By JARROD POTTER
BARRING a fighting fourth quarter, the Dandenong Stingrays couldn’t muster a defence against a second-string Oakleigh Chargers side, downed by nine points after trailing by eight goals at the final change.
With eight outs to national championships duties and 10 playing private school football, the Chargers were at their weakest this season, giving Dandenong its best chance of knocking off Oakleigh at their stronghold – Warrawee Park.
That would never eventuate.
Flat on their feet and running around aimlessly, Dandenong showed no resistance throughout three terms.
The lowest point came in the third quarter as Oakleigh slammed on four goals with the wind and kept the Stingrays scoreless and no Dandenong player fought to resist.
Coach Graeme Yeats was blunt at three-quarter-time about his players’ effort.
“The game’s gone because we’re just not competing hard enough,” Yeats said in the huddle.
“We’re not getting our hands on the footy.
“We didn’t have one winner in that quarter – not one position on the ground did we have anyone who almost even chopped out.”
Some minor redemption came in the fourth quarter as Dandenong showed it’s not a pushover – albeit far too late to seize the match.
A six-goal term was spurred on by their young brigade – Daylan Kempster impressed in the ruck while the back-line – moved forward to provide some sort of spark – impressed with Rourke Fischer, Jack Lonie and Alex Harnett snaring goals while Dale Gawley, and Brady Egan also hit the scoreboard.
Narre Warren’s Ben Giobbi stepped out for his first TAC Cup match snaring a goal in the last term and generating 11 kicks and five marks to earn a spot in the best.
Yeats was adamant despite conceding three quarters of bad football the Stingrays could’ve bridged the nine-point gap given a bit longer on the clock.
“It would have been the steal of the year if the clock had run a few minutes longer” Yeats said.
“We were very poor today, but that’s football.
“Nothing taken away from Oakleigh, they were a team who wanted it a lot more than us and had been building towards today over the past month or so.
“We now regroup and set ourselves for our next challenge, Eastern who is the team to beat this year.
“If we can play like we did for the last 15 minutes I think we can match it with most teams.”
Dandenong maintains fourth place on the TAC Cup ladder and will hope to rebound from this lacklustre performance against Eastern Ranges on Sunday at Shepley Oval from 12.30pm.
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
OAKLEIGH CHARGERS 4.2 6.2 10.5 10.5 (65)
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 1.1 2.4 2.4 8.6 (54)
Oakleigh Chargers Goals: B. Hogan 3, A. Oppy 2, C. Summers 2, B. Ledder , H. Vogler , A. Mioni. Best: A. Urban, N. Prowse, G. Dickson, N. Smith, J. Toohey, B. Hogan.
Dandenong Stingrays Goals: A. Harnett , B. Egan , J. Newman , B. Giobbi , D. Gawley , J. Lonie , J. Soroczynski , R. Fischer. Best: J. Wilson, D. Gawley, B. Giobbi, T. Williams, J. Soroczynski, J. Lonie.
