Local boys stand out

By Marc McGowan
DANDENONG Stingrays co-captains Tom Scully and Ryan Bastinac played key roles in Victoria Metro and Country winning their respective matches at Casey Fields on Saturday.
Bottom-age Stingray Matt Shaw joined them in the National Under-18 Championships triple-header at the Cranbourne East venue and showed promise again.
Berwick-based midfielder and Metro captain Tom Scully was best afield against Queensland, while Bastinac featured in Country’s best players against Northern Territory.
Western Australia demolished Tasmania by 128 points in the other match to remain undefeated in its four games, with top draft hope Anthony Morabito again one of the Sandgropers’ best.
Brandon Matera and Jack Darling booted five goals apiece for the winners.
Country kicked 11 of the last 12 goals to ultimately thump Northern Territory by 52 points.
But another slow start – which has plagued Country during the carnival – saw it trail by 14 points early in the second term.
The side’s third victory from four matches set it up for a mouth-watering final-round clash with Western Australia at Docklands yesterday (Wednesday).
Country coach Rob Hyde was confident his players could take it up to Western Australia.
“We’ll just have to work hard again,” he said. “They’ve got a few more quality players than Northern Territory, so we’ve got to stop them running and if we can bottle them up and then get our run going then we’re a chance to win it.”
Scores were not available when the News went to press.
Metro had a much tougher game on its hands against Queensland and, despite booting three of the first four goals of the match, was unable to shake its opponent all day.
Scores were locked at 49 with just 45 seconds to go in the final quarter before diminutive Calder Cannon Sam Ezard hauled in a great mark over Alik Magin and slotted a 50m major.
But first-year Metro coach Rohan Welsh was still a frustrated man afterwards and believes his players are leaving the hard work to too few.
Welsh was, however, full of praise for likely number-one pick Scully.
“He’s going to have to get stronger physically because he does take a bit of a battering, so that’s probably an area that he needs to work on,” Welsh said. “But, in relation to his kicking, he’s probably as good as anyone I’ve ever seen at this level. He can be an inside or an outside midfielder, he’s got pace and he’s got a really good footy brain.”
Metro played South Australia in its final clash of the carnival after the Country-Western Australia contest.