Rochester probably does not deserve to be near the bottom of the Goulburn Valley League ladder, if the 11-weeks of statistical information available to anyone who wants to take a closer look is studied under microscopic conditions.
The Tigers, after the weekend’s win against Shepparton Swans, now sit 10th on the ladder with two wins, but have shown more this season than at least four teams in the GVL this year.
Their ranking is, however, a result of some poor kicking in winnable matches. Games against Benalla, Shepparton United and Shepparton Bears were in Rochester’s keeping, but ended in defeats after costly inaccuracy.
By the statistics, Rochester has the eighth-ranked attack in the competition, ahead of Benalla, Tatura, Shepparton United and Shepparton Swans.
It also has only the third worst defence, well ahead of both United and Benalla.
Second-bottom Benalla and 10th-ranked Shepparton United have both had more points scored against them this season. In fact, in six games this year, teams have scored 100 points or more against Benalla.
United has given up more than 100 points on five occasions.
The Tigers’ worst result this season was its 95-point loss (152-59) to Echuca.
The only other team to score more than 100 points against the Tigers was Mooroopna, when former AFL star Jackson Trengove went crazy and kicked 10 goals.
Euroa kicked 99 points against them in a 50-point round nine margin, but it is at the opposite end of the ground that Rochester has struggled.
The Tigers’ average score is just 60.27 points, having scored a total of 633 points, but they still aren’t the lowest scoring side.
That title belongs to Benalla (555 points from 11 games), while the Shepparton Swans have a total scoring output of just 627 and Tatura’s average is 57 points from its 11 games.
Teams have scored an average of 87.5 against the Tigers — their 963 total points is less than United’s 1083 and Benalla’s 1101 and only 91 points more than teams have scored against seventh-ranked Shepparton.
Rochester’s 86-point total against Benalla, which could have been even better if not for its inaccurate 1.7 in the final term, is its highest score of the season.
Apart from that tally, the Tigers, relying heavily on James McPhee and Sean Williams, have fallen short of 50-point full-time totals on four occasions, hitting the half-century mark against Shepparton United in a match that included 20 behinds in its scoreline.
Four times this season the Tigers have failed to kick a goal in a quarter, but have only been held scoreless once, in the opening quarter of the match against Seymour.
Against Shepparton Bears in round four, the Tigers kicked five behinds in the final term and then in the third quarter of its match with United it kicked six behinds.
The other goalless quarter was the second term against Mansfield in a 50-point loss at Moon Oval.
Rochester has been competitive for periods of several games, including its opening match of the season against top team Kyabram.
The Tigers actually led by nine points at half-time, before Kyabram kicked nine goals in the second half.
Against Seymour in round two, the Tigers lost the second half by just six points and in round three trailed Echuca by only 18 points at half-time, before the reigning premier kicked 14 second-half goals.
In round six, against another top-six team in Mooroopna, the difference was just 10 points at half-time until the Cats kicked 10 second-half goals.
Against Benalla, the Tigers led by 14 points at the half, before kicking 3.11 after half-time to Benalla’s 7.3 to lose by two points.
Against fourth-ranked Euroa, the team trailed by only 11 points at three-quarter time before Euroa kicked 7.6 in the final term.
