By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – ROUND 7
TAKING no prisoners at its Shepley Oval fortress, Dandenong smashed through the Northern Knights’ lines as it inflicted pain to the tune of 99 points.
Knights haven’t been slain where they stood at this rate since the last Crusade, but such was the Stingrays’ ferocity that the visiting northern force had little chance from the first bounce onwards.
Northern had two bites of the cherry with the wind, sticking with the Stingrays through the first term, but Dandenong made sure it cashed in with it in second.
The Stingrays booted its way to a staggering nine-goal term – led by the likes of Tom “Cloud Nine” De Koning (nine goals) – to wither up any chance of the visitors’ victory.
De Koning rattled them off in every fashion – at ground level, in the air and making his set shots truly count – and put his hand up straight away as a 2017 draft prospect.
“He kicked three points last week and was practicing on Thursday night – his dad told me he had a good technique and used to kick them as a kid,” Dandenong Stingrays coach Craig Black said. “It’s more about the opportunity that he got – he was in front, got a big long reach and he jumps at the footy.
“It’s very exciting to see a 17-year-old come out and kick nine goals, but it’s just about continued improvement – he’s set the standard pretty high now.”
Not to be outdone by their taller brethren, Sam Fowler (five goals) added another bag to his haul while Danny Allsop (three goals) and Charlie Martello (two goals) also terrorised the Knights’ defence to help boot another nine in the last term.
Myles Poholke, birthday boy Tommy Glen and Dandenong captain Liam McKay made life just as tough through the middle for the visitors as they started most forward rampages from the centre bounce.
It wasn’t just the free-wheeling forwards and hard-edged midfielders carving up the Knights though; the defence sowed the seeds of Northern’s defeat from the last line.
Reece Piper was in best-on-ground form – going as well as the bloke who drilled nine – as he cannoned kick-ins 70-80m with the wind, as well as working his way up the ground and smashing apart the visiting midfield.
He nailed the Knights’ coffin shut with a beguiling run through half-forward, getting past one, two, three Knights and ramming home the goal straight through the uprights.
Also holding up the back end were Mason De Wit, Bailey Morrish, Jordan Stewart, Brenton Wells and another young Stingray-on-the-rise Jake Frawley.
“Before the game we just talked about the effort – has to be in there every week like it always does – but we get Bailey Morrish and Reece Piper back in there and they were really good,” Black said. “Mason De Wit really settles it up and we took our captain away from the back end this week – played him up through the wing and the midfield today – so we’re really happy with the growth of the team.”
Dandenong will head to Wangaratta to battle Murray on Saturday afternoon in a first-versus-fourth battle and despite the success, Black said there’s no such thing as a set line-up as every spot in the side is up for grabs.
“We get Murray Bushrangers who are a really good team and up at Wangaratta they’re always hard to beat – the good thing about winning games of footy it puts pressure on the list still,” Black said. “We’ve played 35 players this year – which is probably more than what we’ve played – so we can win by 99 points but we’ve got 30 kids who aren’t playing that are putting pressure on these guys so it makes people hungry for spots.”
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
DANDENONG 4.1 13.8 15.8 24.10 (154)
NORTHERN 3.3 4.5 6.11 7.13 (55)
DANDENONG Goals: T. De Koning 9, S. Fowler 5, D. Allsop 3, C. Martello 2, A. Darling, M. Poholke, N. Scagliarini, R. Piper, M. Kleverkamp. Best: T. De Koning, M. La Fontaine, R. Piper, M. DeWit, M. Poholke, S. Fowler. NORTHERN Goals: S. Binion 2, P. Lipinski 2, M. Lentini, M. Blakey, T. Clayton. Best: M. Blakey, M. Perry, S. Binion, A. Fable, B. Paterson, C. Roberts.
