The Dandenong Southern Stingrays continued on their winning way with a hard fought and controlling win over the Sandringham Dragons by 70 points, which was played at Shepley Oval, Dandenong on Saturday in sunny, but windy conditions.
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays lost the toss and would need to defend well against the four goal breeze.
Sandringham were kept goalless for the quarter with Matt Rennie once again kicking the first goal for the home team at the ten minute mark, whilst Sandringham 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 the Stingrays added another goal through Brady Egan after some very impressive defensive pressure from Jack Lonie who was becoming a handful for the opposition. Lonie was rewarded a few moments later after getting on the end of a coast to coast goal.
Just before the siren sounded Sandringham managed to break the Stingrays defensive line but a poor kick it missed to the left. The siren sounded with a very all around the ground dominate display by the stingrays they held a 21 point lead.
Within a few minutes in the second quarter, Jack Lonie received a 50 metre penalty and kicked truly. This seemed to unite the Dragons as they started applying plenty of pressure and forcing the Stingrays to make quicker decisions.
Zak Jones, Joshua Pickess and Billy Hartung added some much needed speed through the middle but poor entries and wayward kicking saw the Stingrays kick a few minor scores before Nathan Gardiner kicked the first of his 5 goals for the day.
From the middle the ball came in quickly and Brady Egan kicked 2 in a row before a lapse in concentration followed by a fifty metre penalty gave Sandringham their first goal for the day just before the siren sounded for the long break.
At half time the Stingrays held a 49 point lead and looked like really running away with the game.
The third term started well for the opposition as they lifted their intent to win the loose ball. It saw the Dragons kick the opening three goals and they challenged the Stingrays midfield and spread the backs. 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 but couldn’t penetrate deep inside 50. The Stingrays were completely shutting down Sandringham with the only goal for the quarter coming after the siren sounded to Billy Hartung.
The siren sounded and the Stingrays held a 29 point lead but all momentum was with Sandringham who would have to defend against the 4 goal breeze.
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats was calm and measured at the break, with the coaching staff they really challenged individuals to play their roles and to stop overusing the ball with one objective-individuals to beat their opponent. He finished by saying “stop trying to do too much and think about others.”
The game was Stingrays to lose with a handy lead they started well and Nathan Gardiner kicked the first of 6 last quarter goals for the Stingrays. A few minutes later Gardiner kicked another, which was followed up by 2 in a row to Brady Egan and the game was well and truly over.
Gardiner took another strong contested mark inside 50 and kicked his third for the quarter. A highlight for the day was a strong contested mark just before the siren to first game player James “Jimmy” Freeman that saw him convert it to finish the day on a high note.
Other highlights 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 Sandringham for most of the day, whilst the pace and aggression of the midfield making it too hard for the Dragons to control the spread of players.
All the key targets in the forward line had a huge say with goals being shared around and two kicking bags of 5 with others in playing their part in goal assists.
Yeats was in full praise of his young team and said “this was another very good team performance, apart from a lapse in the third quarter.
“It was a very strong wind and it was a strong first quarter defensive spread, but they got us in the third...we may have taken our foot off a little, which we spoke about after the game.”
He went ontosay “I felt we continued to build on last games team effort, really happy we had a spread of goal kickers and we are getting games into players who have been injured or missing.”
The next game for the Dandenong’ Southern Stingrays is against the North Ballarat Rebels on Saturday 3rd August at Eureka Stadium, Ballarat
The game starts at 1.00pm.Entry are free.
Last Modified on 28/07/2013 22:26