The Dandenong Southern Stingrays finally hit the goals in the last quarter, which was too late as the Oakleigh Chargers dominated play for the first three quarters at Warrawee Park Oakleigh in the Round 9 TAC Cup last Saturday to snatch a 11 point victory to make it two losses in a row for the Stingrays.
In good old Melbourne wintery conditions, the game started with all one way traffic on the scoreboard as Oakleigh completely dominated the scoring- 4 goals, 2 points from 11 inside 50’s to the Stingrays 1 goal, through Jack Soroczynski, and 1 point for roughly the same amount of entries. The Chargers counter attack and first use in the midfield was the difference as they held a 19 point lead at the first change and looking like the game was safely in their hands. The Stingrays seemed to panic and became second to the ball, whilst the Chargers were hunting in numbers looking for the first kill since round 3.
At the first break not even and an old fashioned chat from the Stingrays coach, Graeme Yeats could spark the boys into drive. Yeats challenged the young Rays to change their mindset with too many broken tackles and incipit efforts from many players that had crept into the game allowing the Charges easy scoring chances as they pressed forward.
The Chargers were gathering steam and growing in confidence as the Stingrays Midfield and back 6 allowed too many opportunities for them to move the ball forward. By the time the siren sounded Oakleigh kicked 2 goals, whilst the Stingrays kicked their one and only goal, through Josh Newman, to be 22 points down at the long break. The Stingrays forwards were far too predictable in their pattern movements and the backs that were playing undersized against the far taller Chargers forwards. They also gave up front position too often, whilst the miss chances in front of goal also added to the scoreboard pressures.
There were patches of quality football from the Dandenong Stingrays but they were regularly sprinkled with basic unpressured errors that Stingrays Talent Manager Mark Wheeler put down to inexperience players and other top age players down on form and more than likely heading back to local football in the coming weeks. Every time the Stingrays managed to go forward it was playing into Oakleigh’s hand as delivery was straight to the hot spot or high and the taller Chargers defenders easily picked off the high ball to sling shot, run and spread and convert.
The third quarter was superb football, but unfortunately again it was the opposition. Oakleigh kept the Stingrays scoreless and even more impressive with less than 5 inside 50’s by the time the siren sounded.
“It will be remembered as one of the worst performances for any Stingrays team in the 22 years of putting the jumper on,” said Wheeler.
He went on to say “it will be a huge challenge for the playing group in the coming weeks to prove it was a blimp on the radar. I look forward to watching them grow.”
The last quarter saw the Hyde team turn up kicking 6 goals and all momentum going the Stingrays way. All goals came through effort and willingness to work as a team, whilst Oakleigh were tiring and the young Rays could smell blood.
Players were prepared to run, spread and work for each other and the forwards worked hard keeping front spot or bringing the ball to ground allowing the fast running smalls to swoop. The procession of goals came in a flurry through Alex Harnett, Jake Lonie, Brady Egan, Rourke Fischer, Ben Giobbi and Dale Gawley- all on the back of hard work from Daylan Kempster who went into the Ruck and gave first use to the midfield and the back six who were plucking the ball and sling shooting it forward through precision kicking, something that had been missing in the past 3 quarters.
“It would have been the steal of the year if the clock had run a few minutes longer” said Yeats.
He went onto say “We were very poor today, but that’s football. Nothing taken away from Oakleigh, they were a team who wanted it a lot more than us and had been building towards today over the past month or so. We now regroup and set ourselves for our next challenge, Eastern who are the team to beat this year. If we can play like we did for the last 15 minutes I think we can match it with most teams.”
Wheeler said “We had ten 17 year olds play today, 2 for their first game in the TAC Cup in Ben Giobbi and Jack Wheeler. I thought both debutants were serviceable and have something there to work with and the other 8 17 year olds are gaining valuable experience for 2014.”
He added “This is a great time of the year when the AFL NAB U18 Nationals are on which Graeme and I really look forward to as it challenges our list selection. It gives opportunities to 17 year old players and those top age players who may be outside our best 22. Some step up and challenge to become the 22, others are found out and they have two ways to go over the next 6-18 months.”
Next Sunday 23rd June the Stingrays host the TAC Cup ladder leaders in the Eastern Rangers.
The game starts at 12.30pm at Shepley Oval, Dandenong and entry is free.
Last Modified on 20/06/2013 13:29