The Dandenong Southern Stingrays continued on their winning way with a hard fought and controlling win over the Bendigo Pioneers by 70 points, which was played at Shepley Oval, Dandenong on Saturday in sunny conditions.
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays started with a bang against the physical Pioneers team with Matt Rennie kicking the first 3 goals for the home team, whilst Bendigo were struggling to get it past the fifty because of strong defensive work from the back six.
A short time later after the ball bounced between the arcs for 5 or so minutes Bendigo managed a goal after a fumble in the middle. This allowed the Stingrays to kick the next goal through Jack Lonie who was becoming a handful for the opposition.
Straight from the middle the running Tom Lamb got on the end of a nice squared up kick from Nathan Gardiner who was rewarded a few minute later after a strong pack mark and he kicked truly to extend the lead. Just before the siren sounded Bendigo managed to break the Stingrays defensive line to kick a red time goal, but with accurate kicking and a very all around the ground dominate display the stingrays held a 23 point lead when the siren sounded.
Within a few minutes in the second quarter, Bendigo kicked the first two of their 3 goals of the quarter before the Stingrays railed and answered through Tom Lamb. The term saw both sides applying plenty of pressure and foot skills were their deference between the two sides. James Harmes, Zak Jones and Billy Hartung added some much needed speed through the middle but poor entries and wayward kicking saw the Stingrays only kick one goal for the quarter and blemish their record posting 6 behinds. As the siren sounded the Pioneers has closed the gap on the Stingrays lead to 17 points with Dandenong Southern Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats laying down the law on a few individuals.
The third term started like the second with a goal in the first few moments, this time to a brilliant running James Harmes. A lapse in concentration, as well as Bendigo lifting their intent to win the loose ball, saw the Pioneers kick the next two goals as they challenged the Stingrays midfield. The Stingrays backline lifted and started working as a unit with the midfield working between the arcs and offering numerous avenues to rebound the ball deep inside 50. The next part of the quarter saw the ball stay inside the Stingrays front half with seven more goals coming through Lamb, Egan, Lonie and Hartung whilst Matt Rennie continued his dominance in the air to finish of the quarter with 2 more majors, whilst completely shutting down Bendigo.
The siren sounded and the lead had blown out to 66 points in what was one of the better quarters the Stingrays had shown all year
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats was calm at the break and with the coaching staff they really challenged individuals to play their roles and to forget about the scoreboard with one objective-individuals to beat their opponent. He finished by saying “the scoreboard would take care of its self.”
The game was Stingrays to lose with a handy lead they started the quarter slowly allowing Bendigo to win a stoppage in the back half and drive forward to kick truly. A settling goal a few minutes later saw Dandenong Stingrays once again take control, shortly followed up by Taylor Joyce posting his first goal for the day after many strong contested marks inside 50. The Stingrays wasted a few opportunities when attacking their goals kicking 5 points for the quarter. A strong mark on the siren to Nathan Gardiner saw him convert it to finish the day on a high note.
Highlights for the day were a very aggressive strong running team effort with the defensive six terrific defending the high ball and when the ball hit the deck to set up numerous options down field denying Bendigo for most of the day, whilst the pace and aggression of the midfield making it too hard for Bendigo to control all of them.
All the key targets in the forward line had a huge say with Matt Rennie continuing to show form he produced in the 2012 season.
Yeats was in full praise of his young team and said “this was a very good team performance, apart from a ten minute lapse.”
“As the game went on I felt we continued to build on last weeks effort and was really happy we had a spread of goals and our KPI’s are tracking in the right direction...
He went ontosay “Matt Rennie was good with 5 goals, but more pleasing is his work off the ball and finishing off, which is something we have been working with him on.”
The Stingrays’ have a Bye next weekend due to Vic Country Under 17 trial games on at Visy Park, Carlton where around 6 Stingrays players will be playing and another 8-10 playing for the Hallam Senior Secondary College on the MCG against Essendon Keilor as they play off in the School Sports Victoria Premier League Grand Final before the Richmond v Fremantle clash.
The next game for the Dandenong’ Southern Stingrays is in two weeks time against the Sandringham Dragons at Shepley Oval Dandenong..
The game starts at 11.00am.Entry are free.
Last Modified on 14/07/2013 19:08