magical Ruck work by Agape Patolo to hit the running McGenniss that hit up Luke Rowe who converted 20 metres out. A few minutes later by some very good forward pressure young Jack Soroczynski kicked another which looked like the Stingrays may run away with it, but Bendigo locked down and once again put the midfield under pressure which resulted in some ugly inside 50 entries, some rushed shots at goals that ended up as points or easy rebounds with no scores recorded at all. The Pioneers went inside 50 a lot easier in the third quarter with many easy shots on goal, which they wasted by only converting 1 goal from 8 scoring opportunities. The Stingrays too wasted their chances going forward by kicking on top of the heads of the forwards. At the 3rd quarter break the Stingrays had extended their led to 32 points. Coach Graeme Yeats asked the ball carrier to use the ball a lot better, and pleaded with everyone to come to the ball and to work a lot hard on transition.
At the bounce of the last quarter the Stingrays lifting the intensity with more hard running, with strong hard work around the contest that saw the Stingrays open up a match winning lead and run out 40 point victors, but in a very positive on previous weeks deny the Pioneers soft inside 50’s and only allow one goal for the quarter. Jason Pongracic returned from injury to finish the game with two classy goals and some big hits on the opposition, Nick Newman continued with his Frankston Dolphins form from last week with a very good gut running and link up game and big man Agape Patolo gave the mids first use and moved around the ground a lot better than previous games.
Yeats was wrapped with his players’ efforts and the way they rebounded from a disappointing effort before the Development weekend break to out-work and outclass the Pioneers that easily could have went to other way. Yeats said “We were challenged early and the character of the group united and we started taking control on the one on one’s. To get a win away from home is always hard work, which the group needs to do if we are going to go deep into finals. The other thing about today’s win is we had 7 goal kickers and didn’t rely on just our key forwards. We have a lot of improving to still do but today we bloodied another three 17 year old players with their first game and one 16 year old which will help us strengthen the depth of the list this year and next. ”
Next Saturday June 23rd the Dandenong Southern Stingrays return to the cave at Shepley Oval, Dandenong and take on our Northern neighbours the Northern Knights at 1.00pm for round 10 in the TAC Cup. Entry is free.
Last Modified on 18/06/2012 21:54