Stingrays’ assault stuns Gippsland

By Paul Pickering
GRAEME Yeats already knew his Dandenong Stingrays were talented this year, but he – and everybody else – now knows they’ve got some ticker too.
The Stingrays coach said he “couldn’t be happier” with his young charges after their gutsy 21-point win over traditional rival Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup season-opener at Morwell on Saturday.
Yeats even admitted to being ‘a bit surprised’ by the polished first-up performance against a more-fancied opponent, but it was the Power boys who were caught unawares during a first-quarter onslaught from the visitors.
The Stingrays were fanatical in their attack on the ball and body in the opening term.
They scored first through bulked-up forward Myles Pitt (five goals) after three minutes, and had stretched the margin to 29 when Pitt booted his third on the stroke of quarter-time.
Pitt was the main beneficiary of some clean and purposeful ball movement in a high-quality opening, but the real highlight was the consistency of effort from the ’Rays.
From co-captains Tom Scully and Ryan Bastinac to first-gamers Stefan Baumgartner and Mitch Gent, the visitors were unrelenting.
Gippsland was shell-shocked, and rookie coach Damian Carroll could sense it at the break.
Carroll urged his charges to match Dandenong’s intensity in the second, and it was no surprise that third-year stars Koby Stevens and John Butcher (five) responded to the challenge.
Stevens, the AIS-AFL Academy captain, was at his bullish best through the middle in the second quarter, while Butcher presented tirelessly from full-forward despite close attention from Dandenong defender Ben Mitchell.
The Power absorbed Dandenong’s momentum, but it couldn’t curtail the influence of Scully, whose move to half-back saw him become the architect for countless forward forays.
Emerging mid-fielder Mitch Hallahan typified Dandenong’s hard-nosed approach at the clearances.
The game opened up after half-time and the Power mid-field – led by Stevens, Mitchell Dowse and Ed Carr – seemed to enjoy the breathing space.
Promising ruckman Nathan Vardy (two) drifted into attack for two early goals and lively debutant Nicholas Pincott (three) provided a spark up forward.
Gippsland drew within nine points mid-way through the third term when Butcher marked and converted from a tight angle in the right pocket, but that was as close as the Power would get.
Pitt hit back almost immediately with a timely left-footed snap, before Power defender Nick Sing coughed the ball up on the switch to present Dandenong’s Kayle Stringer-Morris (two) a tough opportunity after the siren.
Stringer-Morris, another first-gamer, slotted it from the boundary and was mobbed by team-mates on the way back to the three-quarter-time huddle.
Both coaches implored their charges to attack in the final term, but neither side seemed to have the legs for a sustained assault and the result was never really in doubt.
Yeats was delighted with the way his new batch of Stingrays applied themselves.
“It all came together,” he said post-match. “I thoughT our run, our impact around the stoppages and our ability to win the one-on-ones was really important.
“They shared the ball around, worked for each other and protected the ball carrier – all those intrinsic things.”
It was a giant leap forward from Dandenong’s mediocre practice match form, but Yeats was confident that his charges had another gear left.
“It’s going to be a hard act to follow, but if we can improve on that we’ll be a hard team to beat.”
Meanwhile, Carroll conceded that his charges had panicked a bit under the intense pressure applied by the Stingrays.
“We were disappointed because we thought we were pretty well prepared,” he reflected.
“When we got it forward we looked good, but a lot of our better ball-carriers seemed to make a few mistakes and turned the ball over. That’s the area we’ll focus on, getting it down to our forwards a lot quicker.”
Gippsland will be looking to bounce back against Geelong Falcons at Kardinia Park on Saturday, while the Stingrays will host Murray Bushrangers at Shepley Oval in a replay of last year’s grand final.