Far from being disgraced the Saints were competitive to the final siren, pushing the premiership-contending Tigers all the way in an entertaining clash, however, ultimately went down 9.8 (62) to 13.7 (85) at Moon Oval.
A pair of Rochester goals in quick succession to forward Hugh Hamilton to open the contest gave the Tigers the early lead, with the situation looking ominous for Benalla with only a few minutes played.
But the Saints steadied, putting their first on the board through Nick Mellington, before league-leading goal-kicker Nathan Wright drew Benalla level and then put his side ahead with a pair of goals to gift the Saints a six-point advantage.
Benalla peppered the goal face to no avail to close out the term, yielding a further three behinds before the Tigers struck late to reclaim the lead, with Hamilton adding another two majors to make it four for the term and leaving the Saints five points in arrears at the first break.
The arm wrestle looked to continue in the second, as once more Rochester added the first two goals to pull away to a game-high 17-point advantage, before Benalla responded with the next pair to pull back within five points.
But a relentless Rochester finally broke the shackles for good, pulling away with the final four goals of the half to lead by 30 points at half-time, with Benalla down 5.4 (34) to 10.4 (64).
When play resumed after the main break, it was the dangerous Hamilton that resumed his scoring, putting goal number six through the big sticks, as the Tigers threatened to blow the game wide open as the margin hit 36 points.
It would take a special effort for the Saints to get back into the contest, and that is exactly what Wright provided.
The talismanic forward took over the match as Benalla found ascendancy, with the next four goals of the game coming off his boot to drag the Saints back to within two kicks of the Tigers at three-quarter time and holding all of the momentum.
Eyeing a top two finish, however, Rochester wasn’t going to let the Saints roll over the top, snuffing out any hope of a comeback in the final term with the only two goals in the fourth quarter, ultimately handing Benalla a 23-point loss.
Wright finished his afternoon with six goals as Benalla’s best, the fifth time this season he has kicked a haul of five or more as he extends his lead in the league goal-kicking race back out to six over Mansfield’s William Hogan with one round to play.
Young gun Ryley Ely had 34 disposals and five tackles to finish as the highest-rated player of either side and was joined in the best by Henry Hill, Mark Marriott (18 disposals, 6 marks, 5 tackles, 146 ranking points) and Will O’Donoghue.
The Saints will return Benalla Showgrounds for the final game of the home and away season this weekend, where they will host Mansfield as they look to end Jarrad Waite’s tenure as senior coach on a high.
12°C