The Dandenong Southern Stingrays recorded their a loss in the final game of the home and away season for the TAC Cup , losing to the Geelong Falcons by 41 points on Saturday after a very dominate display the week before.
The Stingrays team were completely outplayed by a very well drilled and discipline team in the Falcons who were dominating the scoreboard in the opening term, leading by 20 points at the first break.
The Stingrays had plenty of the play and were dominating the inside 50 entries but could only manage points, a trend that last until the 3rd quarter where they finally broke the drought.
This trend of dominance and wayward kicking continued in the second quarter with the Falcons lead growing to 28 points at half time, and from there the game looked like it was practically over as the Stingrays were held goalless for two quarters for the first time this year.
In his half-time address, Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats employed his team to lift their work rate after their poor first half on the scoreboard and pleaded for the forwards to catch something, stressing everyone needed to defend their area better to stop the free flowing running on the rebound. His final advice was when you had a chance to convert to nail it as there was plenty of hard work being done in the back half going without reward.
In the third term, through better conversion, the Stingrays managed to kick the first three goals and got within 2 goals, until a lack of concentration and a free kick straight after a Geelong goal to see the Falcons once again take control of the game.
A positive for the quarter was the Stingrays managed to outscore the Falcons with the margin 27 points at the siren.
“The score line is not always a true reflection of the state of play and at ¾ time, most of the stats would most likely been in our favour, “Yeats said.
The last quarter Geelong once again had the game on their terms with overlap running with the ability to kick goals, whilst the Stingrays were more competitive in the second half the game was never in real reach.
"It was a hard day to assess the performance of the team as if we had kicked straight we could of easily of been in front at half time and the score...we just couldn’t manage to close the gap on the day." Yeats said.
"I think there were a couple of positives in personnel- we’re really raped with our underage players and a few of our top age players are starting to play consistent football at the right time of the year."
He went on to say “We defiantly were beaten by a better team who will be hard to beat though the finals campaign...they have set the benchmark all year for the TAC Cup and they continued that today.”
In spite of the weighty defeat, Stingrays Talent Manager Mark Wheeler believed that the inexperienced group had learned some invaluable lessons from the game.
"If we learn to work together and harder, we will be in the game longer- you’re then a chance to do what we did for the previous 5 games.” Wheeler said.
“The Falcons have always liked to play football on their terms, they like to be a very attacking side and instil a lot of belief in each other- we once again allowed that to happen today and to make it worse we missed too many opportunities in front of goal.”
The positive for the Dandenong Southern Stingrays is they have finished third on the AFL Victoria TAC Cup ladder with 10 wins, 7 losses and a healthy percentage of 121.94, giving them a valuable double chance in the AFL Victoria TAC CUP finals series.
This is the eighth consecutive year the Southern Stingrays will feature in the finals, a tribute to the very well structured coaching and support staff the Stingrays have in place.
This weekend the Dandenong Southern Stingrays will play the Eastern Ranges in the 2nd Qualifying Final On Saturday, August 31st at Visy Park, Carlton.
The game starts at 11:15am, entry is free.
Last Modified on 27/08/2013 10:17