Rays just keep winning

Bailey Williams, pictured recently, booted seven majors against the Western Jets. 168489 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS.

By Hayley Wildes

The Dandenong Stingrays sent a message to the rest of the competition with a dominant win over the Western Jets.

In what was the Rays’ first home game of the season at Shepley Oval, they completely outplayed the Jets from start to finish.

It was the Bailey Williams show up forward all day he was too big, too strong and just too good for the Jets’ defenders, who were unable to find answers for him.

Williams finished with a bag of seven goals, and it could’ve been more as he missed a couple of gettable shots. His work in marking contests, coupled with his clean hands at ground level allows him to stay in the contest when other big forwards would struggle.

Furthermore, his ability to play both ruck and forward makes him a tantalising prospect for AFL clubs – who will continue to keep a very close eye on him all season long.

With Williams dominating up forward, it was William Hamill who set up many attacking forays from half-back with his run and carry and sublime kicking.

His work from half-back allowed to the likes of Lachlan McDonnell, Zac Foot (three goals) – who continues to impress this season – and Riley Bowman (three goals) to go to work higher up the ground.

While the game was all but over at half-time, with the Rays leading 11.7 (73) to 2.4 (16), Dandenong continued to put the foot down in the third quarter.

Seven goals in the term stretched the lead out to 77 points, but the Rays weren’t done just yet. They saved their best quarter of footy for the final term, slamming on eight goals and holding the Jets scoreless.

The final score of 26.11 (167) to 6.5 (41) highlighted just how dangerous the Rays are and there is no doubt that their depth will give all teams in the TAC Cup a run for their money.

With the win, the Rays are now the only undefeated team remaining in the competition at 4-0 and boast an incredible percentage of 271.

Looking ahead to Round 5, the Rays have set up a top of the table clash with the Oakleigh Chargers on Saturday afternoon at Warrawee Park.

This contest will be an absolute cracker and with the Chargers also coming off a massive win, both teams will be full of confidence and ready to put on a show.