By JARROD POTTER
IT’S a day Dandenong coach Graeme Yeats wishes could be wiped from history.
There aren’t many coaches that would want to look back on a 5.10 (40) to 24.8 (152) point drubbing that the Eastern Ranges inflicted on the Stingrays in the TAC Cup grand final, held on Sunday at Etihad Stadium.
Dandenong couldn’t match pace with the Eastern midfielders – who accumulated possessions at will to eviscerate any Stingrays’ resistance before half-time.
A couple of goals from Billy Hartung gave the Stingrays something to cheer about, but highlights and positives were few and far between in the club’s worst grand-final defeat – its fifth in its TAC Cup history.
From there the carnage unfolded – the nightmare became horrific for Dandenong as the Ranges piled on 10 goals in the final term to dance all over the Stingrays.
Daylan Kempster tried his guts out to stop Tom Boyd – Eastern’s massive forward – holding him to only four goals in a 24-goal match for the opposition.
Gembrook-Cockatoo midfielder Daniel Welsh kicked three goals and Mitch Honeychurch popped up for three goals as well.
Matt Rennie snared a massive mark in the fourth quarter and slotted a goal afterwards – one of the rare highlights the Stingrays can take from the demolition, while Clay McCartney and Angus Scott kicked the other two Stingray goals.
Yeats said every aspect of the game was dominated by Eastern and it showed not only on the scoreboard or the stat’s sheet, but for the state of mind it inflicted on his players – turning them into individuals on the field rather than a team.
“As rough as it gets,” Yeats said after the match.
“Doesn’t get worse than that.”
“Our personnel has been good enough, maybe poor strategies were reasonably neutralised – but I think it’s more an effort thing today – commitment to each other to work and support.
“We looked really selfish as a football club today – was more about the individual than the group and the other mob was consummate in the way they went about their commitment to each other and they outworked us.”
Yeats couldn’t single out any Stingrays he thought either won their position or gave enough effort on the day.
On the stat’s sheet Billy Hartung led for Dandenong with 22 possessions and two goals, while Daniel Capiron and Jake Wilson had 20 each and captain Nathan Foote had 19 toiling in defence.
Summing it up, Yeats said, “Can we just erase this day in our lives… is that possible?”
“Can we just take the date off the map and pretend it didn’t happen.
“Just pretend this day didn’t occur.”
Eastern Ranges skipper Ben Cavarra – who won the Morrish Medal last week – added a TAC Cup medal to his impressive resume with 30 disposals through the midfield.
It is Eastern’s second TAC Cup premiership following its 2002 one-point victory over Calder.
TAC CUP SCOREBOARD
DANDENONG STINGRAYS
1.4 1.7 3.7 5.10 (40)
EASTERN RANGES
4.2 10.2 14.5 24.8 (152)
No Best or Goals available at time of print
