Rochester made better use of won clearances, far outshining Benalla in scores from stoppages. Photo: Bruce Povey
Photo by
Bruce Povey
Rochester continues to roll over lesser opposition in the Goulburn Valley League, and despite a strong second and third quarters from Benalla, the Saints were the Tigers’ 10th straight victim.
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Looking into the statistics, how the two sides scored their points sticks out as a differentiation between Rochy and the Saints.
Both sides took similar advantage of each other’s missteps. Rochester kicked 5.7 in the game from Benalla’s 71 turnovers, while the Saints scored 5.3 from the 64 occasions the Tigers coughed up possession.
Based on these numbers alone, it looks like a tight game, but jumping on turnovers isn’t the only way to kick goals.
Despite losing the clearance count 40-42, Rochester kicked an impressive 7.3 from stoppages, while not allowing Benalla to score a single goal (0.5) from the same source.
This indicates the Tigers were putting together superior game plans when the ball was out of play and earned better-quality possession from stoppage situations, leading to scoring opportunities.
Another consideration with this statistic would be the location of stoppages. Stoppage situations with the ball in the attacking 50 would, of course, be more likely to lead to goals than those in a team’s defensive 50.
While the data doesn’t distinguish the location of clearances, very similar inside 50 (Rochester 46, Benalla 41) and rebound 50 (Rochester 34, Benalla 36) numbers would indicate the ball saw both ends of the ground fairly evenly.
Also of note in the fixture is the gulf in how efficiently each side moved the ball.
Rochester held a 15-point advantage in total disposal efficiency, with 77 per cent of the Tigers’ disposals finding their mark compared to just 62 per cent for Benalla.
The divide in kick percentage was even higher. Seventy-two per cent of Rochy’s kick disposals found their mark while just 52 per cent of Benalla’s kicks were effective.
As noted previously, the Saints edged the Tigers in clearances but made far worse use of them. Only 60 per cent of Benalla clearances were effective, while 75 per cent of Rochester clearances resulted positively for the Tigers.
