By JARROD POTTER
A THREE-quarter effort from Dandenong was enough to put away the Sandringham Dragons by 70 points and will mostly please the coaching staff despite a horror third term. Put a tick in the box for their opening half and their final term – the Stingrays outscored the Dragons by a whopping 104 to 19 in those three quarters – with numerous winners across all lines including Cranbourne key forward Nathan Gardiner, who booted five goals.
Everything was primed for a 100-plus point win following a strong second term and a handy 49-point lead at the major break, with AIS/AFL graduate Billy Hartung kicking the Stingrays ninth goal of the match after the half-time siren.
The brakes firmly went on the Dandenong advance in the third term and left a lot to be desired as the Stingrays coughed up four goals on the Sandringham overlap to leave the match in the balance with a 34-point lead.
Dandenong’s performance was so lacklustre, coach Graeme Yeats dragged his charges away from the trainers and supporters at the final change and let fire with one of his well-noted, infamous sprays.
His words must’ve lit the fire under the backsides of the troops as Dandenong woke up from their 30-minute self-induced slumber to slay the Dragons convincingly.
Goals sailed through at whim as the Stingrays struck the scoreboard rapidly – Gardiner reaped three of his five majors through a mixture of strong marking and groundwork that will have impressed the likes of Kevin ’Shifter’ Sheehan and other talent scouts strolling the Shepley Oval boundary.
Others to impress in the eventual landslide victory were the captain Nathan Foote and Berwick pair Jordan Bastinac and Jake Wilson.
“This was another very good team performance, apart from a lapse in the third quarter,” Yeats said.
“It was a very strong wind and it was a strong first quarter defensive spread, but they got us in the third.
“We may have taken our foot off a little, which we spoke about after the game.
“I felt we continued to build on last game’s team effort, really happy we had a spread of goal kickers and we are getting games into players who have been injured or missing.”
The Stingrays move into double-chance territory, claiming fourth on the TAC Cup ladder with eight wins and six losses, and head up the Western Freeway to face the North Ballarat Rebels at Eureka Stadium on Saturday from 1pm.
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
Dandenong Stingrays 5.3 9.8 11.9 17.15 (107)
Sandringham Dragons 2.0 2.1 6.5 7.5 (37)
DANDENONG STINGRAYS Best: J. Wilson, J. Pickess, N. Foote, B. Egan, N. Gardiner, J. Bastinac. Goals: N. Gardiner 5, B. Egan 5, J. Lonie 2, W. Hartung, M. Rennie, J. Freeman. SANDRINGHAM DRAGONS Best: A. Hodges, N. Peterson, L. Marchetti, M. Manteit, L. Daidone, C. Kelso. Goals: N. Peterson 3, B. Maynard, C. Cathcart.
