The two best teams of the home and away season will face off for the Tom Hastie Cup today.
Kyabram is looking to do what many teams have not been able to do before them – an undefeated season while Rochester is looking to claim its first flag since 2008.
Rochester’s finals campaign has been solid without been spectacular, but what James Flaherty can take solace from was the fact that their best performance came seven days ago in ending Benalla’s back-to-back aspirations.
And, there effort against Kyabram in the first week of the finals wasn’t bad either.
On the other hand, while Kyabram did enough to get past the Tigers, its last three quarters against Benalla in the second semi-final was simply brilliant.
Both teams will have a dilemma on their hands, with Kayne Pettifer fit and ready to return to the line-up. There will be heart-break for one Kyabram player who will miss out.
Flaherty and his coaching staff also have some selection issues on their hands.
Do they play Ash Watson again? There is no doubt he wasn’t 100 per cent in the win over Benalla.
Do they bring Elliot Bowen back into the team, given he hasn’t played the last two weekends?
No matter who runs out for the Tigers and Bombers it promises to be a cracking contest.
The Tigers have a reasonable record against Kyabram in recent time.
The two teams have played 15 times since 2010, with the Tigers winning eight times while they’ve also played a draw.
I watched Kyabram two weeks ago and was very impressed by the way they move the ball, set up without the ball and how they spread.
Rochester impressed last week, especially their hardness, movement of the ball and their willingness to keep things simple and adjust to the conditions of the game.
Both teams are littered with an abundance of good players, but for mine the challenge will be how do Rochester’s defence restrict Kyabram to a losing score?
The Bombers have Paul Newman, Hayden Gemmill, Jason Morgan, Chris Atkins and of course Pettifer.
If the Tigers can restrict the Bombers to 10-12 goals then they are every chance to cause a boil-over.
However, the Tiger forward line led by Dylan Cuttriss and Steven Stroobants will have a challenge of their hands to try breakdown the Bombers’ defence led by Josh Vick and Lachie Smith.
The ruck battle between Jake Reeves and Sam Brennan will go a long way to deciding the contest and whoever can give their midfield first use will most likely to take the premiership.
On what I have seen, the Bombers have too much class to let this opportunity slip through their fingers and it will be them celebrating around 5 pm today.
Last Modified on 23/09/2016 14:06
