By Jonty Ralphsmith
Don’t take Dingley lightly.
That’s been the proverbial from ‘the cage’ for so many clubs travelling to Souter Oval across the years.
When the going has got tough – which has not happened often in recent years – the famous cage in front of the clubrooms would rattle and give the boys a lift.
Synonymous with the club, Saturday was the last game the Dingoes will play in front of the cage as the rooms will be redeveloped across the next 12 months.
Danny Ades’ men sent it out in style with a 19-point win over third-placed St Pauls McKinnon heralding Saturday night celebrations.
That succeeded a 117 point win by Dingley’s reserves.
“It’s very rare in this day and age that you’ll get to do something that is iconic for the history of the club, so to get the win is important and to do it against an opposition and a club I respect dearly is even more pleasing,” player-coach Ades said.
“It’s something that’s deep in the history of the club.”
After bullying some lesser sides in division one, the win affirms they can do damage in September, having also beaten Cranbourne this season.
Dingley was the better side virtually all game with quick play and some big presences up forward contributing to the victory.
It threatened to be a shootout early as both sides had slick plays that resulted in a high-scoring opening before the game settled into a rhythm.
Dingley had a two goal ascendancy for most of the afternoon as they were better around the ball, despite the absence of ruckman Vergim Faik (collarbone), and Nathan Freeman (hamstring tightness).
Freeman is expected to be back this week while Ades said a deep run would be needed to see Faik again.
Adam Lloyd stepped up in his first game of the season after back-to-back ankle surgeries.
Lachie Lamble was influential on Saturday, racking up plenty of possession and looking above the level.
His game-changing run and boldness was on show, and has been transferred from halfback to the wing in recent weeks to free up Lucas Walmsley to play in the middle.
Rory Goldsmith, Jake Mullen and Justin Van Unen all had moments inside 50.
Goldsmith applied his trademark pressure and finished with two goals.
Van Unen threatened to tear the game apart as a big marking presence up forward and hit the scoreboard with three goals in the last quarter getting his side home.
“I thought we played smart footy, the wind changed a lot throughout the day but we controlled a lot of the momentum and play,” Ades said.
“At times we didn’t adjust quickly enough to the changing direction of the wind, but it says a lot about the group that we were able to get the win with the wind funnelling towards their end in the last quarter.”
The match also served as a celebration of triple premiership forward-turned-defender Kristian Feehan’s 100th game.
The 2019 interleague representative and 2018 division one team of the year player brought up the milestone last week but got the attention on the weekend at a home fixture.
“Nothing was given to Kristian Feehan: he came up from under 18’s then spent some time in the reserves, so to then go on and achieve what he has speaks to the quality player he is, and the person he is to drive the culture,” Ades said.
The result gives the Dingoes a sneaky chance of sneaking into a qualifying final.
That would rely on Dingley beating bottom-placed East Malvern, St Kilda City losing to top placed Cheltenham and St Pauls McKinnon losing to seventh-placed Mordialloc.
Cranbourne, meanwhile, slaughtered Port Melbourne Colts in another important step back from an inauspicious month of footy.
Casey VFL-listed George Grey was named best-on-ground and finished with five of the Eagles’ 25 majors.
Port Melbourne was never in the contest, kept scoreless in the opening quarter and finishing with only one goal, while Cranbourne piled on 15 in the second half.
In other results: Aaron Edwards’ 12 goals helped the Saints to a 134-point victory over East Malvern; Mordialloc was kept to just one goal in the second half as it was consigned to a 40-point defeat at the hands of Bentleigh; and Cheltenham eased to a 50-point victory over Springvale Districts.
LADDER: Cheltenham 60, Cranbourne 52, St Kilda City 48, St Pauls McKinnon 48, Dingley 44, Springvale Districts 32, Port Melbourne Colts 24, Mordialloc 20, Bentleigh 12, East Malvern 0.
FIXTURE: Bentleigh v Cranbourne, East Malvern v Dingley, Port Melbourne v Springvale Districts, St Pauls McKinnon v Mordialloc, St Kilda City v Cheltenham.
