The Dandenong Southern Stingrays headed to Morwell Recreation Reserve to kick off their 2013 TAC Cup season against local rival the Gippsland Power on Easter Saturday. It turned into a thrilling encounter with the chocolates going to the charged up and well drilled Gippsland Power, who led at every change to hand the Stingrays a very disappointing 23 point defeat.
With both teams close to full strength, apart from AIS AFL player (Billy Hartung) and the ground looking an absolute treat, the scene was set with both sides keen to see where their pre-season efforts had them placed. The Stingrays took the field kicking against a swirling 2-3 goal breeze. Both teams took their turn in winning the ball from stoppages and rebounding effectively from across half back. As normal in the TAC Cup a virtually brand new back line in Joseph West, Kyle Gray, Zak Jones and Sam Crawford (All first gamers) and returning players in Captain Nathan Foote and James Hammond they had their work cut out for them as Gippsland’s midfield continually pumped the ball in, whilst the forwards implemented a press up at every point scored making it near impossible for the Stingrays back to beat the zone. The positives for the quarter were the goal from lively small forward Clayton McCartney and Nathan Gardiner who was starting to grow into his role kicking truly late in the quarter and taking a handful of contested marks for the day. There was also a passage of pure dominance from the young Rays who bottled up the play with both sides dishing out some hard aggressive attack on the loose ball. The Stingrays scoreboard though was only adding points and was the point of the game that will be looked upon as letting this one slip away. At the first break Gippsland held a very lucky 3 point lead.
With 7 first gamers a brief chat from Coach Graeme Yeats at quarter time it seemed to settle the nerves for a brief minute as Gippsland Power took control after the 5 minute mark and completely dominated the quarter, as they did in the pre season practice match a few weeks earlier. There was minimal spark from the entire player group; especially the leadership group and top ages (19 year olds) who had gone completely missing. The Stingrays only managed 4 points for the quarter whilst Gippsland added 5 goals 3 points and went into the half time break with a 32 point lead. A good old fashion ‘chat-spray’ from Stingrays Coach Graeme Yeats was all about delivery and kicking truly when you had the chance and not trying to do too much when you had possession. With the wind swirling and the intensity both sides were delivering plenty of players from both sides were starting to feel the effects and the game at some stage the intensity had to drop off.
The third term was a chance for the Stingrays to get some respectability on the scoreboard as the Powers high pressure, high intensity style started to take its toll. McCartney added the first goal within a minute, but was quickly answered by Gippsland Power. The ball seemed to rebound between the arcs at either end, yet the delivery by foot to the forwards was the deciding factor of the quarter for the Stingrays who won the quarter on the scoreboard mainly due to the poor conversion of the Power who kicked 4 minors. The Stingrays converted a few goals by pure hard work and great contested marking from Nathan Gardiner and big man Agape Patolo was moving a lot better as the game progressed. Clayton McCartney added another goal after some massive inside 50 defensive pressure the forwards put on Gippsland. Highly rated 17 year old AIS player Tom Lamb had a ten minute patch adding two goals and narrowly missing his third to bring the margin back to 16 points. With both sides cramping and the swirling wind seeming to be getting slightly stronger the last term was set up for a cracker. The top age players started to get into the game a little more, with Matty Rennie, Josh Newman and Ryan Marks-Logan lifting their work-rates. Yeats was pleased at the group’s efforts and their seemed to be a belief that the momentum had slightly shifted to the Stingrays with the last 5 minutes of the third quarter was dominated by the Stingrays and the margin only 16 points.
At the last break Yeats said the last quarter was about continuing to gain some respect of the scoreboard whilst continuing to work on the little things. If they did, he said, there was a real opportunity to make the last quarter a nail bitter. After a few tough minutes of contested football the ball came inside fifty and very smart creative work from Blake Pearson to kick the first goal of the term to cut the margin to 10 points. Gippsland answered with a goal then Alex Harnett converted truly to bring back the margin to two straight kicks, but that would be it for the scoreboard for the young Stingrays as Gippsland once again lifted the work-rate and kicked the next two goals to finish off with a workman like 23 point win.
As Yeats said after the game “You get opportunities to learn from every game but this one has shown us that not only we must play hard edged, hardnosed football for every minute we must convert all the hard work on the scoreboard with goals. We ran hard in the transition running and were pleased on how we defended but need to work on hitting targets around the ground. It was a very physical game today from both sides but at the end of the day Gippsland used the ball a lot better than we did, and that becomes the challenge to the group in the following weeks. We have a deep list so we will continue to look for the right mix to help us to head in the right direction.”
Next Saturday, April 6th the Stingrays take on the big movers in the Eastern Ranges at Bayswater Oval, Corner Mountain Highway & Bayswater Road BAYSWATER.
The Stingrays game starts at 4.00pm, Entry is free.
Last Modified on 31/03/2013 17:07