By Jarrod Potter
TAC CUP – ROUND 10
THE highly-charged, regional rivalry continued between Dandenong and Gippsland ended in a 21-point triumph for the Stingrays.
An early arm-wrestle was eventually claimed by Dandenong, putting to bed the demons of round two when Gippsland absolutely flogged the Stingrays in a start-of-the-year reality check.
While the rosters were completely different this time around, the other turnaround from that season opener was the Stingrays’ resolve.
CLICK HERE for the full gallery of Saturday’s TAC Cup clash between Dandenong and Gippsland.
It didn’t start that way though, as the Power began where it left off against the Rays last time around – booting four first term goals and making the most of their possession as Leigh Brown’s charges took on the play and hit each other up expertly.
The run-and-carry from Aloysio Ferreira, Josh Patullo, Deven Costigan and Kade Renooy made early in-roads against the Dandenong midfield and forced the Rays to clamp down.
“Get up, get aggressive, enjoy the contest, “Gippsland Power coach Leigh Brown said at quarter time. “Pressure is keeping us in it – be strong, aggressive in the contest and pick up their defensive transition… and take a few more risk coming through the middle.”
Even though the home side was challenged early – a carbon copy of that season-opening loss to Gippsland – the Stingrays dug deep and fought through the tough patch to get on top in the second half.
Dandenong’s attack in the third quarter shifted the match – with Jake Di Pasquale, Kurt Mutimer and Bailey Rice all relishing the hard-ball and copping their whacks in the process.
But the midfield’s hard resolve set up the likes of Shannon Gladman and James Freeman (four goals each) as well as the skipper Lachlan Williams (two goals) – who had one of his best matches in the Stingrays colours.
Even with a flotilla of new faces – including debutants Max Kleverkamp, Rob Turnbull and Ryan Odell – Dandenong was able to surge past the Power to take its fourth win in a row.
“We had a really good win – the boys played well and at half-time I wasn’t really sure,” Black said. “It was about 50/50, but the boys tackled a bit harder and were harder around the contest and just got on top of them.”
Praising his forward contingent, Black thought James Freeman and Harry Prior were sensational in shutting down the Power.
“I thought Harry Prior was really good for us today (Saturday) – took probably six or seven marks for us and five or maybe even all of them were contested,” Black said.
Gippsland was well served as usual by Bunyip forward/midfielder Tom Papley(four goals) while Pakenham’s Jai Rout (two goals) held his own on debut to snag a couple of goals as the 23rd man.
Highlighting the Dandenong depth of the squad this year, Black thought it was incredible the side is able to bounce back after losing a number of players to representative duties – which was indicative of a supremely strong roster.
“It’s always a tough time of the year when you lose a lot of kids to Vic Country, but it just goes to show the depth of our talent really,” Black said. “We actually said this year there are a lot of kids that in previous years would have made our squad and even those guys would have been on the fringe and would’ve been starting in our 22 every week, but we’ve just got a pretty strong list this year and it definitely helps out this time of year.”
Dandenong hosts North Ballarat in a battle for top of the TAC Cup ladder on Saturday from 1.30pm.
TAC CUP
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 3.4 7.5 12.8 16.13 (109)
GIPPSLAND POWER 4.4 6.7 9.10 13.10 (88)
DANDENONG Goals: J. Freeman 4, S. Gladman 4, L. Williams 2, K. Mutimer, T. Young, B. Rice, L. Batten, J. Di Pasquale, M. La Fontaine. Best: H. Prior, J. Freeman, S. Gladman, B. Kiely, J. Di Pasquale, L. McKay. GIPPSLAND Goals: T. Papley 4, B. Dessent 2, J. Rout 2, E. Park 2, T. Hobbs, D. Costigan, L. Robinson. Best: T. Hobbs, D. Costigan, J. Patullo, T. Papley, K. Renooy, B. Dessent.
