A fast finish and an even contribution across the ground were the hallmarks of the Dandenong Southern Stingrays preliminary final victory over the highly fancied Calder Cannons by 12 points at Visy Park, Carlton last Saturday.
A focus on high pressure, high intensity football with a strong defensive mind set were Coach Graeme Yeats key performance indicators for the team as they took the favorites. The Cannons went through the home and away season with similar to the Stingrays which had been a little inconsistent with good solid performances splattered with some disappointing losses.
The game started at a frenetic pace with the Stingrays tackle pressure at a season high with 26 effective tackles in the first term. The pressure forced the Cannons into a lot of uncharacteristic errors which the Stingrays counter attacked to great effect and at the first change the score was level. The Stingrays mid field were well on top dominating the spread from many stoppages giving the forwards first use. Up forward the goals were shared with Clayton McCartney, Matte Rennie, Tom Lamb and a relayed free kick giving Brady Egan an easy goal on the goal line.
The second term was an arm wrestle as the Cannons threw everything at the Stingrays both defences were on top early but the Cannons managed to break away allowing 3 goals with the Stingrays only scoring a single goal. The Stingrays backmen were rebounding well with Jake Wilson, Billy Hartung, Daniel Capiron, Kyle Gray, Nathan Foote and Daylan Kempster all running hard and working the ball out of the back 50 to a hard working mid field led by Zak Jones and James Harmes. Up forward the only came through Matt Rennie who was dominating in the air, but getting tripled teamed at times.
At half time Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats demanded from his players to maintain the pressure on the ball carrier with special attention on the obvious first receiver, as well as asking for better ball movement into the attacking fifty.
At the start of the third they carried out the instructions perfectly with the Stingrays kicking the first 2 goals, before allowing another soft goal to the Cannons. It was quickly answered through Brady Egan moments later as the ball drifted over the pack, but another poor stoppage set up allowed Calder to once again kick a couple of goals taking a 15 point lead into the last quarter.
The Cannons were looking like the side who wanted it more. Yeats had his work cut out for him at the final break but was convinced his players had the legs and running power that Calder couldn’t match so he threw everything at them. Again, like the start of the third the players responded kicking 2 goals in minutes but this time they never relented hunting in numbers and kicking goal after goal extending the lead to 4 goals at one stage before the Cannons started their mini assault, which was little too late. Jack Lonie kicked the sealer as the ball seemed to float in the air as it just cleared the line to give the Stingrays a 12 point win and a shot of securing their first Grand Final flag.
Yeats was extremely pleased with the all round, all ground evenness of the contribution of his whole team and with a clean bill of health, and the Stingrays are well poised to win its first TAC Cup premiership. The TAC Cup grand final is at Etihad Stadium at 10.30am on Sunday 22nd September against the Eastern Ranges.
Last Modified on 16/09/2013 08:45