Freak show

By Gavin Staindl
HE is 193cm. Can run 100 metres in under 11 seconds. Can jump higher than Trent Croad’s record-breaking vertical leap of 83cm and on Thursday night he helped his Dandenong team tear apart Cerberus.
Cedric Legrand is described as a “freak” by his coach Brendan Allen and between Legrand and Bradley Rae, Dandenong thrashed Cerberus 16.10 (106) to 5.14 (44) at Newcomen Road.
While the Anzac medallist Legrand (awarded best on ground) was chasing down players from 20 metres away and veteran Rae was bullying the Cerberus defenders with his five goals, the rest of the Redlegs outfit were creating havoc of their own.
Allen and Shane Paul were both important while Scott Murphy sacrificed his game to shutdown opposition midfielders.
David Barrie had the acid placed on him by Allen to perform and he responded while David McKean and Damien Busch also made it into the best on ground.
In perfect conditions for night football, Dandenong ran away with the match in the second quarter kicking six goals to one and apart from a brief moment in the third quarter, never looked like giving up the lead.
“We put the hammer down in the second quarter,” said Allen. “There was a little patch in the third quarter where we were not switched on mentally and physically. It was a hot night and I think we may have been drained a bit but I gave them a spray at three quarter time and they responded well.”
“In the first week we had 12 new blokes who didn’t gel … on Thursday night we started to click,” Allen said.
The win excites Allen who has been waiting for the moment when the players begin to work as a team rather than individuals.
“In the first week, and in a half last week against Doveton we played like individuals but on Thursday night it was a four-quarter effort and we played like a team,” Allen said.
The Redlegs are looking to take the “good feeling” that comes with the first win of the season into next week when they play the winless Sandown.
Sandown had their chances to scrape their first win of the season last Saturday but a poor fourth quarter opened the doors for rivals Doveton to run away with the match 6.11 (47) to 10.14 (74) at Edinburgh Reserve.
After fighting back from a goal down at half time, Sandown led by three points heading into the final break but a scoreless final term allowed Doveton to pull away with the win.
Lyndale are quickly discovering that they are playing out of their depth in division two with another trashing leaving them at the bottom of the ladder without a win and with only nine percentage points to cling to.
Highett shot out to a 59-point lead in the first quarter and matters only got worse as Lyndale surrendered 2.3 (15) to 29.24 (198) at Barry Powell Reserve.
The local division one teams both had losses with Dingley going down to Tooronga Malvern 10.12 (72) to 8.9 (57) at Dunlop Reserve, while Springvale Districts were outclassed by Heatherton 16.8 (104) to 6.14 (50) at Ross Street Reserve.