By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – ROUND 9
EVEN with a fleet of fresh faces – in one of its youngest teams put on the park in recent years – Dandenong Stingrays had the legs to outrun the Knights and take a triumphant 19-point victory.
Dandenong was jumped early – as Northern seized its chances with the wind to boot five first-term goals – leaving the Stingrays to receive an almighty spray at the first break from the coaching staff.
After the pep-talk, the Rays went back to basics and with the wind at their back, started to chip away at the Knights’ tally.
One player who did get a bit of a rattling was returning defender/midfielder Lachlan Batten – who had to pass a concussion test in the first quarter after being crunched. However from that point on he was dynamite – opening up his account in a big way in the second as he booted three goals as a crumbing forward before he was switched to his more customary defensive post – excelling from the last line with precision kick outs.
Batten’s haul was part of a rampaging six-goal effort from the Rays to go from deficit to a 21-point margin at half time.
While the wind was an ally through the first half, both Knights and Stingrays alike struggled to kick away with the stiff breeze after the main break.
Dandenong clamped down on Northern’s attack through the third term – setting up the win by booting three goals of its own against the strong winds.
Cox, Jake Di Pasquale and Zak Roscoe rallied through the centre to set up the rear-guard attack and while the wind did Dandenong no favours in the last term, the Rays were able to hold off the Knights’ final charge to take the 14.11 (95) to 11.10 (76) triumph.
“We had seven changes and two kids playing their first game and another two playing their second and another two on top of that coming back from five-six weeks out with injury, so we always knew it was going to be pretty tough,” Stingrays coach Craig Black said.
“There were very windy conditions so we were pretty proud of the boys getting a win today (Saturday).”
Key defender Brandon White was exceptional – brushing aside concerns of an arm injury from last week’s national championships match to spoil the Knights’ forward entries.
He also roamed through the midfield – running off his man easily – to set up a few goals late in the clash.
“I thought Whitey was clearly our best player,” Black said.
“He was reading it out of the back-line and is a really penetrating kick – the way he kicked the ball to the forwards was really important for us.”
Also excelling were ruckman-forward-defender-everyman Harry Prior, midfielder and handy-forward option Mitch Cox (3 goals) and last-line-of-defence Jordan Rouse.
As of Sunday morning, the Stingrays sit third on the TAC Cup ladder with a 6-2 record heading into the Queen’s Birthday long-weekend bye.
Dandenong will host Gippsland Power on 13 June from 1pm.
TAC CUP
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 2.2 8.7 11.9 14.11 (95)
NORTHERN KNIGHTS 5.3 5.4 8.7 11.10 (76)
Dandenong Stingrays Goals: M. Cox 3, L. Batten 3, Z. Roscoe 2, D. Warke 2, J. Freeman 2, P. Raso, K. Beveridge. Best: B. White, H. Prior, M. Cox, L. Batten, J. Rouse, J. Freeman.
Northern Knights Goals: K. Malone 4, M. Ercolano 2, B. Jordan 2, C. Roberts, S. Peet, A. Capeci. Best: K. Malone, M. Ercolano, S. Peet, M. Blakey, L. McVeigh, B. Jordan.
