NAB League 2019: Dandenong Stingrays enter season with less than 100 games of experience
Dandenong Stingrays have welcomed back only three players from the team that delivered the club its first TAC Cup premiership.
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Dandenong Stingrays talent ID manager Darren Flanigan has gone through the numbers.
They confirm what others around the club have told him: that the Rays go in to 2019 with what is probably the most inexperienced Under 18 squad in their history.
“This a very, very underexposed group,’’ Flanigan said.
“Normally you bring back between 200 and 240 Under 18 games. This year we’ve got 90, and 50 are those with three players. So that’s a lot of unexposed talent.
“But that’s exciting. It give us an opportunity to start with a clean slate and attack the season from a really low base of games.’’
Of last year’s breakthrough premiership team, only co-captain Mitch Riordan, Hayden Young and Ned Cahill are back at Shepley Oval, Riordan as a 19-year-old.
Bailey Schmidt, Jai Nanscawen, Corey Ellison and John Roysmith join Riordan as “over-age’’ players.
Riordan had injuries and played only six matches last year in the TAC Cup last year, which has been rebranded the NAB League.
But Flanigan said there was “genuine AFL interest’’ in the right-footer.
The club will seek permission for him to play in the Under 18 nationals.
“I think if he continues in the upward trend he’ll be playing some VFL footy in the back half of the year,’’ Flanigan said.
Nanscawen was also injured last season but has had a good pre-season and is ready to make up for lost time.
Schmidt is an aggressive forward/ruckman who comes in at 200cm and 100kg, and Ellison is a key position player noted for his marking. Ellison is 5kg lighter than last season, when he had some good moments in the forward line.
“He’s had a wonderful pre-season,’’ Flanigan said. “We’ve played him forward and back and he launches himself at the footy. His hands are really good.’’
He said Schmidt was “presenting well at the footy and his ruckwork last week (in a practice match) was fantastic’’.
The tall Roysmith, from Red Hill, is something of a roughie and new to the Stingrays program. A boarder at Melbourne Grammar for the past two years, he has not played any Under 18 representative football. Flanigan called him “still a little bit raw … but he’s a nice size and a good lad’’.
The Stingrays have named Young as captain, with Cahill as vice-captain, and Jarryd Barker and Luca Goonan as deputy vice-captains.
Flanigan said Young, from Somerville, was a natural leader and respected by the other players.
“He speaks very well … he made a wonderful presentation at our all-day camp a couple of weeks ago,’’ he said. “He’s really serious about his footy. Sets high standards for himself and drives high standards within the group. He was an easy choice as captain.’’
With only three premiership players returning, the Stingrays will bear a different look this year.
Schmidt, Sam De Koning and Biggie Nyuon will lead the ruck division, and Young, Riordan, Nanscawen, Cahill, Barker and Goonan form a strong midfield.
“We run pretty deep with our mids … that always helps in this comp,’’ Flanigan noted.
“We’ve also got some raw 17-year-olds with some exciting traits, Deakyn Smith, Kobi George, Henry Berenger, those sort of kids. We intend to get a couple of hundred games coming back next year.’’
With Craig Black heading for Collingwood’s coaching staff, leaving the Stingrays on the triumphant high of a first flag, Nick Cox has moved into the coaching role.
Cox, a former Dandenong and Frankston VFA player and an official legend of the Eastern league, has been an assistant for four years.
He handled the coaching chores last season when Black was on national duties.
But his experience in the box extends to a number of senior coaching positions at suburban level.
“He’s enjoying it. He speaks well to the group and I think they enjoy his style,’’ Flanigan said of Cox.
“He has a bit of a laugh with them but they know when he’s got the ‘serious hat’ on. I think he’s learning to manage assistants and a big group of staff. He’s a sponge for knowledge and he doesn’t assume to know everything. He’s always looking for ways to improve himself.’’
For Flanigan, 2019 is a homecoming to the club.
The affable former AFL ruckman had 10 years with the Rays as region manager before leaving in 2010.
He spent two years in China helping establish the South China Football League and a talented athlete academy, and in the past few years has worked in development roles with AFL Victoria, mostly recently in female ranks.
He returned to Shepley Oval late last year as talent identification manager to replace Mark Wheeler, who has transferred to the Sandringham Dragons.
“It’s a different set of challenges,’’ Flanigan said. “It’s a lot more hands-on with the parents and the kids as opposed to managing the managers, which was my old role.
“Really enjoying it. Some long days … we’ve had to do plenty of hours to get everything organised but now that the list is settled and we’re playing weekend to weekend footy it’s going to be fun.’’
DANDENONG STINGRAYS 2019 SQUAD
1 Henry Berenger
2 Hayden Young
4 William Lewis
5 Lachlan Cooper
6 Jarryd Barker
8 Brock Cliffe
9 William Howe
10 Clayton Gay
11 Ned Cahill
12 Makaio Haywood
13 Nathan Heath
14 Deakyn Smith
15 Declan Gould
16 Jake Klein
17 Bryce Milford
18 Mitchell Riordan
19 Jeremy Burton
20 Sam De Koning
21 Josh Johnson
22 Kyle Hindle
23 Jai Neal
24 Biggie Nyuon
25 Jake Stuart
26 Jordan Andrews
27 Kobi George
28 Bailey Schmidt
29 Flynn Hynes
30 James Thomas
31 Joshua Mounter
32 Blake Kuiper
33 Harry Sullivan
34 Reece Orchard
36 John Roysmith
37 Bayleigh Welsh
38 Max Gregory
39 Jack Toner
40 Sam Merrick
41 Taj Westworth
42 Jai Nanscawen
43 Cooper Hodgson
44 Cody Weightman
45 Luca Goonan
46 Darius Popa
47 Will Bravo
48 Jaxon Stuart
50 Lachlan Williams
51 Ashton Williamson
52 Corey Ellison