Report by Mitch Brown
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays’ perfect season has come to a grinding halt after a heart-pounding 4-point loss to the Murray Bushrangers in Wangaratta on Saturday afternoon, going down 9.9 (63) to 9.13 (67).
Murray were the better team for most of the day, however they struggled to capitalise on the scoreboard, keeping the Stingrays in the game.
Dandenong’s trademark attack on the football was severely lacking, with the ladder leaders looking lethargic and missing for significant parts of the match.
Murray collected the lion’s share of possession around the ground, and Dandenong were simply unable to keep up, giving away undisciplined free kicks and making poor decisions.
The Stingray defence did perform admirably, with Mason DeWit and Reece Piper again stand-outs.
Also particularly noteworthy was big man Mitch McCarthy, putting in his best performance of the year, amassing plenty of hitouts, and providing the Stingrays backline with some much needed tall timber in marking contests, especially in the last quarter standing tall.
Sam Fowler was again the most dangerous Dandenong forward, bagging three goals, but with mediocre support around the ground, the Stingrays never really deserved to win the game. Unlike the previous 6 weeks the entry inside the forward line was shallow, with the midfielders unable to hit up the leading targets.
“Murray definitely had much more intent around the footy, and were willing to work a bit harder around the contests,” admitted Craig Black after the game. “They were definitely better than us today.
“It’s a tough competition, we know that. Today we looked a bit tired, a bit flat, and we’ll certainly be working on that in the coming weeks. The bye may have come at a good time for us, but we aren’t making any excuses Murray defiantly showed us up on their home deck.”
Despite the poor outcome, there were patches where the rampaging Stingray machine could be seen. The first term started well for the Rays, slamming on the first two goals of the match, courtesy of Matt LaFontaine and Tom DeKoning, but soon afterward Murray pounced and began dominating around the ground with lots of run and chipping kicks.
Unfortunately for the Bushrangers, goalkicking let them down, and despite having the same number of scoring shots, they trailed Dandenong by 10 points at quarter time, 4.3 (27) to 2.5 (17).
The second term continued much as the first did – Murray having the advantage in general play, but unable to kill the Stingrays on the scoreboard. The midfield pressure from the Stingrays made entries inside the Bushrangers 50’s rushed or high, with the likes of DeWit and Morrish picking it off.
Danger man Sam Fowler popped up for two goals in as many minutes to stretch the Stingray lead to 24 points, which looked like a turning point for Dandenong, but Murray responded with some long-awaited scoreboard pressure, claiming three goals of their own to bring the half-time margin back to 10.
The third quarter was genuinely disastrous for the struggling Rays – while they continued to give away stupid free kicks and make poor decisions under pressure, Murray took the lead for the first time, and booted another three goals, seemingly unimpeded.
There was a distinct lack of urgency in the way the Stingrays were playing – and despite terrific individual efforts from swinging utilities Aaron Darling and Matt LaFontaine, the Stingrays went into the last term on the wrong end of a 9 point deficit.
Black challenged the midfield, pleading for better use going inside 50 asking forwards to give more leads, as well as reassuring the group that the game was there for the win for whom ever wanted it the most, with a 2 goal breeze it should have been an easier task for the Stingrays.
Again, there were flashes of the Dandenong side that cruised to a 6-0 start to this season – the Stingray small forwards capitalised upon a temporary lull in the Bushranger defence to slam on two quick goals at the start of the quarter, stealing back the lead – but these moments were too few and far between.
Murray managed another goal in the dying stages, and held on for two nerve-wracking minutes until the final siren sounded on the Rays’ devastating first loss of the year.
Dandenong do still retain top spot on the TAC Cup ladder by percentage, but from today’s performance, they still have a lot of work to do if they want to hold on to that mantle.
There will be no TAC Cup matches this week, for the general bye, but the Stingrays will try to get their 2016 season back on track with a top-of-the-table clash against the Geelong Falcons at Shepley Oval in two weeks time.
Last Modified on 16/05/2016 17:18