The Tigers played in its second pre-season practice match on Saturday, going down by about four goals to Bendigo Football League (BFL) side Sandhurst.
Despite the result, coach Steven Stroobants said there was definite improvement between the first and second week of practice matches.
"It was a good hit out (against Sandhurst),” he said.
"We had pretty good numbers and some new guys in for their first time playing senior footy, and there was probably six to seven out.
"We're just trying to manage them, having Kyabram up first."
The loss to Sandhurst comes off the back of a three-point win over another BFL side - Eaglehawk - at Colbinabbin a week earlier.
"The boys enjoyed their first match,” Stroobants said.
"It was pretty scrappy getting into it and around the contest. The guys haven't been tackled for a while.
"But we soon started to play how we've been training which was nice."
With their second, and soon to be third, practice matches held at their home ground at Rochester, Stroobants said it was exciting to get local football and netball up and running again.
“It's awesome,” he said.
“There was cars right around the ground and it was great to see people from around the state and from the community get back to the ground and feel apart of something.
“After, we had the bar going and everyone was out and having a chat.”
With one more hit out before round one, a home game against South Bendigo this weekend, Stroobants said his team would use the opportunity to get match-ready for a crucial round one clash against Kyabram on April 3.
“We'll hone in, get our structures down pat this week at training,” he said.
“We have the practice match against South Bendigo, then Kyabram who is the benchmark, so first up we'll see where we are at.”
● Rochester will host South Bendigo in a practice match this Saturday. The start time is still TBA. Please refer to Rochester's social media channels for updates.
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