Report by Mitch Brown
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays have fallen to the in-form Geelong Falcons in a demoralising 45-point loss at Shepley Oval on Sunday afternoon.
After a promising start to the game, the Stingrays never posed a genuine threat to the rampant Falcons, who led by 29 points or more at every change, and ran out the game 20.10 (130) to 12.13 (85).
Dandenong’s second consecutive loss places them in third position on the ladder, below the two teams who have bested them over the past two rounds - Geelong and Murray.
And with another long road trip to face a dangerous Bendigo outfit, who comfortably accounted for the Sandringham Dragons on Saturday, the Stingrays are suddenly faced with a big challenge to maintain its premiership favouritism.
The Stingrays were certainly not helped by a raft of injuries throughout the match, with defensive leaders Mason DeWit and Oscar Clavarino going down within minutes of the opening siren.
Matthew LaFontaine was also struck down, and sent straight to hospital for fear of a kidney concern, while Liam McKay ended the game on crutches after an ankle injury- all before the first siren sounded.
Despite the rooms looking like a war zone after the game, coach Craig Black was determined to find the good in the bad.
“I feel like [Geelong’s] intensity just hung on for a little longer than ours did, and whether that was because we had a couple of injuries, I don’t use that as an excuse.
“There was [sic] some exciting plays that we tried in the second half, and our ball movement off half-back allowed us to get a few goals.
“We’ve just got to…tighten up in some of the areas that let us down.”
One of those areas would have to be decision-making under pressure, with several Stingray players making some bad calls, resulting in Geelong scoring off the rebound.
With the exception of a tough opening five minutes, Dandenong were behind right from the start, with Geelong hitting targets and maintaining
possession beautifully, booting five first-quarter goals to set the tone of the match, while the Stingrays were inefficient and undisciplined, and failed to score a goal.
On the wrong end of a 29-point deficit at the first change, Dandenong, to their credit, did lift their workrate, and started to show flashes of the side that fought their way to a 6-0 start to the 2016 season.
Unfortunately for their opposition, the Falcons had brought their A-game to Shepley, and every time the Stingrays looked like making headway, Geelong would respond with a goal.
The Dandenong defence were struggling against the multi-faceted Geelong attack, the engine room was simply being outplayed, and the Stingrays’ power forwards – Josh Battle, Sam Fowler, Danny Allsop and Tom DeKoning – had just one goal between them at half-time.
Allsop was added to the injury list, finishing the second half on the pine, with DeKoning and Dewit forced to remain on the ground with limited movement.
Accuracy in front of goal was also telling – the Stingrays had registered just two fewer scoring shots than their opposition, yet trailed 4.6 (30) to 11.2 (68) at the main break.
The third quarter carried on the trends of the first two – the Stingrays looking promising, but the Falcons were good enough to keep them at bay.
Draft prospect Josh Battle popped up after a quiet second half to boot two goals and keep his team in the hunt, while Myles Poholke and Nathan Scagliarini gave their all in the midfield, and Dylan Atkins put forward his case to be Dandenong’s #1 ruckman with a dominant 37 hitouts, however the Stingrays still went into the final break 32 points down.
This deficit would prove too much for Dandenong to overcome, despite another two goals from Josh Battle and some rousing half-back run from Reece Piper and Bailey Morrish, giving up top spot on the ladder and sliding to a 6-2 record.
The Stingrays will now head to Echuca to take on the Bendigo Pioneers without a few of their big names, with the likes of Josh Battle, Reece Piper, Tom Jok, Oscar Clavarino, Myles Poholke, Sam Fowler, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Mitch McCarthy, all selected in the 2016 Vic Country Under 18 squad, whose championship defence kicks off against Western Australia on Sunday.
Dandenong’s game kicks off at 11.30am at Victoria Park, Echuca, with several debutants certain to get their first taste of TAC Cup action.
Last Modified on 03/06/2016 21:30