Kyabram's Brad Whitford and Rochester's Kyle Waters.
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BrucePoveyPhotos.com 2022
Kyabram powered home with an eight-goal final term to dismantle Rochester by 62 points and maintain its unbeaten run at the top of the Goulburn Valley League table.
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The Bombers led by 15 points at the final change before flicking the switch in the last quarter to storm home 17.5 (107) to 6.9 (45) winners at Moon Oval.
While the final margin might suggest another routine victory for Kyabram, coach Corey Carver said this one was hard-earned.
“It was probably our best game for the full four quarters,” Carver said.
“But it was really close up until three-quarter time – it was tight – and then we were lucky to get away from them in the last quarter and kick away.”
Down by seven points at quarter-time, the Bombers had to respond against a Rochester side that brought pressure and structure early.
Carver said the opening term was shaped by misfiring entries into the forward 50.
“I thought we’d been playing okay and we’d had enough of the ball, but our last kick inside 50 just wasn’t working for us,” he said.
“They had a lot of intercept marks in the first quarter, so we just tidied that up a little bit – more so at half-time – and that started to turn things around.”
Once Kyabram straightened up, the scoreboard followed.
It slammed on 8.1 to 0.2 in the final term to break the contest wide open.
Small forward Riley Ironside was among the chief beneficiaries, booting five goals and finishing among the Bombers’ best.
“Riley’s a small forward and the beneficiary of a few front and square crumb goals, but he played really well,” Carver said.
“He was helped by better ball use. O’Keefe and Gordon were intercepting a lot early, but we got rolling midway through the third and hit better targets by foot.”
Kyabram has made a habit of steamrolling teams late, but Carver said Saturday’s win was about more than finishing strong.
“I think we learned yesterday you have to compete for the whole game – from minute one to 120,” he said.
“You can’t just rely on your top five or 10. It has to be the whole team. That was our best game in that regard.”
Now sitting at 11-0, the Bombers turn their attention to Seymour in round 12 — a team fighting to stay in the finals mix.
Carver said the formula doesn’t change.
“We’ll talk a lot about whole-team buy-in and whole-team defence. That’s when we’re at our best,” he said.
“Then it’s just tidying up that disposal in the front half. We know Seymour will be really good, so it’s another tough game.”
Kyabram has now won three of its past five games by more than 60 points and continues to look every bit the benchmark team of 2025.
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