By JARROD POTTER
LEADING Dandenong into the new TAC Cup season will be a pair of peninsula prospects.
Stingrays co-captains Luke Dalmau (Somerville/Haileybury) and Liam Mckay (Edithvale-Aspendale) have been picked by their peers to guide the side through the season and were announced at the club’s jumper presentation on Tuesday night.
The Stingrays chose to go with a two-captain approach once again after Lachie Williams stood as the sole captain in 2015.
Rounding out the leadership group are vice-captains Thomas Jok (Beaconsfield), Josh Battle (Doveton) and Myles Poholke (Sorrento), while the deputy vice-captains are Mason de Wit (Mt Eliza) and Max Kleverkamp (Sorrento).
Dalmau didn’t get to feature in much action last season – playing two games early on for the Stingrays – but he was a constant presence in the group and felt the impact of its leaders like Williams and draftees Jacob Weitering and Kieran Collins.
“It’s obviously an honour to be voted in by my peers and something I won’t take for granted during the year and hopefully I can work well with Liam Mckay as well,” Dalmau said. “We had some really good leaders last year in Lachie, Weiters and Collo – I learnt a lot from them and especially with Weiters the off-field stuff.
“That professionalism that all the recruiters said about him and they were absolutely right.
“Lachie was just inspirational on and off it too and was best mates with Collo so it was awesome.”
Dalmau is ready to get his teeth sunk into TAC Cup footy, which kicks off Saturday afternoon in Traralgon as the Stingrays battle regional rivals Gippsland.
He wants to up the intensity around the group and make sure the Stingrays start strong and stay the course throughout 2016.
“Want to bring in a bit of hard-nosed grunt,” Dalmau said. “I don’t want to really be on the back foot from the start – I want us to be a really aggressive side and hopefully this weekend we can take it up to Gippy.”
Stingrays coach Craig Black thought Dalmau and Mckay would grow into the roles and make them their own.
“I think it’s really good having young kids that can develop into leaders – at under-age footy it’s hard to find someone who is just going to come out and be the next Jonathan Brown, but this is the stepping stone for it,” Black said.
“We challenge them and think they’re players who can set the right example on and off the field and if the players vote them in, then these guys are settling a great example and it’s a good start.”
Dandenong faces Gippsland from 1pm at Traralgon Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
