Tiger cub: Nate Rasmussen will still be elgiible for under-18 football next season, but hasn’t missed a game in the GVL’s top flight this season. He had 22 disposals in a break out game against United earlier this season.
10 SURPRISING STATS
1. Just in case you missed it: Mitch Cricelli’s amazing three week run from rounds eight to 10 included a 238 ranking point game.
2. Kyle Waters: The pressure-forward specialist features in the top 10 of GVL statistics in one category, fifth for inside 50 percentage (for disposal).
3. Break-out game: Nate Rasmussen, still eligible for under-18s football, had a promising 22 possession-six inside 50s game against Shepparton United.
4. Blake Evans: He is the only Tiger to have registered a 40-plus possession game this season, which featured 14 effective kick-ins.
5. Double double: Rochester has three players, Grant Fuller, Nathan McCarty and Bailey Wileman, who have achieved a unique double double - more than 10 disposals and more than 10 tackles in a game.
6. Quiet achiever: Nathan McCarty, who has carried the burden of sole capataincy in Nathan Marrone’s absence, has had a no-fuss season.
7. Sean Williams: With 27.20 for the season he has had the second most scoring shots in the GVL this season.
8. Under the radar: Fraser Cleary hasn’t missed a game and is a master of several different facets of the game.
9. Intercept marking: Angus Martin is elite in one GVL category this season, for intercept marking.
10. Great in wins: Reid Gordon’s two best games this season have been in both of the Tigers wins.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Mitch Cricelli’s mouth-watering round 10 statistical return is hard to go past when compiling a “surprising stat’’ list for the 12-week-old Goulburn Valley League season.
It is by far the most impressive individual game of any player this season, even putting the exploits of Euroa star Will Hayes to shame.
Hayes’s biggest game of 188 points was 50 less than the 238-point tally accumulated by the former Elmore goalkicker in the narrow loss to United.
In that match, Hayes had 36 possessions, 12 tackles, nine clearances and kicked four goals.
Hard to think about how could have performed any better.
Cricelli’s highly publicised performance was highlighted by a 15 disposal second term when he had 13 hit outs, four clearances and three inside 50s.
For the record, Cricelli finished with 37 disposals (23 contested), 13 marks (seven intercept), 44 hit outs, 13 clearances, five rebound 50s, five effective tackles and nine inside 50s.
In the words of comical AFL commentator, Brian “BT’’ Taylor — wowee.
Oh, he also kicked one goal and had five score involvements in the 11-point loss.
Tigers captain Nathan McCarty is as hard a working individual as coach Ash Watson has in his ranks, typified by his elite ranking for tackles and disposal average of 18.4 this season.
McCarty has several season highs equal to, or better, than any other player in the team.
He laid 11 tackles in round four, after missing two weeks, against Shepparton and a week later had eight clearances (along with 18 disposals) against Tatura in the Tigers’ first win of the season.
He has topped the 20 disposal count on four occasions, including a season-topping 120 ranking point game against Euroa when he also took 11 marks and all but eight of his 23 disposals were contested.
Kyle Waters owns one of the more unique top 10 ranking positions for the Goulburn Valley league, with him a top five player for inside 50 entry efficiency.
Waters has had 19 inside 50s this season, which doesn’t have him anywhere near the top 10 in that category, but he is fifth in regard to how often his disposal ends with a teammate inside the 50m arc.
Waters averages only eight disposals a game, but lays at least one tackle inside the front 50 every game and has a 10 disposal-two goal game to his credit this season.
Blake Evans outstanding season was highlighted by his 40 disposal round nine game against Euroa when the Tigers were right in the game until three-quarter-time.
Evans, who has had the most kicks in the competition this season (218), also tops the GVL for the most effective kick ins (70).
He is also a top three player in regard to rebound-50s, third behind Shepparton’s Ted Lindon and Benalla’s Jordan Wolff.
Evans’ teammate Hamish Hooppell also rates a mention among the top 10 players in the category.
Making his mark: Angus Martin has been a constant in Rochester’s senior team since graduating from under age ranks in 2021. His intercept marking is a feature of his game.
