Rochester would have been bullish about its chances of defeating champion Echuca for the second time this season, with the return fixture held on the Tigers’ home turf of Moon Oval.
However, after a promising start to their Goulburn Valley League contest, the Tigers were ground down by a relentless Echuca attack and the Murray Bombers ended up walking away from the game big winners.
Taking a look at the scoreboard, eyes are drawn to the first quarter, which turned out much differently to the other three.
While Rochy maintained a consistent trickle of goals over the four terms, Echuca kicked at least five in quarters two through four, but were held goalless in the opening period.
So, what was the reason behind the Murray Bombers’ slow start?
The first factor appears to simply be possession of the ball. Echuca was +93 in possessions for the game, but managed just two more disposals than the Tigers in the opening term.
Where that extra ball flowing Rochy’s way came from is more difficult to pinpoint.
It certainly wasn’t from clearances, as Echuca dominated the clearance count in the quarter (17-3) even more than it did in the game as a whole (55-34).
Rochester also did worse in terms of hit-outs in quarter one, losing the count 13-15, while winning it overall 61-53.
The ball was finding its way into Rochester’s hand largely through Echuca turnovers. The Murray Bombers turned the ball over more often than Rochester in the first quarter, committing almost a third of their total turnovers in the period (22 of 76 total).
Rochy also made more tackles than the Murray Bombers in the first quarter, 21-17, while Echuca won the overall tackle count 73-66.
Rochester v Echuca: first quarter
Disposals: 86 to 88
Disposal efficiency: both 67%
Clearances: 3 to 17
Turnovers: 19 to 22
Tackles: 21 to 17
Marks: 34 to 23
The biggest factor in Rochester’s increased control of the ball in the first term seems to be related to the Tigers’ usage when they had it.
Over the course of the game, Echuca was a massive +53 in marks and +50 in the uncontested variety.
However, in the first quarter it was the Tigers taking more marks (34-23) and keeping control of the ball more effectively.
In the first period, Rochester was putting up solid efficiency numbers, disposing of the ball at a 67 per cent clip, but that accuracy declined throughout the rest of the game and by the final siren only 62 per cent of Rochy disposals had found their mark, and only 52 per cent of the Tigers’ kicks had picked out teammates.
It has been well covered ground that Rochester is one of the best hustle teams in the league, consistently topping out the effort stats when it comes to work rate off the ball.
However, Echuca proved in this fixture that work rate isn’t always enough, particularly against a side with the mechanical and relentless efficiency of the two-time champion.