champions of Dandenong’s best drafted team – Stephen Milne, Justin Leppitsch, Chris Newman, Adam Ramanauskas and coach Greaeme Yeats. 85589 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
THE TAC Cup couldn’t handle a team this good coming through the ranks at once.
The Dandenong Southern Stingrays chose their best AFL drafted team of the last 20 years at a special event on Friday at the Dingley International Hotel.
This is no ordinary team.
Lining up in this side at the conclusion of AFL round 20 is 3,982 AFL matches worth of experience, with a TAC Cup record 10 200-gamers, more than likely 11 very soon if David Hille adds to his 192 games and continues for another season with Essendon. Another seven players also have crossed the 100-game threshold.
With 88 players to choose from, as part of their best AFL drafted team from 1992-2012, the Dandenong Southern Stingrays selectors had a difficult task to find the correct balance between the retired legends, current stars and upcoming prodigies.
The side’s coach, Greame Yeats, who has taken the Stingrays to a pair of grand final berths, said even at a 30-man side, there are still a lot of deserving people who miss out.
“If you look back on the list of players we’ve had drafted, you can see the difficulty we had fitting everyone in,” Yeats said. “So we extended the interchange and added some emergencies and I would’ve loved to add another 10-15 players who deserve to be in this squad.”
The choice for the captaincy was a coin-flip between former Narre Warren team-mates – Chris Newman and Matthew Boyd. Newman got the nod for the side, with Boyd his lieutenant with a formidable leadership group emerging from the 30-man squad.
Newman said to lead the side out onto Shepley Oval or any other TAC Cup venue would have been an exciting prospect.
“It would be fantastic – would be really proud to lead these players out, there are some absolute stars in this team and it would be nice to run out with Milney and not play against him,” Newman said. “That’s a fantastic team and as Yeater (Yeats) touched on, that would challenge any TAC Cup team out there so it’s very talented.”
Newman is the first to admit he’s not the most talented player, but made his work ethic his priority and it has paid off in the long run.
“I always had to work pretty hard to get recognised,” Newman said. I was never a star or a stand-out player, but I always made sure I listened to the coaches and always played my role and it’s what I do now. I always just tried to play with the attributes I was given. I play my role and the rest will come.
“Very much enjoyed my time at Dandenong and credit goes to them (former Stingrays coach Rob Dean and former region manager Stephen Kennedy) for giving me the opportunity.”
Lining up in the back half are a swathe of premiership defenders – Toby Thurstans lofted the 2004 premiership with Port Adelaide, Trent Croad takes to full back with his 2008 premiership on one leg after breaking his foot in Hawthorn’s shock win over Geelong, and three more premierships reside with centre-half back Justin Leppitsch, with the Brisbane Bears/Lions defensive maestro a crucial piece of the 2001-2003 three-peat dynasty.
Three more 200-game defenders sit in the back six – current Beaconsfield coach Austinn Jones sits on a half-back flank with current Fremantle defender Adam McPhee on the other. In the final back pocket is the captain Newman to guide the team forward.
Fremantle used pick one in the 1994 AFL draft on gun ruckman Jeff White, who would have a good selection of options to tap down to in this side as Western Bulldogs captain Matt Boyd, Richmond’s great underrated midfielder Shane Tuck and Melbourne’s likely 2012 Bluey Truscott Medallist Nathan Jones. On the wings lie a pair of classy finishers – Port Adelaide’s Steven Salopek and Melbourne number one draft pick Travis Johnstone.
Current Beaconsfield full forward Andrew Williams slots into a half-forward flank with Essendon utility Hille at centre-half forward with long-time team-mate Adam Ramanauskas given ample room to attack on the other flank.
The front-line forward pairing of Stephen Milne and Brendan Fevola has generated 1157 AFL goals between them and Ryan Lonie sits in the other pocket.
The interchange features a good mix of retired and fresh faced Stingrays – Carlton/Adelaide midfielder and current Glenelg coach Kris Massie and Collingwood defender and former Tooradin-Dalmore coach Chad Liddell are the experienced campaigners in the group.
The young brood of 2009 Stingrays co-captains Tom Scully and Ryan Bastinac and Greater Western Sydney Giants pre-listed pair Adam Treloar and Dylan Shiel – the player Yeats’ describes as “the best player I’ve ever coached” – round out the bench.
Unable to limit themselves to only three emergencies, the panel selected six – Andrejs Everitt, Jarrod Moore, Aaron Edwards, Nathan Lonie, Luke Parker and Tom Lynch round out the 30-man team.
Given the amount of young rising stars coming through, the likes of Matt Buntine, Brett O’Hanlon, Lachie Whitfield and a list the length of the phonebook on the horizon, chances are this team will only get stronger by the time the 30th year comes around in 2021.
Dandenong Stingrays Best Drafted Team – B: Toby Thurstans, Trent Croad, Chris Newman (C). HB: Austinn Jones, Justin Leppitsch, Adam McPhee. C: Travis Johnstone, Matthew Boyd (VC), Steven Salopek. HF: Andrew Williams, David Hille, Adam Ramanauskas. F: Stephen Milne, Brendan Fevola, Ryan Lonie. R: Jeff White, Shane Tuck, Nathan Jones. I: Kris Massie, Adam Treloar, Tom Scully, Ryan Bastinac, Chad Liddell, Dylan Shiel. EMG: Jarrod Moore, Aaron Edwards, Andrejs Everitt, Tom Lynch, Nathan Lonie, Luke Parker.
