Alex Benbow and Matthew Buntine received the honour of Dual Captains for the Rays at the 2011 jumper presentation attended by Stephen Milne and Ryan Bastinac.
As 56 young men kicked off their TAC Cup careers, Milne, returning to the Rays as a specialist coach, joined players and coaches on the training track, offering the eager Stingrays boys some words of wisdom.
Throughout the year Stephen Milne and Justin Koschitzke from the St Kilda FC will be attending Stingrays training and a few games as specialty coaches. Both are keen to develop themselves as future coaches, as well as giving back to the local community.
After a short and sharp training session, Graeme Yeats, Dandenong Stingrays coach invited Ryan Bastinac, drafted to North Melbourne in 2008, back to the club to have a chat with the new look Stingrays for season 2011 and bestowed him the honor of passing out the jumpers to the leadership group and dual Captains.
Bastinac, who was once an integral part of the Stingrays mid field and an example of how hard work, self assessment and personal improvement can deliver results, spoke honestly to the group about life opportunities. He told the group how important it is to make every effort to get the best out of themselves and push themselves even when times are tough as the window you are given closes quickly if you are uncommitted or become complacent.
The 2011 development and line coaches introduced the team to the 150 plus audience who all received their playing numbers and uniforms. Bastinac and Yeats then introduced the new structured leadership group for 2011, which saw 8 players’ named. The 8 players named will see 6 Vice Captains which are -Jordan Kelly, Max Gearon, Jason Salopek, Todd Elton, Piva Wright and Lachlan Wallace who will all share Captain duties when needed.
The last honour of the night was to name the remaining two players who will be Dual Captain for the Rays in 2011 Alex Benbow, a very classy small on ball player who has excellent pace, kicking skills and a very hard working player and Matthew Buntine, a very strong Key position player who is rarely beaten on a one on one contest, extremely good kicking and decision making skills were given the roles by the Stingrays.
Round 1 for the Stingrays starts on Saturday 2nd April against rival border TAC team Gippsland Power in Morwell at 1.00pm, who will be fighting out for the inaugural UD Truck & CMV Truck and Bus Cup.
Last Modified on 31/03/2011 05:32