Brett O’Hanlon was best on ground for his four goals in the Stingrays 67-point victory over the Eastern Ranges. 69336 Picture: Jarrod PotterTACEASTDAN_69336_60.jpg:
By Jarrod Potter
Dandenong’s Jason Pongracic eludes the grasp of the pursuing Eastern Ranges defender. 69336
THE late-season run of victories continued for the Dandenong Stingrays on Sunday when they beat the Eastern Ranges by 67 points.
The battle between Eastern’s Jonathon Patton and Dandenong’s Piva Wright was firmly won by the latter as Patton struggled to get the football and sprayed the limited opportunities he had in front of goals.
At the other end, Brett O’Hanlon drilled four goals in a best-on-ground performance in addition to streaming up the ground to provide good link-up on the wings.
The first quarter saw the Stingrays hit the lead, keeping the Ranges scoreless as the Dandenong engine room pushed the ball out at will.
Lewis Pierce, returning from private school duties and a senior club debut for Mt Eliza, won a lot of hit-outs against Ranges ruckman Leif Cope to give first chance to the Stingrays’ midfielders.
The midfield popped up for goals as Lachie Whitfield (three goals) Alex Benbow and Jason Pongracic (two each) made the most of their chances when resting forward.
With all the possession in the second, the Ranges failed to capitalise on opportunity, as they kicked 1.5 to the Stingrays’ 1.2 and were unable to punish Dandenong for its lacklustre performance in that quarter.
The third saw Dandenong start to move away again on the scoreboard, as Pongracic kicked his double in the quarter and O’Hanlon grabbed his second with the Stingrays taking a 30-point margin into the last break.
Any threat of the Ranges coming back after the last break was dissipated immediately with Dandenong pumping six-goals-to-none in the fourth term to run out 11-goal winners.
Best for the Stingrays were O’Hanlon and Nick Haynes up forward, Piva Wright and Robert Hill in the backline and Pongracic and Nathan Wright streaming through the centre.
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats was impressed with the collective effort of the group.
“The goals we set for the players we executed well,” Yeats said. “We’re working hard to be a selfless team.
“In the last five weeks, we’ve generally improved in a lot of areas, so going into September, that’s a positive sign for us.”
While the highlighted six best were impressive for Dandenong, Yeats thought the contributions across the board made it difficult to select only a few.
“When you struggle to fit six in the best and reckon you could put 20 in, that’s a real reward for the coaching group,” he said.
“We had a really even contribution and that’s what we strive for every week.
“Brett O’Hanlon was really good and his energy was outstanding.
“Piva Wright, in his one-on-one contests, was really good.
“Nathan Wright and Jason Pongracic, as bottom agers, really stood up for us, with a lot of hard grunt work through the midfield and push forward and help us in that area.”
The Stingrays move to fifth on the TAC Cup ladder.
With a win over the Bendigo Pioneers this weekend and the Western Jets losing to Sandringham, they would move up to fourth and earn a finals double-chance.
