By JARROD POTTER
PUSHING an extended squad through the wringer, Dandenong Stingrays started refining the list across three TAC Cup practice matches against Sandringham on Sunday.
The aim wasn’t to win, or to even get a great sense of game-style of the new-look squad.
It was about the players making an impression and holding their own at the next level.
Throughout the under-16, under-17 and senior matches some shone and others receded into the background as the Stingrays began the hard process of trimming their 80-strong list.
“We just put kids in positions we want to see them playing. We don’t care if we have five or six key forwards or bad match ups, we just wanted to give the young boys a chance,” Stingrays coach Craig Black said.
“I think we’ve got some good depth, but you always look at the players that you’re missing – you look at last year and think ‘we don’t have a Kieran Collins or a Jacob Weitering’, and we had the same thing two years ago with no Kyle Gray or Mitch White.
“One of our strengths hopefully this year is a good ability to follow instructions and I thought we tackled pretty well – focused in on our tackling and really made them stick.”
Roaming defensively in the senior clash, the coach was pleased to not only see Reece Piper (Berwick) out on the footy field – considering the spinal injury he suffered in his TAC Cup debut last year – but also having a great impact on the last line of defence.
Piper played the link-up defender role to a tee and took some of the kicking-in duties to add another string to the midfielder’s bow.
Others to impress were key position players Tom Murphy, Mason de Wit and Jack Doman, while draft prospect Liam McKay was exceptional through the midfield from limited time-on-ground.
Ruck-forward Travis Young looked more nimble in his return to the program – hunting down a few midfielders and tackling strongly as well.
“Liam just showed the advantages of playing games as a 17 year old in his second pre-season,” Black said.
“Reece Piper really showed what we hoped he could play like during the season and Mason de Wit was really solid as well, really good at reading the footy.”
Dandenong didn’t pay much attention to the scoreboard – despite Sandringham racking up a pretty decent margin – as the locals still have plenty of top-calibre prospects left to bring in.
Myles Poholke, Josh Battle (Doveton), Tommy Glen (Beaconsfield), Tommy Jok (Beaconsfield), Luke Dalmau, Mitch McCarthy were some of the bigger names rested by the Rays heading into the last round of cuts.
There will be spots on the line this weekend against Murray at Punt Road as Dandenong seeks to whittle the list down before the first round at the end of March.
“Unfortunately this time of the year we have to make some cuts and figure out who can make it at the next level,” Black said.
“Last night we cut 12 kids – then this week we’ve got another cut before we lead in to our camp next week.”
Dandenong’s TAC Cup season opener is its traditional clash against Gippsland, on 26 March at Morwell.
