Victoria Park has seen its fair share of celebrations in recent times and at the final siren on Saturday, there was once again an outpouring of elation.
But on this occasion, it was at the Murray Bombers’ expense.
In its 150th year, Rochester pulled off a brilliant, tenacious upset, defeating arch rival and back-to-back reigning premier Echuca away from home to invoke jubilant scenes from the Tigers’ faithful that ventured up the Northern Highway to witness the contest.
A tense and thrilling encounter from the first bounce, Rochester prevailed 11.9 (75) to 9.8 (62), prompting Rochy coach Ash Watson to run on to the ground after the final siren to embrace his troops.
“Yeah, it's awesome, mate,” he said after the win.
“Echuca has been the benchmark for a number of years now. They’re an amazing side and we’ve got full respect for them, it’s a great team.
“For us to come up today and implement everything we wanted to do before the game, I’m just really, really proud.”
As the game got under way, it was clear there was plenty at stake for both sides, but it was the Tigers who made the better of the starts, bringing an intensity to the contest and playing on at every opportunity without hesitation.
The visitors dominated the term, moving the ball fluently from half-back to find space inside 50 and slam through four goals for the quarter.
By the time the siren sounded to signal quarter-time, and after Angus Byrne’s missed set shot, it felt as though Echuca was lucky to be just 13 points in arrears.
However, the urgency with which Rochester had moved in the first term looked to have waned in the second as Echuca, urged by co-coach Simon Maddox at the quarter-time break to play in front, began to exert its influence on the match.
The reigning premier was able to stem the Rochy intercept game and slow the contest down, trapping the ball inside 50 for much of the first 10 minutes without capitalising, only for the visitors to launch a counter-attack and slot the first goal of the quarter.
Rochester kicked a second goal to open up a game-high lead of 26 points but, as always, Echuca found its way into the contest, and when Jack Evans slotted the home side’s third straight goal from the top of the square, the margin was cut to just six points, which dwindled to four at the break.
Watson said the lapse in the second term wasn’t so much a lack of effort, rather his troops straying from the game plan, leading to a message of reinforcement at haf-time.
“I think it was more we went away from (our game plan), we played a bit slow, and they sort of got back in the game,” he said.
“The message was we’re in the game, we were up on the scoreboard because of a reason, it was because of (the pressure and speed on the ball), so we’ve just got to get back to doing that.
“We weren’t going to win the game by going slow, we were going to win the game by taking it on, and I’m really proud of the way they did that in the third quarter, and in particular the first five minutes of the last quarter as well.”
The Rochy resurgence after the main break was unbelievable, with the intensity and pressure resulting in an early major, which Callum Parson neutralised with a reply for Echuca.
But in a spellbinding cameo, Wil Hamilton took over for a five-minute stretch.
The Rochester forward clunked everything that came his way and showcased his set shot accuracy, nailing three goals in a row, including one where he sold some candy to the man on the mark to set the Rochy fans alight.
A Sean Williams snap with 24 minutes gone in the third term gave the Tigers a 28-point lead, although it was cut back to 23 as the players entered the huddle for the final break.
Echuca came hard in the final term and looked like wresting the contest from Rochester with a strong period of play that cut the margin to two straight kicks with 10 minutes to play.
But as it had all day, however, Rochester continued to chase and pressure, perhaps best exemplified by Grant Fuller running down Jack McHale in the middle of the ground just before the Echuca onballer could launch towards a one-on-one inside 50.
It was that desperation that dragged Rochester to a famous win over the old enemy, creating the party-like atmosphere in the rooms after the game.
Watson had nothing but praise for his players following the win, giving every single one of them plaudits for perfectly executing the game plan.
“We know (Echuca) set up really well behind the ball, theyre probably the best set up team in our comp,” he said.
“To beat that we needed to get speed on the ball, we needed 45 (degree) handballs and link up forward to beat that press, so I’m really, really proud that the boys could do that.
“And the pressure, that was the best pressure I’ve seen us play with under my time anyway, so yeah, really proud.”
After a season last year that saw his side deal with adversity not just on the field, but off it as well in the aftermath of the devastating floods, Watson said there was no limiting how far the Tigers could go this year.
“We’ve just got to keep getting back to what we did today. I think for us, we just want to play the way we want to play, and you never really know,” he said.
“There’s a big belief in the group and we’ve just got to keep fighting hard.”