By JARROD POTTER
WITH their sights on the top three, the wild weather didn’t faze the Dandenong Stingrays as they dispatched Gippsland Power by 25 points.
On a day for the ducks, the TAC Cup side continued to show it won’t be limited by player unavailability during the national championships.
The Stingrays roused the victory in spite of first choice players Jack Lonie, Daniel Capiron, Tom Lamb and Aaron Wilson being away in Western Australia on Vic Country duties.
After two quick Gippsland goals, the Stingrays swam through the mud and rain to reclaim the lead.
The counter-attack started with Dandenong’s forward trio – Taylor Joyce, Keegan Downie and Jayden Tomkins who stepped up to show his credentials as a forward after playing most of the season as a wingman/half-forward.
Joyce (4) proved too strong on the lead and has been in fantastic form after kicking 12 goals in his past three matches as the primary Stingrays’ forward target.
Downie (2) and Tomkins (2) excelled as foils for the classic-style full forward gameplay from Joyce while hard-nuts Alex Harnett and Sam Geurts terrified the opposition after hammering tackle after tackle.
Dandenong pushed away at every change as the small forwards and attacking midfielders got their share of the goal-bound action.
The team went berserk when the mullet-maestro Jake Di Pasquale kicked a goal on debut with everyone rushing the field to congratulate him and give his good-luck follicles a rub.
“A couple of weeks ago we would win a game, lose a game – our last three weeks we’ve won three games in a row and we’ve made a focus of that about our consistency,” Stingrays coach Craig Black said.
“I think we’ve got a really even playing list this year – when we train it’s always competitive and I think all those kids, even on our development list, are really even and it’s great that they help push each other at training.”
Joyce’s emergence as one of the TAC Cup’s premier forwards has impressed Black, not only with his contributions to the scoreboard but his attack on the defence when the ball isn’t in his bucket-like hands.
“We were really happy when Joycey came back into the team,” Black said.
“He’s lucky that he’s kicking the goals but all the other stuff he’s doing – his defensive work is really good as a forward, so it’s amazing what happens when you do all the hard stuff and the goals will come.”
Black also highlighted the efforts of Harnett, the stand-in captain for the clash, defender Kyle Gray and Bailey Dale.
Black said Elliot Hunt (groin) could have played but they preferred not to risk him, while Jake Wilson (foot) and Rourke Fischer (finger) are close to returning to TAC Cup duties.
Gippsland didn’t lie down and played a lot better than its ladder ranking would suggest, as Bunyip’s Tom Papley stormed all across the field and slotted three goals to finish his match on a high note.
Dandenong has earned a one-game lead over a chasing pack of five teams will clash against seventh placed North Ballarat on Sunday morning from 11.30am at Eureka Stadium.
Of the full-time TAC Cup teams, Gippsland Power now sits dead last in 12th and will hope to improve its record against Bendigo as part of Country round.
TAC CUP
Dandenong Stingrays 5.0 9.5 13.6 15.10 (100)
Gippsland Power 3.1 4.4 7.7 11.9 (75)
DANDENONG
Goals: T. Joyce 4, J. Tomkins 2, K. Downie 2, T. Young, J. Di Pasquale, B. Dale, L. Batten, T. Stoffels, L. Williams, L. Myatt.
Best: K. Gray, A. Harnett, S. Geurts, B. Dale, T. Glen, T. Joyce.
GIPPSLAND
Goals: T. Papley 3, N. Holmes 2, D. Grech, B. Olsson, C. Ambler, M. Jacobsen, A. Di Ciero, A. Ferreira.
Best: N. Holmes, B. Dessent, B. Timms, T. Papley, A. Di Ciero, T. Beck.
