Hapless Panthers left to wonder

By Ben Hope
MELBOURNE’S fierce storms left the Dandenong Panthers wondering what might have been after their final round game against Fitzroy-Doncaster was abandoned on Saturday.
Panthers captain Darren Dempsey said the draw was a disappointing final-game result after Dandenong made a solid start to its 329-run chase to finish 2/139 when the storms hit.
“I was disappointed that we couldn’t see what might have happened at the end of the day,” Dempsey said.
“We were pretty much on track, apart from losing a couple early that was exactly what we wanted to do. We had a good partnership going, which would have left us close to making the runs by the end of the game.
“It’s a real shame the once-in-a-thousand-year storm stopped us. We were setting ourselves up for a big end to the season and now we will never know.”
After losing Tom Donnell (0) and James Nanopoulos (21) early on, a partnership between Dempsey (63) and Brett Forsyth (47) had the Panthers back on track. The two points for the draw left Dandenong 10th on the ladder, only six points behind eighth Prahran.
For Dempsey the weekend’s disappointment was overshadowed by several poor performances since Christmas.
“As far as the season went, the disappointing part was not so much losing on the weekend but losing so many games after Christmas,” he said.
“We lost games against Richmond, Footscray and Hawthorn that we shouldn’t have. That was where it all went wrong.
“We had plenty of opportunity to win some games and we didn’t, it’s just the way it goes.”
Since winning the 2006-07 premiership the Panthers have had a relatively unimpressive few seasons. But Dempsey predicts a resurgence next season as younger players gain experience.
“We had six debutantes this year in the firsts, which is a lot, but it should stand us in better stead for next year,” Dempsey said.
“From the 06/07 premiership side we have only three players still in the team. There are a lot of new faces and it has been a challenge to keep a consistent team out in the park.
“We are still a good side on paper, but we are still a young side. Statistically this year we were miles away from where we needed to be to play finals but we were still in with a chance.”
This season the Panthers lacked a bowler who took more than five wickets in an innings and there were only two batters (Dempsey and Fairbanks) who scored a century.
“Teams that finished 18th on the ladder had better statistics than that,” Dempsey said.
“Last year at the presentation night I said we needed to improve 10 per cent. I think we went back 10 per cent this year. Next year we will need to improve 20 per cent to be where we need to be.”
Looking to next season Dempsey said his side was not expecting to lose any players and should be in a good position to hit the ground running.
“Last year we lost a couple of players but I don’t see that this year, we can head into the first game with pretty much the same squad,” he said.
“We will be looking for a few guys from the seconds to try and put some pressure on. I think the club will need to recruit a couple of batters, but we will see what next season brings.”