By JARROD POTTER
TAC CUP – Round 10
A HIGHLY-CHARGED, regional rivalry between Dandenong and Gippsland ended for the time being on Saturday with a 21-point triumph for the Stingrays.
An early arm-wrestle was eventually claimed by Dandenong, putting to bed the demons of Round 2 when Gippsland absolutely flogged the Stingrays in a start-of-the-year reality check.
While the rosters were completely different this time around, the other turnaround from that season opener was the Stingrays’ resolve.
Even though they were challenged early – a carbon copy of that season-opening loss to Gippsland – the Stingrays dug deep and fought through the tough patch to get on top in the second half.
Dandenong’s attack in the third quarter shifted the match – with Jake Di Pasquale, Kurt Mutimer and Bailey Rice all relishing the hard-ball and copping their whacks in the process.
But the midfield’s hard resolve set up the likes of Shannon Gladman and James Freeman (4 goals each) as well as the skipper Lachlan Williams (2 goals) – who had one of his best matches in the Stingrays’ colours.
Even with a flotilla of new faces – including debutants Max Kleverkamp, Rob Turnbull and Ryan Odell – Dandenong was able to surge past the Power to take its fourth win in a row.
“We had a really good win – the boys played well and at half-time I wasn’t really sure,” Black said.
“It was about 50/50, but the boys tackled a bit harder and were harder around the contest and just got on top of them.”
Praising his forward contingent, Black thought James Freeman and Harry Prior were sensational in shutting down the Power.
“I thought Harry Prior was really good for us today (Saturday) – took probably six or seven marks for us and five or maybe even all of them were contested,” Black said.
Highlighting the depth of the squad this year, Black thought it was incredible the side is able to bounce back after losing a number of players to representative duties – which was indicative of a supremely strong roster.
“It’s always a tough time of the year when you lose a lot of kids to Vic Country, but it just goes to show the depth of our talent really,” Black said.
“We actually said this year there are a lot of kids that in previous years would have made our squad and even those guys would have been on the fringe and would’ve been starting in our 22 every week, but we’ve just got a pretty strong list this year and it definitely helps out this time of year.”
Dandenong hosts North Ballarat in a battle for top of the TAC Cup ladder on Saturday from 1.30pm.
