By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – ROUND 9
FIGHTING their way back on the winner’s list, a new-look Dandenong Stingrays showed no matter which man steps into the void, they can all deliver.
Even with a dozen or so changes to last week’s selected side, the Dandy boys had enough in the tank to overcome Bendigo by 32 points and move back up to second spot on the TAC Cup ladder.
Bendigo’s best efforts amounted to minor hurdles for the Stingrays to surge past as the visitors made light work of the task on Sunday.
The Rays had the Pioneers by the throat early, but failed to truly capitalise as slippery conditions on a dim day at Echuca played havoc with the standard of play.
Charlie Martello and Danny Allsop picked up the reins up forward – with usual trio Tom de Koning, Josh Battle and Sammy Fowler out of the side – and swung into action early. The Peninsula pair terrorised the Pioneers defence, slotting three goals apiece as they picked up the scraps at ground level.
Chad Harris (two goals) also made the most of his first TAC Cup run around, booting a pair and giving the Stingrays yet another promising forward to ponder about at selection.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing up forward though as the Stingrays left the door ajar with a whopping 23 behinds.
Booting three goals-to-13 after half-time, Dandenong couldn’t deliver the finishing blow up in the forward half, but thankfully there was plenty of resilience at the back.
Jack Doman returned to the line-up, stood at full back and didn’t let the Pioneers create anything without a battle. Up the other end, debutant Tom Hogan showed his standards in the ruck, around the grounds and even up forward as he gave a target alongside 203cm ruck prospect Tom Roberts.
In the end Dandenong’s waywardness was still too much for Bendigo to handle in the 9.23 (77) to 6.9 (45) victory.
“It’s great for the boys to get away – get up on the Saturday and get to know each other as we had 12 changes for Vic Country and injuries,” Stingrays coach Craig Black said.
“And to get up there and we started pretty well – our goal kicking was a little bit off, but the areas we’ve been poor in the last couple of weeks we were a lot better at.
“The ground was a little bit wet, little bit patchy – I expected to kick more than that and we kicked the post three or four times, and a couple were just touched on the line.”
With most of the leadership group out either injured or on Vic Country duty, captaincy was given to Max Kleverkamp for the day and Black said the TAC Cup opportunities of June and July should never be discounted.
“That’s one of the advantages of giving people an opportunity – they want to grab it with both hands,” Black said. “We can be patient with the boys, but we were confident with the boys that came into the team and they’ll play at the level we expect of them.
“Hogan in his first game was really exciting – 195cm ruck and forward, and as a 17 year old exceeded our expectations in his first game – while Charlie Martello and Danny Allsop once again were great up forward.
Dandenong battles Gippsland at home after the Queen’s Birthday bye, on Saturday 18 June from 1pm.
“It’s good – gives these boys a chance to freshen up,” Black said. “The last bye we had we were coming off a loss so it’s a good position to be in.”
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
BENDIGO PIONEERS 0.0 2.3 4.7 6.9 (45)
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 2.6 6.10 7.16 9.23 (77)
BENDIGO Goals: M. Kemp 2, M. Booth, C. Jones, B. Whitford, T. Campbell. Best: C. Jones, J. Exell, R. Saunders, J. Formosa, M. Kemp, D. Henderson. DANDENONG Goals: C. Martello 3, D. Allsop 3, C. Harris 2, T. Roberts. Best: J. Doman, T. Hogan, A. Darling, N. Scagliarini, D. Allsop, B. Morrish.
