The Dandenong Southern Stingrays were completely blown away in its 77-point loss to Geelong Falcons on Saturday which was played at Simonds Oval, Geelong.
The highly-rated Stingrays were made to look second-rate, failing to fire after quarter time where the margin was only a 1 point in favour on the Falcons.
Such was the Falcon’s dominance through the midfield stoppages and across the entire ground they went on a ten goal feast before the Stingrays would score another goal again late in the third quarter.
The Stingrays won the hit outs convincingly, but failed to deliver any penetration from the defensive 50 while the Falcons continued time after time to find spare options and leading targets inside 50.
Stingray’s coach Craig Black said the effort was as poor as he had seen, something he and his players shouldn’t be proud of.
“Our 17 year old players lead the way on the day with effort, along with a few top age players, the team effort across the board was poor,” Black said.
“We spoke after the game, maybe a few too many had thought their effort from the weekend before had them a little ahead of where they are truly at.”
“The TAC Cup is a fiercely competitive competition, today showed if you’re off your game what can happen,” he also said.
The Stingrays managers 3 goals in a row late in the third term, but allowed Falcons one back near the siren, which bridged the margin to 40 points at the final change.
The Falcons came out in the final quarter with a point to make, continuing to play their hard-nosed running style game.
“When a whole team effort was required to finish off a bad day, we weren’t able to do that,” he said.
“There were some positives we took from the game- first game player Fin Bayne was exciting, William Hamill, Toby Bedford and Bailey Williams continue to show they too they belong at the TAC Cup level, ” coach Black said.
“Ali Zijai and Mitch Cotter maybe our smallest onballers but their hungry and efforts for the past two games have been spot on.”
Dual Captains Josh Bateman and Oscar Clavarino could walk away knowing they contributed on the day, with highly fancied 19 year olds Bailey Morrish and Mason deWit having solid games playing in numerous roles in an effort to plug the leakage.
Black finished by saying. “It’s only round 2, but we set high standards on and off the field and expect everyone to deliver them week in week out…the best thing about this loss it becomes a huge challenge for those lucky enough to be named this week.”
Dandenong Stingrays next assignment is against Greater Western Region Rebels on Saturday at 3.00pm at Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo, which is part of a triple header for AFL Victoria’s TAC Cup.
Last Modified on 03/04/2017 23:02