Report by Mitch Brown
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays comfortably accounted for the Murray Bushrangers on Saturday, handing the second-placed Bushrangers defeat to the tune of 30 points.
The Stingrays benefited from having a full-strength team back on the park, with All-Australian U18 Nationals representatives Kieran Collins, Jacob Weitering and Gach Nyuon returning and having immediate impact.
Mitch Cox led from the front, with 20 disposals, 6 clearances and a couple of goals, while Kurt Mutimer collected 29 touches and 9 inside-50s for the day. James Freeman proved yet again to be the Stingrays’ most dangerous target up forward, booting 3 goals and piling on the forward line pressure, laying 9 tackles.
Dandenong are now a game clear from the Oakleigh Chargers, Eastern Ranges and the Bushrangers, sitting comfortably in second place going into the Futures bye.
Yet again Mother Nature was not kind to the Stingrays, with freezing temperatures and heavy rain greeting the players as they ran out onto a soggy Shepley Oval.
From the get-go it was obvious that the match was going to be a scrappy, low-scoring one, with plenty of tackling pressure and low disposal efficiency owing to the terrible weather.
However the conditions didn’t seem to bother the Stingrays talls, with key forward Travis Young booting the first goal within a few minutes under heavy pressure deep inside the Rays’ forward line, followed by a 55metre roost from Jack Holden and a superb set shot from leading goalkicker James Freeman.
At the other end of the field, the Dandenong defence, led by Brandon White, Jacob Weitering and Kieran Collins, asserted dominance over the Bushranger attack with several big spoils and terrific pack marks stopping Murray from kicking a goal.
The torrential downpour continued, and the wet, heavy ball became harder and harder to use effectively, with miskicks and fumbles becoming more and more prevalent.
Murray’s only saving grace was Dandenong’s accuracy in front of goal. After a horror first quarter last week (booting 1 goal and 9 behinds), the Stingrays had the same problem with capitalising upon their opportunities. Very gettable misses kept the goalless Bushrangers in the hunt, and they went into the quarter time huddle just 22 points down.
With the commencement of the second term, it became apparent that the ball had gotten, if anything, even harder to handle as the rain continued to bucket down.
There was a lot of loose ball around with marks extremely tough to come by, and the Dandenong forward line was yet again able to convert, with Jake DiPasquale and James Freeman each claiming their own bending snap to push the lead out to 35.
All the momentum belonged to the Stingrays - forwards James Freeman and Travis Young looked dangerous, while Kurt Mutimer, Jake DiPasquale and Mitch Cox were roving the packs well, and Jacob Weitering and Brandon White held firm in defence.
And when Jack Holden’s soccer goal in the square handed his side a 43-point lead (while their opposition remained without a goal), the Stingrays were in a very enviable position at halftime.
We saw a predictably scrappy start to the quarter, with neither team permitting the other any opportunities. The rain had stopped and been replaced with subzero winds, and this seemed to suit the Bushrangers better, finally registering their first goal of the match 7 minutes into the third quarter.
The Bushrangers quickly followed this with two more majors, cutting the margin to 26 and striking a bit of fear into the Stingrays’ hearts for the first time all day. For the first time in the game Murray were playing like the second-placed team that they were.
However, like all good teams do, Dandenong lifted, courtesy of a Thomas Glen/James Freeman combination to hand the latter his third goal for the day, stemming the Murray flow.
The ship was further steadied by Vice-captain Mitch Cox, who delivered a terrific specky, a conversion and another outside-50 bomb in the space of a few minutes.
The Stingrays went into three-quarter time 45 points up, with the game all but won.
The Bushrangers came out firing in the last term, again claiming the first goal and seemingly unwilling to give into their opponents. Both teams were piling on the pressure around the footy, as good teams should, and the result was a low-scoring, high-intensity quarter of footy.
Although they did concede consecutive goals in the last term (something to avoid, according to the coaching staff), Josh Battle’s first goal of the day made the win a certainty, with the final margin 30 points.
After the match, Coach Craig Black was full of support for his team and the way they performed.
“To be honest, we were rapt with the result. We really love playing these great teams because it gives a chance to see where we’re at in the competition, and the way we played this game of footy was terrific.”
In spite of the great result, it was the team’s depth that drew the most compliments from Black.
Despite the return of several crucial players in the lineup, it’s worth noting that the Stingrays are still missing draft prospect Bailey Rice and captain Lachlan Williams, along with key defenders Daniel Capiron, Jordan Rouse, Zachary Rouse and Harrison Prior, who are currently occupied with VFL commitments.
“We’re really starting to see a very talented playing group with a lot of depth. Obviously it’s great to have the boys back from Nationals, they came back with a great attitude and set the tone early. What it’s going to mean is that every player is under the pump to keep their spot, and so they’ll work even harder.”
Last Modified on 15/07/2015 20:16