The Dandenong Southern Stingrays had a hard fought and controlling win over North Ballarat Rebels by 53 points, which was part of the Country Round that was played at Shepley Oval Dandenong on Saturday in perfect conditions.
Both sides started slow with only one goal scored in the first quarter which went to Dandenong Stingrays player Matt Rennie at the 10 minute mark. This seemed to spark the Rebels who completely dominated play for the next part of the quarter, but costly skill errors and strong defensive work from Caleb and Kyle Gray kept them from going past the 50 arc. The Stingrays took their term dominating the play, but wasted opportunities when they went inside 50. At the end of the first quarter the Stingrays were 6 points up.
The Rebels went inside 50 12 times for one scoring opportunity, whilst the Stingrays went inside 11 times for two scoring opportunities. It was even in centre clearances but was Stingrays Coach Graeme Yeats focused on being cleaner at stoppages and inside 50 entries at the quarter time break.
As soon as the siren sounded the Rebels took clean possession from the stoppage and kicked the first major of the game after a silly error in front of goal by the Stingrays defences. The Stingrays took the ball from bounce and hit first gamer Jayden Tompkins slotted the first of his 3 goals. Ballarat took their turn from a clean stoppage and pegged one back.
The next 10 minutes saw the ball bounce from arc to arc with both sides throwing themselves at the loose ball, closing down space and making it hard for clean entries. Jack Lonie kicked the first of his two for the quarter after he swooped on the loose ball, but the Rebels once again responded with a major...a few minutes later Lonie took a clean possesion off the pack in a forward 50 stoppage and kicked truly.
As the half time siren sounded the Dandenong Stingrays had slightly increased their lead to 10 points, but the Rebels looked the hungrier team.
Yeats addressed the team on effort and the willingness to work, which clearly Ballarat had come with. He went onto to stress talent does not mean anything if the individual/s weren’t prepared to go when it was their turn and that games have been won by teams who were prepared to work that lacked talent on paper.
The game was Stingrays to lose with a slight lead they started the third quarter with a bang, Tompkins kicked the first after a strong demanding lead was honoured by the class of Hartung’s foot. Alex Harnett barged his way through the pack to split the middle to extend the lead out again.
The next five minutes saw the Rebels kick two goals of their own before the Stingrays once again settled. This time from a coast to coast goal to Nathan Gardiner followed by goals to Hartung and Matt Rennie, all on the back of rebounded the ball from the back half.
As the siren sounded the Stingrays looked in control as the stronger bodies and cleaner skills were taking its toll on the younger Rebels. They went in to the final quarter with a handy 28 point lead.
The last quarter was all one way traffic with the Rebels’ kept goalless mainly due to the work of the back six especially Williams, Kempster and Kyle Gray that were killing all the high balls whilst, the smalls were terrific when the ball hit the deck to set up numerous options down field and allowing the scoreboard to turnover.
Tompkins slotted one around the body and Harnett once again split the pack through 4 opponents to kick his second a few moments later. Nathan Gardiner had worked his way into the game in the second half taking 5 contested grabs and was rewarding with a goal after a few wayward shots and the final goal of the game went to Billy Hartung.
Stingrays Coach Yeats was happy with the second half and onto say “Our first half wasn’t that flash, Ballarat really challenged us and wanted it more....but the strength of this group was the willingness to refocus and win the one on one’s and go when it was their turn....that pleased me more than the win.”
Stingrays Talent Manager said “We had four first game players today whom I thought all did really well...Jayden Tompkins kicked a bag of goals locally a few weeks back and looks like a genuine player, but he and the other three were gasping for air and cramping early...that’s the reason we blood them, usually as a 17 year old, so they understand the level required to play week in week out at the TAC Cup level.”
He went on to say “We had four players with Vic Country duties today and a half dozen that played school football Wednesday that weren’t available for selection...it gave these guys an opportunity and I couldn’t be prouder of their output. They have really put the pressure on the coaching staff for next week against the Cannons...to me that’s a win. ”
The next game for the Dandenong’ Southern Stingrays is against Calder Cannons at Highgate Recreational Reserve, Craigeburn.
Last Modified on 28/05/2013 14:26