22th June, 2025
Rays bounce back with win over Murray
A five-goal opening term has helped set up a fifty-eight-point victory for Dandenong in Shepperton.
Round twelve for the boys saw them head north to take on the Murray Bushrangers with 16yo Jayden Gourley making his debut.
After conceding the first inside-fifty of the match, the boys caused a turnover in the front half where Oscar Lonie got on the end of one to open the scoring.
Some great build-up from the back half, initiated by Toby Sinnema saw Sam Lewis find Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves on the lead. He went back and finished impressively to make it two in the first five minutes.
Charlie Orchard and Jasper Russell both provided some spark from the backline.
With the latter lacing out Hibbins-Hargreaves on the lead again to give him his second early on.
A free-kick near goal to Lochie Commons shortly after gave Dandenong their fourth in the thirteenth-minute when he converted.
We continued to press, dominating the territory battle and possession. But only behinds.
JayDe Varlet was his explosive self around the ball.
Tyson Anic connected with Archie Leclerc who goaled just before the quarter-time siren to give the Rays a thirty-one-point lead at the first break.
A darting pass from Russell to Tairon Ah-Mu who went back and kicked truly, was the first major of the second term. Ah-Mu continued to make his mark. Dominating in the ruck and up forward.
More forward entries came for the Stingrays.
As a result, another goal was scored, this time through Andrio Sousa, on the run from the boundary.
There were contributors everywhere. Jack Lawrence and Louis Hodder were among those – both accumulating in the middle of the ground.
The Bushrangers got on the board in the eleventh minute, and jagged another major soon after to keep the game in the balance.
Momentum had somewhat shifted in favour of the home side.
Still, it was a steady thirty-three-point advantage going into half time.
We missed two set shots early on in the third ahead of Murray going up the other end and scoring.
The margin had been cut under five goals.
Marcus Prasad then started to look dangerous inside-fifty and helped break the drought. Kicking truly on the left out of a stoppage in the tenth minute.
Playing up the ground, Orchard was able to draw a fifty-metre penalty to put him in range. He slotted it to push the margin back past forty points.
The game was opening up with both teams playing with speed.
Commons drew another free-kick near goal and went back to kick his second and the Rays’ tenth.
The Bushrangers found their fourth before another great build-up from the back half from Dandenong saw Sousa nail a set shot nearing three-quarter-time.
After a miss by the home side on the siren, we led by forty-seven points with one term to play.
In the fifth minute, Fraser Marino marked strongly on the goal line to kick a major.
Given the scoreboard, the rest of the game played out as something of a stalemate.
Bringing the heat like most weeks was Gus Kennedy, who battled hard.
We ended up kicking two more goals. One through Ah-Mu, after snagging a one-handed mark, and the other through Commons for his third of the day.
One more to Murray before the final siren sounded.
It was a comfortable 14.8 (92) to 5.4 (34) victory on the road.
The boys won every term in what was a pleasing four-quarter performance to get back on the winners list.
Hodder and Lonie were the top leading disposal getters with 22 apiece, with Russell (20), Sinnema (19), and Varlet (19) not far behind. Hibbins-Hargreaves, Orchard and Sinnema all hauled in seven marks. While Kennedy and Lawrence laid nine tackles each.
They’ll now head over the other side of the bay to take on the Geelong Falcons this Sunday.
Dandenong Southern Stingrays 