The Toronto Dingos fell to 2-3 on the season after a tough loss to the Toronto Rebels this past weekend in Hamilton, a game the Red and Black were never really in. The veteran Rebel club took advantage of a weakend and inexperienced Dingo lineup, hammering the Red and Black early and running away with a 6-goal margin for most of the game.
Final score was 10.15-75 to 7.3-45 in favor of the Rebels. The Dingos will move on next week to face their longtime rivals, the Toronto Eagles, who are also in desperate need of a win after dropping a thumper of a match to the Ottawa Swans.
Full match below - for detailed match results, click here.
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Toronto Dingos vs. Toronto Rebels Match Report
This past Saturday dawned wet and humid as the Dingos made their way to Steeltown for a road clash against the Toronto Rebels. Among the Dingos was one of their stalwarts, Aussie Stuart Wallis who was playing in his 150th game as a Dingos. A Lifetime Member of the club, Stu has been a leader both on and off the field for 14 years and the Dingos were eager to celebrate his achievement with a win. However, with the rain coming down steadily and the Dingos lineup somewhat depleted, the boys figured to be in tough against a club that they've beaten fairly regularly over the past few years.
Sure enough, from the opening bounce it was obvious that this would not be an easy 4 points. With six Dingos rookies on the field and three regulars who didn't even arrive to the game on time, the Rebels were able to take advantage and apply tons of pressure early through their forwards Morgs and Bodz. Veteran Canadians Wellsy and Bobby, along with rookie Canadians Sasha, Denis, and Patty attempted to stop the flow, but the Rebels were able to kick several goals and behinds before the Dingos forwards even got a sniff of the footy. Even worse, Bobby Clarke had to pull himself off the field with an injured quad before the first quarter was done. A little shell-shocked, the Dingos were consistently second to the ball and the Rebels showed that they wanted the loose wet ball more as they kept up the pressure. The first quarter siren sounded with the Dingos down by 23 points.
The Dingos attempted to move some personnel around in the 2nd quarter, to little avail. Rookie Templar was taken out of the ruck and Big Butch was put in there to try to win some possessions out of the middle. The backline was strengthened by the late arrival of Ramsey and moving Aussie Geoff Hansen back to play a flank. But the Rebels were hard to stop, pushing the ball consistently forward through their running midfielders and hitting targets well up front. Mental mistakes and sloppy play cost the Dingos and at halftime the Dingos were down by 45 points, having only kicked 2 goals.
The 2nd half saw a slow return of the Dingos to their true form. They stuck with the Rebels in the 3rd quarter and outplayed them in the 4th, but there was too much of a deficit to overcome. One play seemd to sum up the Dingos' day; after getting a clean tap in the ruck from Butch in the 4th quarter, Craig Stewart grabbed the footy and launched a massive kick...in the wrong direction. Confusion reigned before the Dingos backline was able to react and clear the footy back forward. Correctly. Well done, Stewy! As the game drew to a close, frustration mounted and a few scuffles ensued, however, cooler heads prevailed and the game was finished in good spirit and with the sun finally breaking up the rain. Final score: 10.15.75 to 7.3.45. Huge kudos go to injured Dingo Yoni Moussadji who stuck it out in the forward line with a separated shoulder for the game as well as for ex-Dingos Tim Moller and Stewart Wilson for coming out for a kick - probably a lot more of a kick than they were expecting. BOG was awarded to midfielder Robbo and honorable mention to 150th gamer Stu Wallis who played a hard-hitting match.
Game next week is against longtime rival the Toronto Eagles at Humber South.
Last Modified on 16/01/2013 15:23