By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – QUALIFYING FINAL REVIEW
DID A TAC Cup final come down to a coin toss?
Dandenong reaped the benefits of a strange decision from Murray, who decided to kick against the wind in the first term and subsequently suffered a six-point loss.
Entering the clash without a pair of Vic Country national champions Brandon White (illness) or Kurt Mutimer (leg), the Stingrays had to alter its defensive and midfield structures but it didn’t seem to impede its finals run.
From the first bounce, the new-look midfield shone as Jack Holden sharked the tap and stormed forward. While it had first use of the gale-force winds buffeting the cemetery end at Princes Park … Dandenong didn’t particularly capitalise on it as they booted three goals and four behinds.
Harry Prior, Jake Di Pasquale and Travis Young – with the latter of these booting four goals in his best match yet in a Stingrays jumper – hit the scoreboard early and gave the Rays a 15-point break at the first change.
To Murray’s dismay, the wind completely died off in the second term and became a non-factor thereafter to negate any advantage it would have hoped to gain in the final quarter.
The country lads responded like any worthwhile Bushranger would though – robbing the Rays blind in the second term as the ball was driven long and square to the Murray forwards.
Keiran Collins and Jacob Weitering had their hands full with Josh Schache, but it was the Bushrangers around the highly touted forward that imposed themselves greatly on the clash.
Max Canfield, Jy Simpkin and Zachary Sproule proved the bigger headaches for the Rays defenders to contend with as Murray ran the ball and broke the lines at scintillating speed.
It was Simpkin and Clayton Oliver in particular that charged away with the pill and were difficult to apprehend and shouldn’t be surprised if they’re tapped on the shoulder by an AFL club at draft-time.
Dandenong’s tenacious tackling kept the side alive – in particular the leadership of Lachlan Williams, Lachie Batten and Harry Prior who clamped down on anything that passed by.
The Bushrangers threatened to steal the victory from the Rays as the last quarter surged towards Murray after an early goal from Young kept his side just in front.
Williams latched onto two Bushrangers holding-the-ball to keep the Rays in attack, but eventually Murray found a way out of the stoppages.
Dandenong tried to finesse the ball out of defence before a turnover allowed Canfield to bring the margin back to a point.
The defenders endured the barrage of Bushrangers streaming forward – including a match-saving smother by Bailey Rice only 30 metres from goal and a goal-line scramble saved by Daniel Capiron and Weitering – but eventually the defence conceded.
Keiran Collins gave away a 50-metre penalty for a late hit on Canfield, who easily slotted the shot from the square to put the Bushies ahead with the minutes ticking down.
The last 10 minutes were nerve-wracking for every Dandenong fan at Princes Park as the match lurched in Murray’s favour.
It took a mega-speccy from Jake Lovett to kick start Dandenong’s final fight-back. Lovett went for a shoulder-ride on a Bushrangers defender before hitting Jimmy Freeman with the ensuing kick. Freeman – who had just missed a set shot a couple of minutes earlier – redeemed himself with the match-winning major as Dandenong took the six-point triumph and with it, a much-needed bye.
“It was one of those days – was like a yo-yo and emotions were everywhere,” Dandenong coach Craig Black said.
“I thought we played pretty well during the day and that’s what we expected – thought it might go down to the 29-minute mark of the final quarter and it did.
“Luckily Lovey takes that mark and Jimmy kicks the goal.”
Black praised Weitering, Rice, Young and Gach Nyuon – who stood tall in his ruck battle against Murray captain Mitch King.
Dandenong will face the winner of Geelong or Eastern Ranges in the preliminary final at 11am on Saturday 19 September.
TAC CUP
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 3.4 6.8 8.10 10.13 (73)
MURRAY BUSHRANGERS 1.1 6.1 8.5 10.7 (67)
DANDENONG STINGRAYS Goals: T. Young 4, J. Battle 2, L. Williams, H. Prior, J. Freeman, J. Di Pasquale. Best: G. Nyuon, J. Weitering, T. Young, J. Holden, K. Collins, Z. Rouse.
MURRAY BUSHRANGERS Goals: M. Canfield 3, J. Simpkin 2, J. Schache 2, Z. Sproule, L. Smith, H. Payne. Best: H. Morrison, C. Oliver, H. Tanner, M. Waite, M. King, H. Payne.
