A trio of Tigers teams took on preliminary finals on Sunday, with two sides progressing to the Goulburn Valley League’s day of days.
Reserves
Rochester and Seymour did battle for a grand final spot, with the Tigers running away in the second half for a 25-point victory.
Two unanswered goals in the first quarter gave Rochy an early advantage, but Seymour responded with two of its own in the second, while Rochy only managed one, leaving the game evenly poised at 24-18 at half-time.
The Tigers came out of the sheds firing in the third quarter, while the Lions’ inaccuracy in front of goal started to take a toll.
Rochy kicked three goals for the period, while Seymour managed only one, extending the Rochester lead to 17 points.
Seymour straightened out its goal-kicking in the final term, but was unable to produce the volume of scoring required to overcome Rochy, which extended its lead further for a 9.10 (64) to 5.9 (39) final scoreline.
The Tigers must now stack up to an unbeaten Echuca side in a blockbuster grand final clash.
The Murray Bombers defeated Rochester by 51 points in the qualifying final.
B-grade
The Tigers did themselves proud against second-seeded Mooroopna but fell two goals short of a grand final spot.
Rochy earned an early lead in the contest, scoring six of the first eight goals in the match and taking a two-goal lead into the first break.
A swinging second quarter saw Mooroopna dominate early in the term before Rochester responded with a purple patch of its own to restore its advantage.
The margin stayed at two goals through half-time, but in an atypical game there was another big run of scores at the beginning of the third quarter.
The Cats were on a roll, but on this occasion Rochy wasn’t able to respond in kind and Mooroopna had a valuable three-goal edge at the final change.
A game Rochy again gave up an early run in the fourth to trail by as many as six, but fought back to get within two goals.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep the Tigers’ season alive and they were eliminated 34-36.
B-reserve
The Tigers’ B-reserve side had no such troubles in its preliminary final, negotiating the encounter with Euroa in relatively routine fashion.
Rochy did its work early in the contest, a dominant first period giving it a 14-5 advantage by the first break.
A shellshocked Euroa matched the Tigers the rest of the way but the damage had been done and the Magpies were unable to make significant inroads into the lead.
The margin was 10 at half-time, before Euroa earned some momentum in the third, winning the quarter and reeling Rochy back to within reach, the score 30-25 with a quarter to play.
However, the Tigers weren’t interested in letting a grand final place slip away. An early fourth-quarter run re-established their lead and they ultimately cruised to victory, 41-33.
Undefeated Seymour will be the challenging task for the Tigers on grand final day, with the sides’ most recent encounter in the qualifying final going the Lions’ way by six goals.