Report by Mitch Brown
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays have shown no signs of slowing down their brilliant 2016 campaign, annihilating the Northern Knights by 99 points at Shepley Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The Stingrays were simply too good at every turn, with the rock-solid back six keeping the Knights to just seven goals for the day, while the rampant Dandenong forward line had a field day, finishing the day 24.10 (154) to 7.13 (55).
Defensive stalwarts Reece Piper and Mason DeWit were predictably terrific, supplying cool heads under the pressure of the Northern forward line, while experimenting with Matthew LaFontaine’s position around the ground paid handsome dividends too.
Myles Poholke also had another game of highlights, collecting 24 disposals, with 5 clearances and 6 inside-50s, while ball magnet Tommy Glen picked up 22 touches of his own, with another 8 clearances to add to his tally.
Up forward, Tom DeKoning was simply unbelievable, booting 9 goals straight and outplaying the Northern defence constantly. He was well-supported by his band of small forwards too, with Sam Fowler (5 goals), Danny Allsop (3 goals) and Charlie Martello (2 goals) all chiming in to trouble the scorers.
Despite the spectacular win, Coach Craig Black admitted post-game that he and his squad are still striving for improvement wherever possible.
“One of the good things about winning games of footy is that it puts pressure on the list.
“I think we’ve played 35 players this year, which is probably more than we have played [in the past]. And we can win by 99 points, but there’s still people who aren’t playing, putting pressure on these guys, so it makes people hungry for spots, which is really good.”
In spite of the poor end result, the Knights did start the match quite well, matching the Stingrays every step of the way. There was plenty of hard tackling and run from both sides, and at quarter time the margin was a slender 5 points.
The second quarter was, however, an absolute bloodbath. Dandenong slammed on 9 goals for the quarter, with Tom DeKoning and Sam Fowler both simply unstoppable.
Down back, the Stingray defence was also flexing their muscles, restricting Northern to one measly goal for the quarter, thanks largely to the likes of Bailey Morrish, Reece Piper and Mason de Wit, all of whom stopped the Knights’ attack dead in its tracks with plenty of contested possessions and rebounds.
With the margin 57 points at half-time, the Knights knew that they had their work cut out for them to stay in the match. Starting the quarter well with two quick goals, they managed to sway some momentum their way and for the first time all day, the Stingrays looked as though they were in a bit of a panic.
Unfortunately for Northern, it was their inaccuracy in front of goal (a result of the swirling Dandenong wind) that really hurt them, adding another 5 behinds for the quarter to slump to a 51 point deficit at the last break.
From there on, the Stingrays set about truly burying their opposition with another brilliant 9-goal-to-1 quarter. Tom DeKoning and Sam Fowler each booted another two goals each, to bring their totals to 9 and 5, respectively, while even the Dandenong defenders joined the goalkicking party as they were moved into the middle enjoying a bit more freedom playing as onballers.
The final margin (99 points) really spoke the story of the day, and of Dandenong’s season so far – total dominance.
But with an exhausting road trip to Wangaratta next week to tackle the in-form Murray Bushrangers, the challenge for the Stingrays is nowhere near over as they try to keep their fantastic season going.
Last Modified on 11/05/2016 20:40