Kyabram’s line-up for its Sunday round 12 fixture with Rochester provided evidence of just how much things can change in one season. There were 13 different players in the Bombers’ team when they played the Tigers in Round 12, 2023.
The nine players who took the field in both games, one day shy of being 12 months apart, were Riley Ironside, co-coach Kaine Herbert, Jake Parkinson, Anthony Depasquale, Josh Dillon, Cooper Vick, Will Golds, Brad Mangan and Aidan Robinson.
And while the changeover is significant in itself, just what those now former players — and those injured on the sidelines — represent in regard to statistics is extraordinary.
The players no longer with the Bombers numbered seven in that game — Toby Wooller, Hayden Gemmill, Tom Holman, Billy Barnes, Reuben Rode, Kyle Mueller and Kayne Pettifer.
TRADING PLACES
Playing elsewhere/retired
Kyle Mueller, Tom Holman, Kayne Pettifer, Billy Barnes, Reuben Rode, Hayden Gemmill, Toby Wooller.
Injured/unavailable
Liam Ogden, Zac Norris, Brad Whitford, Jason Morgan, Charlie Burnett, Tom Burnett.
New faces
Will Burnett*, William Wild*, Marcus Khoo, Will McDonell*, Jake Torney, Oscar Dixon*, Mitchell Dodos*, Eamonn Ogden, Miller Griffiths*, Khy Stovell, Liam Dillon*, Bohden Learmonth*, Bailey Tome.
*denotes promoted from within club.
Kyabram loses six goals a game (on average, from the past two seasons) between Mueller, Pettifer and Holman. They also represented six marks inside 50 and 10 goal involvements.
Wooller averaged 19 disposals a game in his only season with the Bombers.
Brad Whitford, Liam Ogden, Jason Morgan, Tom Burnett, Zac Norris and Charlie Barnett were also in the 2023 team, and remain on the Bombers’ playing roster.
None played in the 2024 rematch with the Tigers though and the eventual 11-point margin may have been different if that wasn’t the case.
With respect to the players no longer at Bomberland, the figures from this group of six players dwarfs that of the class of 2023.
From statistics kept in the past two seasons Whitford and Morgan account for 12 intercept possessions a game and just shy of six intercept marks. Whitford’s 83 per cent disposal efficiency and his 19 disposals was also missed against Rochester circa 2024.
Add in the ruck and rover combination of Norris and Ogden and their return is a mouth-watering prospect for the club.
If they were to perform to their average it would mean an additional 48 disposals, 16 clearances, nine inside 50s and seven tackles — almost guaranteed of turning any match on its ear.
In that 2023 game, against a much different looking Rochester (not nearly as strong) outfit, Kyabram had 57 more disposals (304 to 247), took 13 more marks (74-61, including a 14-6 inside 50 mark count) and had 11 more inside 50s (47-36).
They won the game by 43 points, ruckman Zac Norris topping the ranking points tally with 114.
In the Sunday afternoon 2024 match-up Rochester won the disposal count by 13 (357-344, both teams well in excess of their 2023 totals), which was contested in wet conditions.
Rochester won the tackle count in the 2023 game by 51 (92-41), but was dominated in the ruck (53-19 hit-outs, with Norris credited with nine-hit outs to advantage).
Kyabram turned the tables in 2024, winning the tackle count 74-55, but the hit-outs remained almost the same 61-34 — courtesy of Mount Gravatt recruit Marcus Khoo.
In what is usually its domain, contested and inside 50 marking, Kyabram was beaten on both counts. Rochester took 20 inside 50 marks to the Bombers’ nine and eight more contested marks.
The Bombers now have four games to hang on to their place in the six, among their opposition are top six teams Mooroopna and Shepparton, along with Shepparton United and Seymour (ranked ninth, but always capable of upsetting a top six team).
