On the back of a disappointing loss last week the Dandenong Southern Stingrays had plenty to play for and a lot of pride to recapture but could not muster enough consistent effort against the Northern Knights at NAB Oval in Preston, last Sunday morning.
The first term started with the Knights having the first few forays into the front half but the Stingrays rallied and by quarter time held a 14 point advantage. The Knights key forward in Michael Hurley was in good form and Michael Hibberd was doing a solid job containing Hurley’s dominance. Shane Savage and Matthew Clark were lively as small forwards and created a number of scoring opportunities for the Stingrays.
The second quarter started with the Stingrays jumping out to a comfortable break with Clark kicking 2 goals and Savage another but then the Stingrays dropped their work rate and allowed the Knights to dominate. The Knights poured on the goals kicking 6 goals in the last 10 minutes as part of a ten goal term that had the home team in front by 22 points at the long break. Coach Graeme Yeats was extremely disappointed by the lack of midfield pressure that allowed the Knights to empty the centre square time and time again and put the Stingrays backs under the pump. The Stingrays forward line allowed too many easy unpressured rebound 50’s to the Knights and it was going to take a massive regroup and restructure to try and find the best TEAM to compete adequately.
The third quarter started as a continuation of the Knights dominating the stoppages and consistently pumping the ball forward. The Stingrays managed to scrape together a couple of sporadic forays forward and with a bit of team work managed to kick 2 goals but by then the horse had well and truly bolted. The Knights held a seven goal advantage at the last break and it was just a matter of playing out time for many of the Stingrays players. The last term had the Stingrays all over the Knights in the early stages but poor basic skill execution caused many turnovers which the Knights gleefully accepted and converted with classy running goals.
Some good signs to come out of the game were the performance of Matthew Clark returning from injury with 4 goals and plenty of hard work, the efforts of bottom age players Ryan Bastinac and Riley Heddles who continually compete at the required level and the work-rate of Ricky Ferraro, Marcus Dal Lago and Scott Sienkiewicz. Next weekend is a week of no TAC Cup football with the first of the National Championship trials. Paul Rogasch, Steve Gaertner, Alex Goodingham, Matthew Clark, Ashley Smith and Tom Scully are all on show for representative honours.
Last Modified on 18/07/2008 12:34