Dandenong star Luke Parker was among four Stingrays named in the TAC Cup Team of the Year on By Paul Pickering
IT was a banner night for the Dandenong Stingrays at the Morrish Medal count on Sunday.
Sixteen-year-old sensation Luke Parker capped a brilliant TAC Cup season with a top-five finish in the best and fairest count, polling 16 votes to finish equal-fourth behind Northern Knights midfielder Anton Woods (24) and Geelong pair Ben Cunnington and Allen Cristensen (both 17).
Parker was also named beside team-mates Tom Scully, Ryan Bastinac and Levi Casboult in the TAC Cup Team of the Year, giving the Stingrays more representatives in the elite 22-player group than any other club.
Scully, who made his second All-Australian under-18 team this year, scored his first Team of the Year berth as ruck-rover, while co-captain Bastinac was named on the wing and Casboult and Parker on the interchange.
Dandenong has never had more than four players in the Team of the Year, and the strong showing will give the Rays some added confidence ahead of their preliminary final clash with Geelong this Saturday.
For Parker, a former Langwarrin junior and soon-to-be AIS-AFL Academy member, the accolades will stamp him as a potential first-round draft pick in 2010.
The bottom-age midfielder/forward was a revelation for the Rays this season, kicking 34 goals in his 19 games, while ranking second in the competition for contested possessions and third for hard-ball gets.
Stingrays region manager Darren Flanigan described Parker’s high finish as a ‘super effort’.
“He just got better and better as the year went on,” Flanigan reflected.
“And he plays a style of game that’s going to get him under the notice of the umpires week-in week-out.”
Meanwhile, Casboult, who returned as a mature-age player this season on the basis of interest from AFL recruiters, has been one of the most dominant big men in the competition. The 19-year-old ruck/forward finished first in the league for contested marks, fourth for goals (38) and fifth for total hit-outs, despite playing just his fourth season of Aussie Rules.
“It’s a really good story,” he said.
“We thought there wasn’t much point bringing him back, because he dominated the ruck so much last year, but most of the recruiters wanted to see him in a key-position role.
“He’s got such a strong work ethic and he’s such a competitive kid by nature, so it’s no surprise that he was able to step up.”
Co-captains Scully and Bastinac played just 18 TAC Cup games between them this season due to school commitments, but secured their spots on the back of strong showings in the National Under-18 Championships.
