Bailey Wileman is on track to set a new standard for tackling at Rochester Football Netball Club after laying 21 tackles in the opening three weeks of the season.
Last year ruckman Dan Russell and defender Grant Fuller topped the Tigers in the tackling category, laying 66 tackles each for the season.
If Wileman continues with his seven-tackle-a-game average and plays every home and away game he will have laid 126 by the end of the season.
Fuller took only 14 games to achieve the feat, while Russell’s tally came from 18 games.
They were equal 37th in the league for tackles in 2022, with Shepparton United’s Adam Pigatto (who has 22 tackles in 2023) leading the statistic with 146 for the season from his 18 games (an 8.1 weekly average).
Sam Willoughby, who finished sixth on that list with 101 tackles last year from 18 games, leads the 2023 GVL tackle count with 25.
Others to continue their tackling form from last season are Mitchell Elliott (currently fourth with 22 tackles) and Ben Rigoni (21).
They were top-three finishers in the category last year.
Wileman is equal-third for tackles with Rigoni, last year’s Morrison Medallist, and one behind former Bulldogs and Carlton AFL player Will Hayes (now at Euroa).
Wileman, who is averaging 14 possessions and almost two clearances a game, played with Coburg Districts in the Essendon district league last season, having made seven appearances with Rochester in the 2021 COVID-affected season.
He was at Wagga TIgers in a premiership season in 2019, having debuted at senior level with Rochester in 2017.
This season he has brothers Hunter and Darby at the club, who are both still eligible for Under-18 football. Darby has twice played alongside his brother at senior level, while Hunter isn’t far off after finishing among the underage team’s best players twice.
Further enhancing the family’s football connection to Rochester is the fact their cousin, Riley Gordon has joined the club this season.
Wileman was a star at underage level with the Tigers, where he was a goal-kicking mid-fielder. He is yet to hit the scoreboard this season.
Rochester was the eighth-ranked tackling team last season, averaging 51.9 tackles a match. This year they are marginally up on that figure, averaging 55 (sixth in the competition).
The top-three tackling teams, and only teams to average more than 60 tackles a match last year, were Mooroopna, Mansfield and Shepparton United.
United is still leading the competition, with 200 from three games, while Mooroopna is fourth. Mansfield, however, has dropped off the tackling radar and is not in the top 10 teams.
Only two teams were ranked lower than the Tigers in the one-percenter category last year, where the team averaged 27.9 of the pressure acts every game.
Shepparton and eventual premier Echuca led this vategory with 38.8 and 34.9 respectively.
Shepparton Swans are the new Pressure Act kings, with Rochester ranked 10th of the 12 teams involved in the GVL competition.
The Tigers finished the 2022 season second last in relation to average spoils, having just 13.9 a week across its 19 games. Leading this category was Shepparton (22.4) and Mooroopna (19.8).
That hasn’t changed in 2023, with the Bears still number one. Rochester has, however, improved and is only nine behind the top teams in equal fourth.
Rochester does not have a player in the top 10 for pressure acts or spoils.