By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – ROUND 11
BESIEGED by Cannon-fire all day, there was not much Dandenong could muster in its 59-point defeat against Calder on Saturday.
From the first bounce the visitors seized the game and left the Rays battling for every possession.
Dandenong’s greatest enemy at first was itself though – poor kicking, lacklustre efforts in the contest and giving the ball back constantly gave Calder a free pass to run up the scoreboard in the opening term.
Cannons’ forward Karl Brown – fresh off a stint in Vic Metro – made his case for state-level reinstatement as he terrorised the Stingrays’ defence with a seven-goal haul.
Fellow tall Tom Burnside (four goals) made it complete carnage in the back end as Dandenong was left to hold on and weather the scoring storm.
It got worse for Dandenong beyond the burgeoning margin though; Aiden Bonar – in his return to the side after overcoming an ACL reconstruction last season – looked to have re-ruptured the ligament in the second term and when Ryan Gains went down with a concussion, it left only a few fit on the Rays’ bench.
There were brief signs of revival throughout the on-field disaster; Danny Allsop (four goals) made a dent in the Calder defence while Tom Murphy and Kyle Beveridge battled it out for contested grabs.
Bailey Morrish, Nathan Scagliarini, Aaron Darling and Dylan Atkins all soldiered on as the scoreboard blew out, while the skipper Luke Dalmau battled bravely in his return to the line-up – after injuries and private school commitments kept him out since round two.
They cut the margin to 32 at the main break … but that small window of revival was slammed shut in the second half as a lacklustre final term let the Cannons boot away to a 59-point win.
Stingrays stand-in coach Nick Cox – taking the reins for a weekend from Craig Black – thought the side coughed it up quickly, failed to listen to instructions and most importantly … threw in the towel early in the fourth term.
“They (Calder) used the footy really well and that was the difference in the first quarter – they got a lot of easy goals whereas we had to work hard to get it inside-50,” Cox said. “I’m not going to hide from the fact that we weren’t good enough and didn’t compete long enough – they were quite strong and showed us up in areas that we should’ve been a lot better at.
“The last quarter was something I haven’t seen in a while from the Stingrays – we gave up a little bit too easily and that’s the concerning factor, but at the end of the day it showed more than a couple of blokes have a long way to improve and that’s our job as coaches to help them get there.”
Dandenong slips to third on the TAC Cup ladder and has another tough battle ahead when it travels to the Eastern Ranges on Saturday morning.
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 1.1 4.4 6.7 8.11 (59)
CALDER CANNONS 6.2 9.6 12.9 18.10 (118)
DANDENONG Goals: D. Allsop 4, K. Beveridge, N. Scagliarini, C. Martello, T. Murphy. Best: B. Morrish, D. Allsop, L. Young, N. Scagliarini, A. Darling, D. Atkins.
CALDER Goals: K. Brown 7, T. Burnside 4, M. Lewis 2, B. Ronke, M. Saad, J. McDonald, J. Peters, T. Lever. Best: K. Brown, H. Blythe, M. Lewis, J. Owen, B. Caluzzi, B. Ronke.
