The Tigers’ ranking is not surprising considering they are at the other end of the teams when it comes to time in possession.
Rochester is ranked 11th for disposal count and have done a lot of chasing in the early part of the seson.
From the opening four rounds of the season the Tigers are averaging just 276.8 disposals a game, 75 less than the category leader (reigning premier Echuca, which has an average 351 disposals a game).
Benalla is well and truly on the bottom of the disposal ladder, almost 30 possessions behind Rochester and more than 100 disposals less than Echuca.
Only four teams, Rochester, Benalla, Shepparton United and Mansfield average less than 300 disposals a game.
Last season Rochester was ranked fifth in relation to disposal count, with a tick over the 318 possession mark on a weekly basis. Echuca led last season with an average of 343.5 disposals every week.
This year, on average, the Tigers have almost 40 less disposals than their opposition.
TACKLING TIGERS
TOP TACKLERS: Bailey Wileman (ranked 13th), Joe Atley (24th), Seamus Henderson (31st). Rochester is ranked fifth in the GVL.
MOST EFFICIENT TACKLERS: Joe Atley (raked 9th), Seamus Henderson (18th), Hamish Hooppell/Bailey Wileman (equal 23rd). Rochester is ranked second in the league, second only to Echuca.
DOMINANT ECHUCA: Echuca’s status as the yardstick of the competition is underlined by the fact it has more disposals and contested possessions than any other team in the competition. When not in possession it lays more tackles than any other team and is the most efficient tackling team.
Not being in possession of the ball means there is a natural increase in the amount of tackling opportunities and the Tigers are laying 55 tackles a week this year (ranked fifth in the competition, compared with 51 a week last year — which had them rated eighth in the GVL).
Fourteen of those tackles, on average, are made in the defensive 50 metre arc, which is double that of the Tigers’ opposition.
That’s again an understandable statistic considering, on average, Rochester has just 35 forward 50 entries a week compared to their opponent’s 50.
Of those 55 tackles, 41 are effective. That is marginally behind than Echuca, which leads the tackle category with 63.4 a week (with 43 of those effective).
Five Tigers are ranked in the top 30 for tackling efficiency, led by midfield bull Joe Atley.
Atley is one of the few players to feature prominently in key offensive and defensive categories.
He is fourth for average disposals, fourth for clearances, but also does his share of work in the back end — particularly in the tackling and rebound 50 space.
Six Rochester players are in the top 50 players for tackles this season, leading the pack is Bailey Wileman, while Joe Atley, Seamus Henderson, Hamish Hoopell, Nathan McCarty and Adam McPhee all average more than four tackles a week.
Hooppell and Blake Evans are ranked second and third in the rebound 50 category, behind the competition’s leading defensive player — Shepparton’s Ted Lindon.
The Atley brothers, Jacob and Joe, are also in the top 20 in the category as they often work in tandem with repel opposition attacks.
Last year the Tigers finished on the positive side of the umpiring ledger, receiving the third most free kicks (on average) and ranked ninth for giving away frees.
In the opening four rounds this year they have broken even, receiving and giving away exactly 24 free kicks a week.
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