Dandenong will likely lose star defender Nathan Wright, from Berwick, with a sore hamstring for their qualifying final against the Gippsland Power this weekend. 84891 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
A POWERHOUSE six-goal-to-none last quarter from the Dandenong Stingrays helped set up another clash against their Princes Highway rival in the TAC Cup qualifying final – the Gippsland Power.
Dandenong had to fight it out in the maelstrom of Highgate Reserve on Saturday, battling against the howling wind, but the Stingrays held strong through goals to Jake Calvert (Narre Warren), Matt Rennie and Jordan Bastinac (Berwick) who roved the pack masterfully nearing quarter time.
Five majors to Geelong gave them a 13-point advantage at the first break and the Stingrays failed to capitalise with the monstrous zephyr – kicking only two goals through Lachie Whitfield and Josh Newman as the Falcons locked down the game to take a nine-point lead at the main break.
With some fiery words from coach Greame Yeats to keep them warm against the wind, the Stingrays locked the Falcons out of the forward line – the back unit forced every gain from Geelong to be hard-earned and force them wide at every opportunity.
Dandenong scored through Hartung late in the quarter, but the Falcons still held an 11-point lead, but the wind in the last quarter is worth it’s weight in gold at Highgate Reserve and the Stingrays cashed in.
The Falcons remained goalless for the last term as the running Stingrays went to town on the scoreboard – Rennie, Whitfield, big man Lewis Pierce, Scott, Hartung and Nick Newman made sure the team wouldn’t slip down the ladder and ran home with a 27-point win.
“It was a pretty gutsy win,” Yeats said. ‘Playing a pretty handy team who have come off some pretty good wins, but we’ve been really competitive and with the win it sures up the top four and guarantees us two weeks of finals.”
Yeats’ charges used their age, experience and most importantly – their strength – to ensure the points came back with the Stingrays on the ride home.
“There’s no question they (Geelong) are playing a lot of 17-year-olds and our stronger bodies at the end of the day wore them down.
“We kept up our run, which is their absolute strength, and I thought for most of the game we matched them in that area which is really good going forward.”
In the coach’s best were his on-field generals – Whitfield, with 26 touches and two goals continuing his exceptional last year in the TAC Cup, Billy Rolfe and co-captains Jason Pongracic and Nick Tuddenham while Hartung was also among the best with 30 touches and two goals.
Berwick’s Nathan Wright, who received his draft letter to head to the National Combine later this season, was taken off and iced up before half time with a sore hamstring. With a couple of bad corkies sustained, the Stingrays were left with one rotation and a 16-year-old with 23rd man restrictions on the bench, to make a sweet win even sweeter.
