Stingrays suffer as

By Jarrod Potter
GALE-FORCE winds were matched by unrelenting pressure that saw the Dandenong Stingrays beaten by 50 points by the Calder Cannons.
The howling winds at Highgate Reserve in Craigieburn on Saturday made kicking to the grandstand end nearly impossible. The only scores to that end came from the Cannons in the first and third quarters.
With play handicapped in one direction, all the action took place towards the city end as players opted to thump the ball long with reckless abandon.
Dandenong was unable to apply any scoreboard pressure, with the Cannons pouncing on loose balls in defence and running them forward with ease. Two scoreless quarters, both to the grandstand end, were particularly disappointing for the Stingrays as Calder went wild up the other end.
The only positive was the Stingrays’ third quarter in which they kicked 6.3 and used the wind effectively. Aaron Lees kicked three in the quarter, switched up forward to provide a marking target for Dandenong and he got delivery from Lachlan Wallace and Andrew Vella, on debut.
Calder kicked away in the last quarter, whitewashing the Stingrays 6.7 to nil, with the Cannons surely ruing their inaccuracy in front of goals.
Cannons forward Jack Sheahan kicked four goals to be best on ground, with able help from Liam McBean and Damien Bugeja.
While there is a listed best on ground for Dandenong, Stingrays head coach Graeme Yeats said no one particularly deserved to be on it.
“I honestly said to the players, I couldn’t say there was one player who deserved to be in our better players,” Yeats said.
“It’s a damning thing to say about your group, but I can’t think of anyone who had significant impact on the game.”
While not helped by a late injury to co-captain Alex Benbow, or the unavailability of Vic Country representatives, Yeats said it should not matter.
“I don’t look at that and think, ‘I wish I had those nine blokes (Vic Country representatives) playing’,” Yeats said.
“We can say we had 12 out of our best 22 not playing, but we had 22 kids out there that needed to play better.
“We didn’t get that and that’s the thing I’m p….d off about.
“They’re not bending their backs and working hard enough for each other.”
As a consolation, Yeats said it was promising to get match experience into some new players, with the Stingrays giving Andrew Dean, Andrew Vella and Damien Lawrence their debut games.
“The positive is we’re giving a go to some kids who otherwise wouldn’t get a game, because of all our injuries and outs.”
The loss pushes Dandenong down to 10th on the ladder, a game outside the eight.
The Stingrays face the 11th-placed Murray Bushrangers on Saturday.