NAB League: four Under 17 players debut for Oakleigh Chargers against Dandenong Stingrays

George Wardlaw, Nick McLarty, Jack O’Sullivan and Blake Drury had winning debuts for the Oakleigh Chargers.

Young talent time: Oakleigh Chargers first-gamers Nick McLarty, George Wardlaw, Jack O’Sullivan and Blake Drury.

The Oakleigh Chargers kicked the first five goals of the match and the last five too.

In between they encountered some spirited and strong opposition from the Dandenong Stingrays in an entertaining NAB League Boys match at SkyBus Stadium in Frankston on Sunday.

Starting well and finishing even better, the Chargers won 15.7 (97) to 8.8 (56) on a day when four Under 17s played their first games for the club.

There were debuts for George Wardlaw, Nick McLarty, Jack O’Sullivan and Blake Drury.

And they were impressive, with Wardlaw, O’Sullivan and Drury among the best as the Chargers improved to 3-5.

O’Sullivan kicked two goals, as did second-game small forward Brayden Fleming, the son of former Test cricketer Damien.

Oakleigh Chargers sing the song after their victory.

Fleming’s goals came in a minute as the Chargers made a bolting start to the third quarter.

The Stingrays unveiled their own Under 17 players in Jaxon Binns and Harvey Gleeson.

Unfortunately for Binns, he injured his left knee after a player fell across him.

The Stingrays were describing it as a medial ligament injury, putting him out of football for a few weeks and maybe the season.

Up to that point the Vic Country Under 17 representative had showed much poise across the half forward line, his skills as sharp as a pin.

The Chargers had a rousing start to the game, with Dylan Thomas, Sam Tucker, O’Sullivan, Ben Woodfull and Max Thompson slotting goals, O’Sullivan and Thompson making the Stingrays pay for turnovers. At that stage the score was 5.2 to 0.0.

Tall Zac Tobin made a set-shot to finally gets the Rays going, and Binns added a second.

The second term was a contrast to the first: the Stingrays kicked four goals, held the Chargers to a behind and went in to the long break eight points in front.

Josiah Kyle had some flashy moments, James Cahill and Declan Cole were busy around the ball, and Binns used it with precision.

At half time there were expectations of a tight match.

But in the end the Oakleigh side strolled away with it, Fleming’s burst regaining the lead for the Chargers and Nick Guiney extending it to 10 points.

Ned Moodie got one back for the Stingrays, but the Chargers finished the game full of vigour.

Braden Andrews went forward to boot two goals in the final quarter and set up another, and key forward Woodfull added a third to lead the scoring effort.

Henry Brown had 26 possessions for the winners, Drury 21, Scott Beilby 20, and Wardlaw 19 and Patrick Voss 19.

The Chargers have a long list of father-son players on their books – with names like Daicos, Darcy, Davey, Wanganeen, Yze, Burgoyne, Silvagni and Anderson – and were poised to name Harrison Free, former Richmond captain Tony Free’s boy.

But he was withdrawn due to hamstring tightness.

Seventeen-year-old players Henry Hustwaite – the brother of 2018 Stingrays premiership co-captain Campbell – Harrison Jones and the dashing Taj Campbell-Farrell were among the best for the Stingrays.

Jones is a good size and his kicking skills put him in the top bracket of prospects at Shepley Oval.

Stingrays coach Nick Cox said he was a little disappointed with the way his team faded late in the game.

“I would have liked us to not roll over the way we did,’’ he said.

“But it was a good learning experience for a few of the boys, particularly the 17-year-olds, Taj Campbell-Farrell, Finn Jakstas, Henry Hustwaite. They were really good for us.’’

There were 10 17-year-old players in the Rays’ team.