Stingrays lick their wounds

By Jarrod Potter
NARROW losses are this season becoming a sore point for the Dandenong Stingrays.
Separated by a 62-point drubbing of North Ballarat, Dandenong has taken one-point losses against Gippsland and another last Saturday against Geelong to leave them eighth on the TAC Cup ladder.
Stingrays region manager Mark Wheeler thinks the Stingrays will avert their narrow loss trend by working hard on the training track.
“We went through (the losses) last night at training,” Wheeler said. “We’re winning the stats we want to win, it’s a mindset with the boys and we think we’ve addressed it.
“The break has come at a good time and has probably just let everyone clear their heads. No one is panicking about it; we’re just not kicking the right amount of goals.”
The positives from the Falcons game are what Wheeler and the Stingrays lads have focused on.
“Nick Haynes was exceptional pushing up the ground,” Wheeler said. “He can play a Nick Riewoldt type game and might eventually get pushed down back to test himself. Adam Giobbi played his position really well and Corey Buchan, Jordan Kelly and Robert Hill were great across the backline.”
Dandenong ruckmen Stewart Damon and Lewis Pierce fought valiantly against the Falcons’ big man Cameron Tudor, but were muscled aside by Tudor’s strength.
“We definitely struggled in the ruck; we were smashed in the hitouts,” Wheeler said.
Dandenong return after the Easter holiday to face the Oakleigh Chargers at Shepley Oval on 30 April, but the Stingrays might be without AIS representatives Todd Elton, Matt Buntine and Lachie Whitfield, returning from the AIS tour of Europe.
“It’s too taxing on the boys’ bodies to come back from Europe and play immediately. We’ll listen to the AIS coaches to see where the boys are at and assess it from there,” Wheeler said.
Despite the uncertainty over the availability of this trio, Dandenong will nonetheless be in a good position to win.
“We’re pretty confident going into the game with Oakleigh; they have a lot of private school kids that they will miss, so it will test their depth,” Wheeler said.