Ryan Bastinac booted three goals for the Dandenong Stingrays in their win over North Ballarat on Saturday. 18909A FLYING start proved the difference as the Dandenong Southern Stingrays rolled second placed North Ballarat Rebels by eight points on Saturday at North Ballarat in the Round 8 TAC Cup clash.
The round-eight TAC Cup clash at North Ballarat was played on a beautiful autumn day, on a perfect surface and no breeze.
The Stingrays prematch was very different when coach Graeme Yeats was sidelined with illness and assistant coach Wayne Spence attending his daughter’s wedding.
Assistant coaches Cameron Stewart, Bob Riddle and Peter Bastinac stepped up and with a bit of panel coaching got the players up and running.
The Stingrays were magnificent early and with hard work, plenty of pressure, crisp clean ball handling, kicked the first six goals of the game.
A late goal to the Rebels had the Stingrays well in control and ahead by 29 points.
The second quarter was all the Rebels as they restructured their forward line and lifted their work rate.
The pressure that the Stingrays had applied in the first term dropped away markedly and allowed the highly rated Rebels midfield to control the contest.
The Rebels’ Ryan McKenzie kicked five second-term goals to single handedly drag his team back into the game.
A late goal to Aaron Purves steadied the Stingrays ship, but they still went into half-time trailing by three points.
Levi Casboult was on top of the highly rated Jordan Roughead in the ruck, second game James Hallahan started well across half-forward and when switched to half-back proceeded to dominate the game.
Andrew Hunter was his usual hard-working self across half-forward and Scott Sienkiewicz was doing a fine job curtailing Rebels’ star Nick Suban.
The third quarter was controlled by the Stingrays, but they could not break free of the Rebels.
Three goals six for the term should have been much more for their efforts but a nine-point buffer at the last change would be enough for the Stingrays to hang on to.
Ryan Bastinac kicked his third goal, Purves his third of four for the game and second-gamer Jarryd Amalfi his first TAC Cup goal.
The last quarter was a beauty with both teams giving their all and the ball moved with skill and speed from end to end.
Both teams had chances to win with repeated shots at goal, but a fitness edge and composure from the more experienced players saw the Stingrays prevail.
Matt Clark and Purves both returned from Vic Metro duties to help their TAC cup teammates get across the line.
The Stingrays continue to baffle the form analysts with wins over the top two teams, the Rebels and Bushrangers, but losses to lowly placed Bendigo and Northern indicates plenty of ability but some lapses in application and preparation means they remain in the middle of the pack.
This week is a bye for the second round of Under-18 Nationals then the Stingrays play for the Blue Gum Cup against the Sandringham Dragons at Trevor Barker Oval on Sunday, 15 June at Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham at 2pm.
Scores: Stingrays 12.12.84 d North Ballarat 11.10.76.
Goals: Stingrays: Purves 4, Bastinac 3, Hunter, Ferraro, Amalfi, Hayes, Petropolous.
Best: Stingrays: Hallahan, Casboult, Sienkiewicz, Hunter, Ferraro, Purves, Clark, Hayes.
