Dandenong’s Josh Newman and Gippsland’s Anthony Tipungwuti fly for the footy in the Power’s come-from-behind qualifying final victory. 86654 Pictures: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
IT was hard to comprehend this outcome as it unfolded.
Dandenong had run over the top of Gippsland for three quarters – the run-and-carry from the midfield brigade of Lachie Whitfield, Jason Pongracic and Billy Rolfe had shuttled the ball forward with relative ease and the Stingrays held the Power scoreless in the first term to add pain to the problem.
Billy Hartung (three goals) and Whitfield (two goals) made most of the scoreboard gains for the Stingrays, with the tall forwards Jake Calvert and Matt Rennie (one) held relatively quiet by the Power defence.
Then carnage ensued.
Gippsland’s Ben Kearns (five goals) kicked four majors for the quarter to blitz Dandenong, with Tim Membrey (four goals) and Josh Scott also proving hard to stop aerially.
The Stingrays were held scoreless for the last term – mirroring the Power’s earlier barren quarter – with only three inside-50s to their name to show any form of offensive pressure.
Despite conceding its 34-point lead from the final break Dandenong remained in the match, but its final two thrusts forward late in the match failing to gain any points.
Clay McCartney ran into an open goal and sprayed his kick while Billy Rolfe had a long shot that also fell short.
It could’ve swayed back in Dandenong’s favour but in the end Kearns’ fourth of the term sealed the match and with it, Dandenong’s longer path through the semi-finals.
In for his fifth match of the season, Devon Meadows midfielder/forward James Harmes showed a lot of poise for an underage player and took the match on through the centre in the dominant Dandenong terms.
The backline held on for as long as it could under siege from countless Power forward thrusts in the fourth. Narre Warren defender Ryan Morrison did a stand-up job on Tim Membrey despite how it appears in the score-ledger, while Rob Hill and Ryan Marks-Logan repelled and set up in their usual manner.
Whitfield came off early in the fourth quarter with a bruised foot but doesn’t look in doubt for this week’s match against Oakleigh.
Dandenong assistant coach Craig Black said the force applied by the Stingrays in the last quarter didn’t match up and if they put that effort out on the park this week they’d be brought back to the pack.
“Obviously a disappointing result – I think we played good footy for three quarters and it was pretty obvious that they outworked us in the last quarter,” Black said.
“If we drop off our intensity in certain areas we’re just like any other pretty average team.
“They lifted their intensity and we struggled to get our hands on the footy a bit.”
PREVIEW
DANDENONG heads into its do-or-die final against the Oakleigh Chargers needing to fire on all cylinders early.
Nathan Wright is a hopeful return to the side – his link-up role across half-back making him Dandenong’s best 80-metre player and a crucial cog to moving the ball in transition.
The key match-ups for Dandenong are to negate Jack Billings and Kristian Jaksch – both hard-running midfielders who attract the ball seemingly at will.
On the flip side, stopping Dandenong’s midfielders is just as daunting – Whitfield, Pongracic, Rolfe and Clay McCartney will prove headache-inducing to stop.
Dandenong assistant coach Craig Black said Dandenong wasn’t worried about the opposition, instead focusing on improving its performance after the dismal effort in the last quarter against Gippsland.
“It’s more about how we can get ourselves up to play, as Oakleigh is a really good footy team,” Black said.
“We’ll go back and keep the guys refreshed and if we can keep that intensity – which we had for three quarters – we showed we’re a good enough team to play anyone, but if we drop that intensity we’re back to the field.”
The semi-final starts at 11.15am on Sunday at Visy Park, Carlton.
GIPPSLAND POWER 0.0 4.0 5.2 12.5 (77)
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 4.5 7.6 9.12 9.12 (66)
GIPPSLAND GOALS: B. Kearns 5, T. Membrey 4, W. Hams, J. Johnstone, M. Northe. BEST: N. Graham, J. Johnstone, R. Hall, S. Lange, L. Channing, A. Tipungwuti.
DANDENONG GOALS: W. Hartung 3, L. Whitfield 2, C. McCartney 2, J. Calvert, M. Rennie. BEST: W. Hartung, R. Morrison, R. Hill, R. Marks-Logan, J. Pongracic, J. Harmes.
