Rays rout Rebels

By Jarrod Potter
THE DANDENONG Sting-rays bounced back from a disappointing round one loss to score a convincing win over the North Ballarat Rebels by 62 points.
The Stingrays were rarely troubled by the Rebels at Eureka Stadium as the margin blew out. Dandenong key forward Nick Haynes bagged four goals in a dominant display in front of the sticks.
Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats was rapt with his players’ efforts and the way they rebounded from last week’s one-point loss.
“To get a win against the Rebels on any given day at Eureka Stadium means we must have worked hard,” Yeats said. “They are a quality team and hard to beat at home.”
Best on field for the Stingrays were backline runners Robert Hill, Jordan Kelly and co-captain Matt Buntine, Haynes with his four goals and running ball magnets Corey Buchan and Billy Rolfe.
Dandenong will look to continue the form that saw them beat the Rebels, but the Geelong Falcons are also raring for a good scrap when the two sides play at Highgate Reserve, Craigieburn, on Saturday.
Stingrays region manager Mark Wheeler thinks the Stingrays have improved dramatically and eliminated the simple goalkicking errors which plagued their match against Gippsland.
“It (the goalkicking issue) has taken care of itself. It was very windy at Eureka Stadium, with a big left to right breeze making things difficult,” Wheeler said.
“There were a couple of easy misses, but nothing like the Gippsland game. We’ve had more goalkicking practice to get rid of those mistakes.”
The Stingrays lose four players to the Australian Institute of Sport football tour – Buntine, Todd Elton, Lachie Whitfield and recent AIS inclusion Jason Pongracic, who was invited after a spot became available.
Wheeler says the Dandenong forwards are coming along nicely and the tall timber filling in for Elton is ready to go.
“Nick Haynes is finally showing a bit, kicking four goals on the weekend. Brett O’Hanlon is doing good work after being hampered by a four to six week setback in the pre-season,” Wheeler said.
“Stewart Damon will take more time in the ruck this week with Elton on AIS duty, which means Lewis Pierce comes in for his first run out of the development team.”
MEANWHILE the Falcons have started the year at 1-1, with a round one win against Murray Bushrangers and a loss to the Western Jets last weekend.
Geelong Falcons region manager Michael Turner says the team has learned a lot from the first two matches of the year.
“We were happy with our first game against Murray Bushrangers and I thought the boys played well,” Turner said.
“Saturday night at Highgate Reserve was difficult. The Western Jets played better footy than us and the conditions didn’t suit our kids. The windy and wet conditions didn’t help our lighter built players.
“We were within two or three goals at certain stages against the Jets, so we just need a bit of consistency from our players to see improvement.”
Turner thinks the Falcons have the bodies necessary to match up on Stingrays forwards O’Hanlon and Haynes, which will make for an exciting match.
“We’ve got talls who can cover Dandenong’s talls,” Turner said.
“Andrew Boseley is our full back and we’ve also got George Curnow at centre-half back, whose brother Ed is playing for Carlton this year.
“Dandenong is a very good region and they’ve always been great rivals of ours. It should be a very interesting game.”