The Dandenong Southern Stingrays took a hard fought win against the lowly ranked Northern Knights by 23 points at Shepley Oval, Dandenong last Saturday in the Round 10 TAC Cup contest.
A massive amount of work had been done by the Greater City of Dandenong and Curator Phil Orchard to bring the surface back to required conditions for TAC Cup football, which resulted in covers removed and the ground super sopped that allowed the umpires to bounce the ball and players to run through the middle without getting bogged.
The Stingrays started the day kicking against a three goal wind in a typical wintery Melbourne day, quickly scored the first goal of the game on the back of a neat crumbing effort and continued to pile on the goals in a one sided dominate display for the first ten minutes of the quarter. The Stingrays were getting on top through the midfield and repeatedly pumped the ball forward against the wind. The home team in control, but a lapse of concentration late in the term saw the Knights add consecutive goals to close the gap. The Stingrays kicked Five goals straight whilst the Knights kicked three goals three point with the breeze. Big man Jake Calvert led and pressured very well to keep the ball inside 50 and keep the young Knights backman under pressure, whilst Jason Pongracic continued from where he left off last week with aggressive attack on the ball and smart use through the midfield. The first term effort saw Stingrays Coach Graeme Yeats delighted as it was the first time this year they had worked against the wind to their advantage, but wanted to stress not to allow the Knights back into the game.
The second term was one of wasted chances with the Stingrays kicking 2 goals 6 points for the term and allowing the Knights to score fairly easy with poor decision making and numerous free kicks against, little or most with no pressure. The Stingrays had too many wasted entries into the forwardline, but their work rate and intensity at the ball was well up on previous weeks. Nick Newman was finding space in resulted in a nice goal, which followed by two unanswered goals through some nice clean disposals through the midfield in Pongracic and Timmy McGenniss. At the half time break the Stingrays held a 28 point lead, but the Knights were up and about as they clearly won the last ten minutes of play and ended to quarter with confidence. During the break Yeats asked players to move the ball a lot quicker to key forwards and others to hold their space.
The third term was a scrappy affair for the Stingrays with a lack of urgency and decisiveness when the ball was in their hands. The Stingrays kicked the first goal after space was found by Nick Newman who kicked truly. Jason Pongracic kicked the next after a bone crunching tackle, and that’s where the scoring ended for the Stingrays until the last few minutes where Jake Calvert converted after a strong mark and converted 40 out kicking into a strong wind. The Knights completely out worked, out tackled and out played the Stingrays and took full advantage on the wind and kicked 5 unanswered goals, with a few other opportunities going to waste. At the end of the quarter the flip of the coin would go to the team who finished with a lot of confidence and belief, by the end of the quarter the Knights were a resurgent side hungry for a must needed win and big scalp and held a 1 point lead, but would be defending against a 3 goal breeze. At the break the magnets more moving and composure was needed, that’s where the 9 year Stingrays Coach Yeats delivered. A quick boisterous chat and much needed adjustment to the playing style had the players believing they were the better side and would run over the top of the Knights.
At the start of the last quarter the skies opened with a light drizzle which seemed to help the Stingrays who lifted their run and carry, surprisingly their skill sets seemed to lift with the slippery ball. They worked hard defending and through the midfield and with the backs controlling the long high ball. The midfield ran the ball in deep inside 50 and delivered truly to the forwards who converted and kicked important goals when challenged. The Stingrays outscored the Knights 6 goals, 7 points to 3 goals 1 point in the last with both teams spent by time the siren had sounded. The non-negotiables of hard work, hard running, good defense and multiple avenues to goal were all front and centre in the very good quarter of TAC Cup football. First game player’s Nathan Gardiner and Mitch Wallace both kicked goals, the latter after the siren sounded. Matt Rennie kicked two very important goals and two very good contested grabs after being swung back into attack, whilst Nick Newman showed his class to kick his third for the day. Backman come forward Josh Westerman used the wet to slide one through from a nice running goal outside 50 to add to the total of 6 goals for the quarter.
Coach Graeme Yeats was pleased with the outcome and went on to say ‘I was pleased with the last quarter and overall effort of the team, in the last quarter after being challenged in the third. We lifted our workrate and intensity; they may have dropped off a little too. The Knights were far more efficient and used the ball with purpose and control. We dropped our guard, lacked composure and played undisciplined footy for a quarter and a half. The upsides were the fact we had 4 first time players today in Gardiner, Pickess, Wallace and Tohiariki, with three others who had played less than 3 games, so we are still finding out about our list and exposing the next crop of players whilst the Nationals and school football commitments are on.
Next weekend the Stingrays play against quality opposition in the Western Jets, who like the Stingrays have won their last three games, away at Burbank Oval, Williamstown on Saturday 30th June at with both teams gaining their private school players, but lose players to Vic Country/Metro.
Last Modified on 25/06/2012 16:59