By Jarrod Potter
A BRETT O’Hanlon bag of five, including a four-goal blitz in the third quarter, wasn’t enough to get the Dandenong Stingrays across the line against the Western Jets.
O’Hanlon went on a goal-kicking spree in the third quarter, snagging four in a dominant display at centre-half-forward, but it wasn’t enough as the Jets outran the Stingrays in the fourth quarter to take the points.
Dandenong was struck down with injury, illness and unavailability, with Vic Country representatives Matt Buntine (thigh) and Piva Wright (flu) ruled out of the match. Further injury struck as Scott Durdin, in his Stingrays debut, went down early in the second quarter with a suspected broken wrist.
The Stingrays lacked penetration in the first half, with dropped marks and turnovers defining the quarter. Dandenong coach Graeme Yeats was circumspect about the dropped marks.
“I thought we moved the ball in better,” Yeats said at the quarter-time huddle. “We were more methodical, we didn’t rush it in but we still need to hold on to those marks inside 50.”
The third quarter belonged to O’Hanlon: his four goals in the third came from set shots as he got on the end of good centre clearances by Alex Benbow and Jason Pongracic.
The hard run of the third quarter fell away in the last, as the Jets got on top with a four-goal-to-one quarter sealing the fate of the Stingrays as they went down by 22 points.
Jets’ centre extractors Jack Charleston and Matthew Smith were best on ground, both getting 26 possessions. For Dandenong, Nathan Wright and Alex Benbow were shining lights, as were O’Hanlon and debutant Rory Luxton.
Stingrays assistant coach Craig Black thought the efforts of the Stingrays were promising, but the skill levels and lulls during the match cost Dandenong.
“Second half we tried much better, but I think the damage was already done earlier in the game,” Black said.
“We’re trying to get the boys to make the right decisions under pressure.
“You see quite often they’re trying to make the right decisions, but the skill level at the moment isn’t quite up to it.
“I’d still rather the boys winning the footy and making poor execution than not winning the footy at all.”
Black praised O’Hanlon for turning around his bad outing against the North Ballarat Rebels into a much better performance this week.
“His four in the third quarter was a really good sign because on his own admittance he was a little down last week. It showed good character for him to come back strongly and play really well.”
The Stingrays head to the Calder Cannons’ home turf at Highgate Reserve, a prospect Black believes will give Dandenong an opportunity to show its mettle.
“Out on the big ground at Highgate, it’s another chance to see the character of the kids and how they bounce back from this loss,” Black said.
