Dingley is still confident it can compete for the SFNL premiership despite recent losses
Dingley coach Zach Horsley maintains that the Dingoes are still among the teams vying for the Southern league premiership despite their recent losses to top teams.
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Dingley coach Zach Horsley insists his side is still a premiership contender despite failing its latest tests.
Saturday’s 11.7 (73) to 15.8 (98) loss to Cheltenham is the Dingoes’ second successive defeat after losing to St Paul’s McKinnon last week.
The Rosellas kicked five unanswered goals in 13 minutes during the second quarter to balloon out to a match-defining lead.
A similar patch cost Dingley the week prior, with the Bulldogs kicking seven goals to one in the second term.
But Horsley isn’t panicking, declaring that the Dingoes will take plenty of positives out of the loss to Cheltenham.
“Last year we didn’t get inside 10 goals of Cheltenham and this year we’ve lost by 30 and 25 – we’re getting closer,” he says.
“We’re very confident we can mix it with the best. Sides have seen us at full tilt, it’s probably only been once or twice, but they know the power we possess.
“Every coach will say you learn a lot from losses but on the weekend we experimented with a few things and saw a lot of results.
“We saw some things from them we think we can exploit and really work towards if we meet them in a final.”
Dingley’s turnovers against Cheltenham and St Paul’s McKinnon have been costly.
Horsley suspects the turnovers are more a result of decision making than execution.
“We’re still efficient, we’re going at something like 71 or 72 per cent by foot, I think it’s probably more our decision making going inside 50,” he says.
“We have made some poor decisions and sides are aware of our strengths and really defend that and we aren’t counteracting it.
“Our system is falling down a little bit as we transition the ball, every side is going to make midfield turnovers, bad decisions, but we think we can control making better choices going inside 50.”
The Dingoes have the firepower inside 50, with Caleb Lewis, Trent Dennis-Lane, Arryn Siposs and Michael Dolan all proven avenues to goal.
But with their other commitments Horsley is rarely putting their magnets on the whiteboard at the same time.
He concedes the ball use going inside 50 is partially contributed to by the irregularity of personnel but expects that to smooth out in the latter half of the year.
“It’s definitely a challenge and something we’re working through,” he says.
“But it gives us the chance to look at the strengths of each individual player – we exposed Caleb and Siposs together, we’ve exposed Caleb and Trent, Trent and Siposs.
“We’re finding the combinations work and while we’d love to have them for 18 rounds, we got them on-board for not just the games but for what they what they bring outside of that and that’s been second to none.
“We always knew there would be some connection challenges, but in the long run and towards the back end of the year I am fairly certain the last six or seven we will have them full time.”
Mitch Cook, Michael Lewis and Jackson Peet were all solid for Dingley while VFL-listed stars Austin Johnson and Sam Hayes run amok for the Rosellas.
Jack Lonie was electric in the first half but sat out the final quarter to manage a hamstring concern.
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