By Tyler Lewis
It was a Saturday afternoon slaughter at Churchill Football Ground.
The Dandenong Stingrays Girls piled on 15 unanswered goals against Gippsland Power, on its way to a mammoth 22.17 (147) to 2.2 (14) win.
The Rays held the Power goalless until the final term in the scintillating win.
Dandenong kicked three goals in the opening stanza, five in the second, before a blitz of majors in the second half saw the Rays kick 14 after the main break (seven in both quarters).
The Rays have started the NAB League season in electric fashion, and unlike years gone by, it appears to be a wider spread team effort with all of the girls performing well.
“It’s been a good start to the season, I think the big thing about it is that the girls are starting to get a real understanding of how we want to play, what our strengths, and our weaknesses are,” Dandenong Stingrays head coach Nick Cox said on Sunday.
“The first few weeks there has been some pleasing passages of play and some really good developments from the girls.
“The word on the board at the start of the day was ‘selfless’, just (focusing on) caring about a Stingrays person having the ball.
“We shared it around well at times and gave it to girls in better positions, it was executed really well which was pleasing,” he said.
Though it is easy to be pleased with all factors of his group at this stage of the season, after 49-point and 135-point wins, there a few things that are really enjoyable for Cox about his current side.
“Our ball movement and our fundamentals have been pretty good,” he said.
“The things we like to focus on are quite boring at times… our fundamentals, being clean, the ball is on the deck a lot in the girls games so having the ability to be good below knees and execute with clean-ness.”
Amber Clarke stole dropped jaws last week with a stunning five-goal and 23-disposal performance, and while she very well may have done it again this week with another four goals and 23 disposals, it was a fellow Ray that stuffed the stat sheet.
Much to the coaches joy, Charley Ryan kicked five goals straight and collected 26 disposals in a display he has expected for some time.
“It hasn’t come out of the blue, Charley (Ryan) is a girl that we know has the ability to do what she’s done for the first couple of rounds,” he said.
“She set a really high bar in the first weeks, so she has to continue to do that, but there is no amazement from it.
“She works really hard on everything she does and she is becoming the modern day AFLW product, she marks the ball well, her fundamentals are great.
“She can go through the midfield and be really good with her body positioning and ability to win the ball.
“That’s (games) not a surprise, mate,” Cox said.
While it is only early in the season, Cox addressed whether this crop of talent coming through the Stingrays girls system is the best he has seen in his tenure as head coach.
“These girls have been together in an elite program for three to four years,” he said.
“Some of them played as early as (age) 15, so they have an understanding of what is required at the level.
“To answer the question, I think yes, but at the same time it just shows where NAB League and girls footy is going.
“These girls, most of them, have played footy all their lives and the competition is starting to reap the rewards from it,” Cox said.
The Dandenong Stingrays season of long road trips continue next week, when it travels to Craigieburn to ‘host’ the Bendigo Pioneers.