Sean Williams’ highs have been far more frequent than his single “lowest-low’’ of 2023, when he kicked 2.9 in what would have otherwise been a match-winning best on ground effort.
Against United 11 of his 16 disposals were scoring shots, he took eight marks — seven of those inside the 50m arc to underline his top three status in the league for the category.
Only Mansfield’s Ben Christopher (40) and Echuca captain Will Monahan (35) have taken more marks than Williams (34) in the attacking arc this season.
Christopher has kicked 27.13 and Monahan 26.14, with Williams sandwiched between the pair as the fourth-highest goalkicker of the GVL so far this season.
Williams is five goals behind Mooroopna’s Jackson Trengove, whose tally of 32.19 includes 10 majors against Rochester earlier in the year.
The Rochester key forward also has the ninth most contested marks for the season, 12 behind the competition leaders — Kyabram’s Lachie Smith and Williams’ forward-cum ruckman teammate Mitch Cricelli (30).
Williams, who returned to the Tigers this year from Bendigo league club Eaglehawk, has 27 majors and 20 minor scores from his 11 games this season.
He has only been goalless on two occasions, against Shepparton and in a winning team against Tatura, in successive weeks.
Williams kicked six goals against Benalla in a 15 disposal-eight mark game and has two bags of four goals — the latest in a winning team against Shepparton Swans, when he took four marks inside 50 and kicked two match-winning goals in the final term.
Rochester doesn’t have a single representative in the top 10 tacklers for the season, but Grant Fuller is third in regard to average tackles for his six game total of 45.
He has twice registered 11 tackles in a game, including his highest disposal game of 17 against Benalla.
Bailey Wileman achieved the double double, possessions and tackles, in round two (against Seymour) with an even more impressive 20 disposal-11 tackle game.
He is ranked elitre for tackling, along with above average ratings for his 16.4 disposal average and 3.5 clearances.
Teenager Nate Rasmussen, continuing the wonderful tradition of the family, played at all four levels of the club — in what was probably a first and will remain so as long as the GVL under-16 team remains unattached to the senior club — last season.
He played two games at senior/reserve level, 11 games with the Tigers under-18 team and 10 games at under-16 level.
As if he hadn’t had enough football he also made a cameo appearance for Colbinabbin at under-18 level during a bye week, was twice a member of the Pioneers under-16 team and, during the summer, played three games in the Northern Territory Football League.
He hasn’t missed a game with the Tigers this season and a highlight of the season came when he was among Rochester’s best with 22 disposals-seven marks-four clearances and six inside-50s in the narrow loss to Shepparton United.
Against reigning premier Echuca earlier in the year he had 19 disposals and seven marks.
Fraser Cleary hasn’t missed a game with the Rochester senior team since breaking into the line-up in the eight round of last season, having played the first six games of the season at reserve grade level.
He played only one game at senior level in 2021, having played at under-18 level in 2019 before a season sidelined through COVID-19 protocols.
Cleary had a break out game this year against Euroa, a match where he took 11 marks and had 18 disposals.
He has played several different roles, a week later his possession count dropped to 13, but he had five tackles, four inside 50s and four one per centers.
Apart from three games this season, he has rarely dipped below 15 disposals and had a season-high 21 possessions against Benalla — in the two-point loss — with a season-high three clearances added to the mix.
Angus Martin is a member of the Tigers defensive unit who is top 10 in the team for spoils and one percenters.
He had his best game against Euroa, taking eight marks and having 12 disposals.
Swing men are vitally important to any good team and Reid Gordon’s last three weeks has produced further evidence of this football fact.
He has done work at both ends of the ground and has a strong defensive element to his work in attack.
He took 22 marks between rounds nine and 11, while maintaining a strong defensive presence (credited with seven one percenters and eight tackles).
His best game was in the Shepparton Swans winning performance when he had 20 disposals, five marks, five tackles and three inside 50s.
The 94-point ranking point was narrowly ahead of his three goal-16 disposal game in the win against Tatura — his influence in both the team’s wins unquestionable.
