TACDanBall_85234_14.jpg: Nathan Wright and James Hammond fly against a North Ballarat defender. 85234 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
THE gears are all meshing together well for the Dandenong Stingrays with a 24-point win over former ladder-leaders North Ballarat – putting the onus on the rest of the competition to keep up.
Dandenong pulled ahead through goals to Ryan Morrison (Narre Warren) and Lachie Whitfield early, before a pair of Rebels’ goals brought the match back to level pegging. The crafty Clay McCartney (Cranbourne) wove his way through heavy traffic to drill Dandenong’s third for the quarter and a strong mark from Nick Newman was converted and gave the Stingrays a 12-point margin at the first change.
The second and third quarters ebbed back and forth as neither side claimed complete superiority.
What it left was a fourth term shootout as the Stingrays and Rebels kicked five goals each.
Nathan Wright (Berwick) got into the act on the scoreboard kicking two goals in the term, Whitfield added another and Josh Pickess showed some great goal awareness to drill his first.
The final straw for the Rebels came from Stingrays’ midfielder Billy Rolfe who slotted a massive goal from outside the 50-metre arc to put the match beyond the visitors.
The win rockets Dandenong up the TAC Cup ladder into third place and half a game clear of the Calder Cannons in fifth place with only two matches left in the home-and-away season.
“I’m really proud of the boys, we’ve been talking about playing a bit harder and tougher for longer periods and they kept up our side of the bargain,” Dandenong coach Graeme Yeats said.
“We played some of our best footy for the year, certainly think we can get more out of some individuals but happy with the overall result.”
Yeats praised the backline six, which was able to hold the Rebels to a scant 12-goal display from a number of forward opportunities and said the midfield was impressive as usual.
“Thought our backline was really consistent – the Rebels had 52 inside-50s for only 12 goals,” Yeats said.
“So when you’re playing a side like Ballarat and are able keep them to that score, it shows we defended really well.
“Our back six collectively were really good, led by Ryan Marks-Logan. We lost our full back (Joel O’Sullivan) in the first five minutes. Josh Westerman, Rob Hill, Nathan Wright was back there for periods in the game and were terrific.
“Our mids were on top for most of the day – Whitfield, Rolfe and Pongracic had really good games and you could throw others into then mix that were really good over the course of the day.”
Dandenong’s win sends a message through the league that they’re a serious threat this season and have earned a great deal of respect in the process.
“Good to push our claims a bit more and continually get better and earn a bit of respect about the way we play and how we present ourselves,” Yeats said.
“Still got two really tough games coming up and we want to get better in the areas we’ve identify.
“Murray is in pretty good nick – they beat us earlier in the year so we’ve got our work cut out for us for sure.”
The Stingrays’ ruck woes should abate for their trip to Murray with Jake Calvert a certainty to play and Lewis Pierce in the mix to return from injury.
Dandenong has a bye this weekend before facing Murray on 19 August.
The Dandenong Stingrays will announce their best team at a business lunch on Friday at the Dingley International Hotel. Tickets are still available for $90 per person with more information available from Mark Wheeler at Mark.Wheeler@aflvic.com.au.
Dandenong Stingrays
4.2 6.8 10.10 15.13(103)
North Ballarat Rebels
2.2 4.3 7.5 12.7(79)
Dandenong Stingrays Goals: L. Whitfield 3, R. Morrison 3, N. Wright 2, C. McCartney 2, W. Hartung 2, B. Rolfe, J. Hammond, J. Pickess. Best: R. Marks-Logan, R. Hill, B. Rolfe, L. Whitfield, N. Tuddenham, J. Pongracic.
North Ballarat Rebels Goals: J. Neade 4, L. Herbert 3, N. Rippon 2, T. Lockyer, J. Murphy, T. Smith. Best: K. Hendy, M. Gleeson, N. Rippon, M. Crouch, J. Neade, T. Smith.
