Tigers roar in round one

The Tigers cracked 100 points in the opening round, a feat they were unable to achieve in the entirety of last season.

Rochester had the better of a tight first quarter, emerging ahead 16-6, but it found the accelerator in the second, kicking 5.4 (34) to enter the half ahead 50-18.

Rochy continued to restrict the Saints in the third, allowing only seven points while putting up 23 of its own, before closing out the game with a 35-8 final term.

“Good way to start the season off,” Tigers coach Ash Watson said.

“(We) played well, and it’s 150 years this year for us, so it’s pretty massive for us so it was a good day to get off with a win first up.”

The impact of a number of new recruits was felt in the Rochester side, with a pair of former Kangaroo Flat players, Mitch Trewhella and Ryan O’Keefe, finding themselves among the team's best.

“Mitch Trewhella is a midfielder that we got this year,” Watson said.

“He's fit in really well, played on ball on the weekend, had plenty of the footy and went really hard at it.

“We love the way he played.

“Ryan O'Keefe is a key defender.

“In the same game last year, we played against Benalla, Jarrad Waite kicked 10 goals on us, and this year he kicked one on Ryan, so (Ryan) had an outstanding game.”

Returning players bore the scoring load up front with Mitch Cricelli kicking six, 2023 leading goal-kicker Sean Williams adding four and James McPhee putting through three majors.

The Tigers will host Kyabram this Saturday night, with the 6pm start marking the inaugural match for the club's new lights, which were installed over the off-season.

The game will test not only the new infrastructure but also the players on the field, with the resurgent Tigers to face a tough early season test against last season’s grand finalist.

“We really respect Kyabram, who made the grand final last year, and they’ve recruited well as well,” Watson said.

“We expect that to be a really tough game and we're really excited.

“Hopefully we get a big crowd there and hopefully we can put our best foot forward, but we know Ky is going to be a tough opponent.”