Rochester puts huge dent in Shepparton Swans’ finals hopes with Goulburn Valley League rout

Well, at least everything went right after quarter-time, that is.

At first, this clash shaped up as another where Rochester’s foes would largely take the ascendancy up until the last minute, when Ash Watson’s side would inevitably exercise its late magic.

This time around, though, there was no need despite the Swans taking early control and leading narrowly at the first change.

Steele Simpson had two first-quarter majors, but that was all she wrote for the Swans livewire as Rochester took over proceedings with a pair of goals to returning Tiger Hugh Hamilton in the second term.

What looked like a contest that had every chance of staying alive into the closing stages quickly became anything but once both teams emerged from the sheds, though.

As we have certainly seen before this year, Moon Oval became the stage for the Sean Williams show as the Tigers’ forward dynamo broke the game open on his own with four snags in the so-called premiership quarter.

Rochester had no issue storming through the final term even though there was no urgent need, keeping the foot on the pedal as Williams eventually notched his game-high sixth in a thumping 16.10 (106) to 7.14 (56) victory.

Watson was complimentary of the Swans’ early efforts, but was excited by what the coming weeks could bring after this win, Rochester’s eighth on the bounce.

“(The Swans) brought some awesome pressure, and it was a real arm-wrestle before half-time,” Watson said.

“It was really pleasing to get stronger after that and run it out the way we did.

“We’ve had a good couple of months now and we’ve got some real momentum, so hopefully it puts us in a good position for the second half of the year.

“The next month will be a pretty big month of footy for us, so we need to keep getting better so we can stay in it with some of the better sides.”

Marking their ninth win of season 2024, the Tigers consolidate their firm grip on third behind tearaway leaders Echuca and Shepparton, while the Swans fall to 3-8 as September football starts to look ever more distant.

It looked every bit a middling start to the year for the competition’s westernmost outfit, with a last-gasp heartbreaker under lights against Kyabram followed by a humbling at the hands of Shepparton.

Now having strung eight straight in the win column, including the one and only scalp of Echuca, the Tigers are well primed for a shot at revenge on their Campaspe foes in red and black after their bye.

“We’ll switch off and have a bit of a break over the bye, but we’ll get to focus on Ky after that,” Watson said.

“Ky overran us in that first game and that was disappointing last time around, so we’ll be hoping to do it differently.

“If we play how we want to, we’ll be in a good position. Those are the sides we want to be beating.”

Meanwhile, as the contenders start to leap and jump away from the league’s bottom five, Jedd Wright’s men might as well consider themselves part of a sudden death scenario when they travel to Kings Park to meet fellow three-win outfit Seymour.