HIGH standards are what the Dandenong Stingrays are hoping will help them go one better in 2023, after last year’s run to the Coates Talent League grand final. Amid the hurt of a loss in the last game of the season, there are plenty of silver linings for the program’s promising top-age crop to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Head coach Nick Cox<\/em><\/strong> says the opportunity for many of his current squad leaders to strut their stuff on the “big stage” in 2022 has set them up well for even better campaigns this time around, with improvements being made week by week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Our 17-year-olds who got an opportunity through a lot of games last year and have come back with really high standards and are driving the way that the preseason has been run thus far,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Like every Talent League side we’ve had our ups and downs, but we’re developing and getting better as a group and are getting better as a coaching group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “As a region we spoke about giving them an opportunity to showcase their ability not only week by week, but on the big stage as well… in the grand final against Sandy we learned a lot of lessons and we learned where we can get better, so those 17-year-olds have come back firing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three players were drafted out of Dandenong’s program in 2022, and there looks like being a few more this year. Co-captain Cooper Simpson<\/a> is the region’s lone National Academy member, while five other top-agers – Riak Andrew<\/a>, Kade De La Rue<\/a>, Harry De Mattia<\/a>, Sam Frangalas<\/a>, and Kobe Shipp<\/a> – are all part of the Vic Country talent hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n