Rushy roars past Roos with historic finals berth in its grasp

Hosting the 10th place Roos at Girgarre Recreation Reserve, the Tigers were on a mission from the jump, nailing six majors in the first quarter, while holding Girgarre to two.

While Rushworth took its foot off the gas in the back half of the first quarter, the second period was an attacking master-class, with the host booting 11 goals to cross the triple digit mark by half-time.

Meanwhile, the Roos plodded along with three more goals to end the half, taking chances when the centre bounce went their way.

With the game essentially won at the halfway mark, Rushworth coach Mark Wheatley encouraged his side to continue on to not only improve its percentage, but get as much experience and structures right in preparation for finals.

The Tigers did just that, which resulted in 8.7 in the third period alone, with the Roos still managing to send three through the middle in reply.

Despite Girgarre finishing its day with consistency and another three goals to the tally, Rushworth stole the show with an emphatic finish of 11.2 to romp its way to a staggering 162-point finish on home soil.

The Tigers were feasting in front of goal, with club hero Paul Vavlitis chief among the kickers with an eight-goal bag, and Ryan Beale and Nico Mckinley slotting seven and six, respectively.

Wheatley reflected on the game and, despite a lull in the first quarter, was happy with his side’s performance.

“Coming into the game I told the players that one-win equals finals, but we were not going to win one week and lose the next or vice versa, we didn’t want to limp our way into finals,” he said.

“We kicked the first goal of the game and started well, but the next 10 minutes or so, Girgarre kicked two goals, and we were very undisciplined.

“To our players’ credit, they rectified that situation well and banged on another five goals to take a good lead at quarter-time.

“In the second quarter, it was good to see us play our way again, get first into the ball and go to work, and to their credit, it worked very well.

“It was a pretty even three-and-a-half-quarter performance outside that period in the first quarter, but it was pleasing to see them bring it back and run away with it.”

Wheatley highlighted the key contributions of some of his players in the match.

“Nico (McKinley) trained the house down on Wednesday night, he’s been playing back for most of the season, and I wanted to test him out in centre-half forward,” he said.

“Yes, he kicked six, but it was more about his defence, running up and down the ground and sliding into help on defence then changing lanes and joining in on scoring chains up front.

“Paul Vavlitis is a bit of a cult hero at our club, and he’s been working a lot on his goal kicking and put together a great game and got the crowd going which was wonderful.”

Wheatley looked back on Rushworth’s season so far before forecasting Rushworth’s finals chances and what a first finals berth in more than a decade means to the club.

“I was pretty bullish at the start of the year to play finals, but then you have to go out there and do it,” he said.

“Some wheels fell off in the last month or so with injuries, but I reminded them that it is a marathon not a sprint, and that no-one is coming to save us, and we need to do this ourselves.

“We’ve managed to realign in the last couple of weeks, and now we are essentially home and hosed, and it’s a reward for effort for everyone.

“It’s fantastic that we are in the finals, but we’ve still got to play Undera and plan accordingly because they’ll try and upset the apple cart.

“You win enough games to make the finals, and you want to make an impact, so we’ll be putting our best foot forward and won’t be leaving any stone unturned.”

The Tigers are still a mathematical chance to miss the finals, but it’d take them losing against Undera in the last game of the season and Stanhope thrashing an almost unbeatable Lancaster unit in its round 18 contest, with both scenarios highly unlikely.