By Hayley Wildes
The Dandenong Stingrays continued their impressive start to the season with a comprehensive win over the Greater Western Victoria Rebels at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.
Playing as part of a TAC Cup triple-header, the Stingrays – who are still yet to play at home this season -now sit at 3-0, despite a gruelling opening couple of rounds.
With Bailey Williams and Riley Bowman unavailable due to AFL Academy duties, which saw them take on North Melbourne’s VFL side, it meant others had to stand up for the Stingrays.
And stand up they did.
The team came out firing as they piled on five goals in 15 minutes. The Rebels, to their credit, fought back strongly towards the end of the quarter, trimming Dandenong’s lead to just 11 points by the opening break.
But from there, it was all Dandenong. The Stingrays were superb as their attacking forays produced plenty of return on the scoreboard.
A 12-minute blitz to end the second quarter saw the Stingrays pile on six unanswered goals. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect for ‘Rays fans would be the team’s ability to share the load, as all six goals were scored through different avenues.
It was supposed to be a challenge to cover the losses of Williams and Bowman, but Craig Black’s men had a steely resolve about them and appeared to relish the opportunity.
The Stingrays headed into halftime with a 79-22 lead – outscoring the Rebels 49 points to three in the quarter. Bailey Schmidt was everywhere for the Stingrays as he dominated in the air.
After halftime, the Rebels came out with some added fire in the belly and battled hard. They held the Stingrays out for the first eight minutes of the quarter, before a Jai Taylor goal broke the deadlock.
Zac Foot’s third goal saw the Stingrays extend their lead to 64 points halfway through the term.
With the game well and truly over, the Stingrays continued to play their game and in doing so, push the lead out with goals galore.
The Stingrays ball movement and willingness to work for one another shone bright as the Rebels failed to find any answers in defence.
With one quarter remaining, it was Dandenong leading 18.8 (110) to Greater Western Victoria 4.5 (29).
A three-goal to one final quarter saw the Stingrays defeat the Rebels, 20.12 (132) to 5.5 (35).
It was a total team effort from the Stingrays, as their offence flowed both freely and dangerously, finishing with an incredible 13 individual goalkickers, led by Zac Foot who booted four goals.
Dandenong was ruthless, scoring 15 of the final 17 goals of the game.
Foot’s goal sense was on full display and provided plenty of excitement up forward for the Stingrays, whilst Campbell Hustwaite, Matthew Cottrell and Lachlan McDonnell were instrumental in setting the tone for the Stingrays.
