NAB League: Ned Cahill best-afield as Dandenong Stingrays trounce Oakleigh Chargers
With 24 possessions and three goals, Ned Cahill was outstanding in the Dandenong Stingrays’ big win over Oakleigh Chargers.
NAB League
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FOR a little fellow, Edward “Ned’’ Cahill is having a big bearing on the early stages of the NAB League season.
Cahill, 178cm in his long stops, played in the Dandenong Stingrays’ premiership team last season as a bottom-age player and elusive forward pocket.
This year he’s in the leadership group and has made the move into the midfield.
And he’s seeing a lot of the ball.
On Saturday he had 25 possessions, kicked three goals and was best-afield as the Stingrays took the belt to the Oakleigh Chargers in the 2018 grand final rematch at Shepley Oval, winning by 70 points.
“He’s the modern footballer at the moment, those speedy little forwards who can go into the midfield and have an impact,’’ Stingrays coach Nick Cox said of Cahill.
“He knows where the ball is going before it gets there.
“He had an injury-interrupted pre-season but he’s been great for us so far, not only possessions-wise but with his pressure acts and ability to make a contest.’’
Talent ID manager Darren Flanigan said before the start of the season that the Stingrays were something of an unknown quantity because they had only a handful of players returning from 2018.
But they are unbeaten after four matches, gaining three wins and one draw.
The first two victories came in close finishes. It was different on Saturday. They streaked away from the Chargers in the second quarter with eight goals to one and closed it out with seven to four in the final term.
A goal seconds before half time stood as a highlight of the match.
Stingrays defender Clayton Gay met the ball at speed and passed to William Bravo, who quickly gave it on to Lachie Williams. His kick from 50m sailed through, capping a dazzling passage of play for the home team.
Williams booted three goals from the midfield to earn a mention on the best-player list.
Midfielder Jack Toner, the son of Narre Warren premiership coach Chris, had 20 clean touches, chasing Cahill for the best-on accolade.
“Pretty happy with today’s performance,’’ Cox said.
“I thought we were consistent over the four quarters.
“They (Chargers) were a bit depleted (because of school football) but they still had 10, 12 players who can handle themselves at this level. We expected that if we continued with our pressure and stayed in the contest we would get the ball back and be able to hurt them. And I thought we did that pretty well at times.’’
The Stingrays had three first-gamers in Blake Kuipers, Makaio Haywood and Jai Neal.
Kuipers is a star volleyballer — last week he won the national Under 19 beach volleyball title in Bunbury, WA — and came into the Stingrays program late last season.
Cox said he had showed significant improvement.
“There’s a little bit of interest in him already because of his athletic ability,’’ he said.
“He showed a few things today but he’s got to get a little bit better with his game-sense stuff. Hopefully he will. He’s still learning the game. He’s played a bit of football at Rosebud and Mark Hustwaite pushed him to come up here. He must have something because he (Hustwaite) has a pretty good eye.’’
Haywood was handy in the midfield and the 191cm Neal, from Beaconsfield, kicked two goals, the second with a classy snap.
With Corey Ellison pulling out of the team because of food poisoning, Bryce Milford, 194cm and also from Beaconsfield, came into the team and had some good moments.
Meanwhile, Under 19 players Jai Nanscawen, Mitch Riordan and Bailey Schmidt will play in next Sunday’s AFL Victoria Young Guns game at Sandringham.
Cox confirmed a “little bit’’ of interest in Riordan for the mid-season draft.
“We’re hoping he might be a sneaky chance,’’ he said.
“He’s found a really good balance between life and footy, Mitch. Last year it was footy, footy, footy. Now he’s going out with his mates and enjoying himself and enjoying his footy. He’s a happier kid. His kicking has got better — he’ll come out of a stoppage and lower his vision and hit targets — and his body is a lot better. He had injuries last year and they hindered him come finals time.’’
Meanwhile Oakleigh Chargers won the NAB League Girls match, 7.7 (49) to 2.4 (16).
Madeline Pearson, Piper Swayn and Molly McDonald were best for the Rays, and sporting allrounder Jaide Anthony kicked both goals.
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