TAC Cup

ANY hope of a finals appearance by Dandenong Stingrays was dashed when the Geelong Falcons had an easy 47point win at Shepley Oval on Saturday in the VFL TAC Cup round16 clash.
The game was virtually over at the 10minute mark of the first term when the Falcons had piled on six goals to the Stingrays nil and opened up a matchwinning lead.
The Falcons burst out of the blocks and completely dominated the home team in an impressive display of clean, clinical football.
The Stingrays got back into the contest with two goals from Dale Whelan and another on the run from Brad Horaczko, but at the end of the first term, trailed by 18 points.
The Stingrays were kicking with a threegoal breeze to boot, so it was going to take a lot of hard work to get close to the Falcons.
The second term was all the Stingrays as they completely turned the game around.
Repeated forays into the front 50 had the visiting Falcons on the back foot, but it had little effect on the scoreboard as the Stingrays repeatedly kicked inaccurately.
From the 14minute mark of the first term, after Whelan had posted his second until halftime, the Stingrays managed to kick one goal 11 behinds and play themselves out of contention.
On the other hand, the Falcons were very accurate kicking 10 goals 5 for the half.
The Stingrays had more inside 50s and only one less scoring shot, but trailed by an insurmountable 36 points at the long break. Andrejs Everitt was superb across halfback, repeatedly repelling Falcon forward entries and Curtis Barker was once again in fine form on his wing.
The whole second half had both teams trading goals with the Falcons outscoring the Stingrays seven goals to six and running out easy 47point winners.
The margin flattered the Falcons, because poor kicking by the Stingrays had the Falcons with an inflated lead.
Many of the Stingrays’ main players were once again well below their best and must quickly turn things around if they want to impress enough to progress to a higher level.
Encouraging signs were once again evident with Scott Simpson presenting hard and tackling very well at centre halfforward and next season should be a beauty for him.
Khalid Foggi played with some genuine enthusiasm and can hold his head high in what was a pretty disappointing effort from too many players.
Next weekend the Stingrays travel to Coburg to take on the whitehot Calder Cannons on Saturday at 2pm.
This week also had the AFL AIS Academy squad announced with two Stingrays under16 players included in the squad.
Tall, athletic Steven Gaertner from EdithvaleAspendale and Ashleigh Smith a strongly built flanker from Berwick have been awarded AIS scholarships and are off to Ireland next year to play International Rules against an All Ireland under17 team
Scores: Stingrays 9.15.69 lost to Falcons 17.14.116.
Goals Stingrays: Dale Whelan 5, Curtis Barker, James Magner, Matt Davis, Brad Horaczko.
Best Stingrays: Andrejs Everitt, Curtis Barker, Dale Whelan, Scott Simpson, Khalid Foggi, Brad Horaczko.