SFNL: How Dingley stunned reigning premiers Cheltenham to clinch 62-point round one win

Dingley made an opening round statement with a thumping win in the grand final replay. Here’s the areas the Dingoes dominated.

Cheltenham Seniors player Jack Lonie, chasing Dingley seniors player Kai Stretton. Picture: Andrew Batsch

Dingley believes it has unlocked its keys to success after dismantling the reigning premiers — and putting Division 1 of Southern league on notice.

The Dingoes fell to Cheltenham twice in September last season, including in the grand final, by a combined margin of three points, but rallied to stun the reigning premiers by 62 points at the formidable Jack Barker Oval in round one.

“It really started with our contested work,” reflected Dingley coach Zach Horsley after the 15.15 (105) to 5.13 (43) triumph.

“Our midfield went to work, we won clearances by around 20 and were able to generate a lot of opportunity, we went inside 50 sixty times, we did that really well.

“It was probably built off our backline, we had a lot of great interrupted plays from our intercept markers and great one-on-one wins from our key post defenders, we were able to set up a lot of our game from there and it just flowed on.”

Dingley coach Zach Horsley. (Photo by Josh Chadwick)

The Dingoes blew Cheltenham out of the water early and the Rosellas were still goalless at half-time

Luke Simmonds, Kristen Feehan and Arryn Siposs controlled the air for Dingley in the back half.

“We had some great rebound defenders that played really well,” added Horsley.

“The midfield numbers were really big and the midfield group as a whole connected super.

“Nathan Freeman led the way with 38 touches and Lucas Walmsley out on the wing had 31.

“We just felt like the key indicators that we needed to see in terms of our markers on our game-plan were there and the players got rewarded with how it came out on the game.”

Calen Lewis was also potent in the forward line and booted five majors for Dingley.

Caleb Lewis kicks a goal for Dingley. Picture: Andrew Batsch

The win was marred however by an incident between Jake Mullen and a spectator. Mullen, who kicked three goals himself, was reported for striking and will front the tribunal on Wednesday night.

The fact that the victory came on Cheltenham’s turf made it all the more special for Horsley.

“It’s always been hard to play Cheltenham at Cheltenham especially, we play them in round one or two virtually every year there,” Horsley said.

“My first two experiences at Cheltenham have been a 10-goal loss, a five-goal loss, and now we walk away with a 10-goal win.

“It’s nice to get one on the board against them there, it’s always a tough place to win, I’m not sure how many games they would have lost there over the last five years but I reckon you could count them on one hand.

“To get that one in the bank early probably helps us set up the front half of the year pretty well if we can maintain the form.”