Rochester can take a big step to avoiding the 2023 Goulburn Valley league wooden spoon with a win against bottom-ranked Shepparton United this weekend.
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A second win for the season — the first came five weeks ago against Tatura — would separate the Tigers from the three-way battle to avoid the competition’s most unwanted title.
SCOREBOARD
ROCHESTER v EUROA
Rochester..........................................2.1, 3.2, 6.4, 7.7 (49)
Euroa.............................................3.4, 5.7, 7.9, 14.15 (99)
GOALS, Rochester: S. Williams 2, D. Pearse 1, D. Cuttriss 1, J. Atley 1, M. Cricelli 1, N. O’Connor 1, Euroa: A. Smith 3, J. McKernan 3, C. Paul 2, J. Gleeson 2, E. Uthayakumar 1, J. Gleeson 1, N. Stewart 1, R. Hill 1.
BEST, Rochester: J. Atley, M. Cricelli, B. Evans, R. Gordon, B. Wileman, Euroa: J. McKernan, J. Gleeson, N. Trotter, A. Smith, M. Gleeson.
United sits on the bottom rung of the ladder, but just five per cent separates it from 10th-placed Shepparton Swans. The Tigers sit smack bang in the middle of the pair as the only other team with one victory for the season.
For three quarters at Moon Oval on Saturday against 2022 Goulburn Valley League grand finalist Euroa, the Tigers were well and truly in the fight. It took a seven-goal final quarter from the Magpies to shake off Ash Watson’s determined outfit.
Only nine points separated the teams at quarter-time. That margin extended to 17 at the long break, before the Tigers outscored the Magpies in the third and trailed by less than two goals with a quarter remaining.
It was again the tall timber’ of an opposition club that proved Rochester’s undoing, with Euroa ruck duo Andrew Smith and Jack McKernan kicking three of their six goals for the match in the final term.
Euroa kicked 7.6 to the Tigers’ 1.3 and eventually registered a 50-point win, 14.15 (99) to 7.7 (49).
Rochester had just two less disposals for the afternoon, on the back of a 40-disposal game for Blake Evans, 34 possessions for Joe Atley and another superb around-the-ground rucking display from Mitch Cricelli.
Cricelli was beaten in the hit-out count 39-13 by Andrew Smith, but finished with 28 disposals, 11 marks and a goal.
He had 17 contested possessions and seven clearances as the Tigers matched a Euroa team that was missing the league’s leading ball-winner, Will Hayes.
Rochester’s defensive unit was again under the pump: Euroa had 21 more inside 50s and took 19 more inside 50 marks.
The ruck work of Smith allowed it nine more centre clearances for the match, although Nathan McCarty and Fraser Cleary turned away several of those attacking thrusts.
McCarty had 23 disposals (15 contested) and Cleary 18 disposals (together with 11 marks), both players supporting Evans’ defensive work with four rebound 50s apiece.
Evans, who is averaging 24 disposals this season, had an amazing against-the-odds final term when he had 14 kicks (six kick-ins) to cap off his best statistical return of the season.
This weekend’s round 10 match will be followed by a split round when Rochester meets Shepparton Swans on July 1, then three of the next four games are extremely winnable.
Following the round 12 game — the Indigenous round — against Kyabram, the Tigers face ninth-ranked Shepparton, Tatura again and then has Benalla, which beat them by two points on the back of Jarrad Waite’s goalkicking feats.
This weekend’s opponent, United, has been competitive in all but its last three weeks. Those games have produced 101, 98 and 111-point defeats to Echuca, Kyabram and Mansfield.
Earlier in the year, the Demons lost by just two points to Benalla, a carbon copy of the Rochester result against the Saints, having lost by 15 points to Tatura, to Shepparton by 19 points and the Swans by 25.
Reigning premier Echuca remains the only unbeaten team, but two teams — Seymour and Kyabram — have emerged from the pack as challenges. Both have lost just one game, the Bombers to Echuca in round two and Seymour to Kyabram only a fortnight ago.
Euroa, Mansfield and Mooroopna will all play finals, having a three-game head-start at the halfway mark of the season on the two teams immediately outside the top six, Tatura and Shepparton.
Rochester had two changes for the Euroa match — Darcy Myers and Matt Kellett in for Kane Moroney and the experienced Nick O’Connor.
There is still no sign of Doug Wren, Andy Henderson and Will Hamilton, nor co-captain Nathan Marrone, while Adam McPhee has missed the past four games, He was injured during an 11-disposal game against Tatura in round five.
Seamus Henderson has also missed the past two games
Teenage ruckman Charlie Palmer has played with the under-18 team for the past two weeks after playing six of the first seven games.
Sean Williams, who has 22 goals from nine games this season, took three of the Tigers’ nine inside 50 marks and was the only multiple goal-kicker.
The Tigers’ other major avenue to goal, James McPhee, was out of the match early very early in the day with an ankle injury. Dylan Cuttriss and Declan Pearse offered other forward options from limited opportunities.
The focus for Watson and his team will be a second win for the season against a side it dominated last season.
Rochester beat United by 42 points at Deakin Reserve when Chris Jansen had one of his 40-disposal/three-goal games.
Cricelli kicked six goals in that game, his best return of the season. In round 16 against United he kicked another five amid his 19-game, 44-goal season.
In that Moon Oval game, Rochester kicked 29 goals from 44 scoring shots, allowing United just three points in its lowest score of the season. Two weeks later, United also failed to kick a goal against Seymour.
Hugh Hamilton kicked seven goals in the Tigers and Bulldogs’ match, with Dylan Cuttris and Blake Evans kicking four apiece and ex-coach Steve Stroobants three.
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