By Hayley Wildes
TAC CUP
SEASON PREVIEW – DANDENONG STINGRAYS
Coach: Craig Black
Captains: Campbell Hustwaite and Mitch Riordan
Vice-captain: Sam Fletcher and Will Hamill
Leadership group: Matt and Stephen Cumming, Riley Bowman and Bailey Williams
2017 finish (W/L): Third in TAC Cup; 12 wins, 6 losses
2017 best and fairest: Hunter Clark
2017 leading goal kicker: Riley D’Arcy (39)
The Stingrays finished season 2017 in third, before being bundled out by the Geelong Falcons in the Preliminary Final.
With six players from the 2017 team joining AFL lists – including top 10 picks Luke Davies-Uniacke (#4) and Hunter Clark (#7) – there is a great opportunity for the next crop of young guns coming through to fill the void left by those stars.
Dandenong Stingrays Talent Manager, Mark Wheeler identified three Academy players – Bailey Williams, Riley Bowman and Sam Fletcher –as players to keep an eye on.
“Sam Fletcher is probably the one that is really jumping out because his last game of football was round three last year when he went down with a lacerated kidney.” Wheeler said. “He’s been a stand-out on the track and he’s a good size now (189cm) – he’ll probably play inside mid/half forward flanker roles.”
The Stingrays boast a deep list; one that Wheeler says is probably the deepest in recent memory. He talks about the positives and negatives of culling the training squad down to the final list.
“There’s a negative to the positive and the positive is that it means we’re developing football well in the zone, but the negative is that 10-15 young gentleman probably, in any other year, would’ve made our list.”
What type of game style can we expect to see from the ‘Rays in 2018? Wheeler explains.
“We’re a strong, aggressive tackling midfield team – that’s probably going to be our stand-out and something we’re going to pride ourselves on.” Wheeler said.
“We’ve got a lot of height – we’ve got six players at around 200cms, so we’re going to have a fair bit of height up and down the ground. It’s going to be quick movement – getting the ball in there quick to give our guys one-on-ones.”
If there is one player who looms as someone to keep an eye on, it’s Jake Frawley.
“Aaron Darling and Jake Frawley are coming back from serious ACL’s. If anyone can tackle him this year, good luck to them because I haven’t seen a player that strong in our competition for a long time. He’s got a great don’t argue, he’s a beast and definitely well-built.”
Coach Craig Black and his team have a way with developing promising young players full of potential into stars of the game. Expect that to continue in season 2018.
