The clubs play in the penultimate home-and-away round and a win for the Tigers will have it on target for another GVL finals series.
The Tigers are ranked third for inside-50s, behind Echuca and Euroa, and also take the third amount of forward-50 marks in the competition.
Coach Steve Stroobants (38 goals) and Mitch Cricelli (39 goals) average three forward-50 marks a week and have combined for 77 goals between them this season.
Swans midfielder Zac Banch is his team’s leading goal-kicker, with 17.
Cricelli has taken the fourth most contested marks in the competition, behind the two undisputed leading aerialists in the competition: Kyabram’s Lachie Smith and Echuca goal-kicker Ruory Kirkby.
Three Tigers also feature in the top 10 ranked players in the league for score assists.
James McPhee and Jordan Harper are seventh and eighth on that list, with 25 assists apiece, while Nathan Kay is 10th.
Shepparton Swans are a high-possession team, ranked third in the competition in spite of their eighth ranking on the competition premiership table.
The Swans average 20 possessions more than the Tigers during the course of a game and are significantly better on a contested-ball-winning front.
Rochester is third from the bottom in regard to winning contested possession (Shepparton Swans are ranked fifth), but that may change with personnel available on Saturday.
For the first time this season Christopher Jansen, Hugh Hamilton, Adam McPhee, Shaun and Joe Atley will join ruckman Daniel Russell in the midfield.
Shaun and Joe Atley both played against Shepparton Swans when the teams met in round six, but Hamilton was missing.
Shaun, from nine games, is averaging 32 possessions (15 contested), and Joe, from two games, averages 26 disposals (11 contested).
Hamilton, who has played five games, is averaging five tackles, 20 possessions and five clearances a match. He also has 10 goals.
Goal-kicking midfielders are worth their weight in gold in the Goulburn Valley League, Hamilton’s seven-goal game against Shepparton United a pointer of things to come.
Jansen has kicked 17 goals in his 14 games with the Tigers, coupled with a 30-disposal average and the most clearances averaged of any player in the competition (almost nine a match).
Swans guns Zac Banch (11th) and Bryden Squire (24th) are the only players on the first page of GVL Data statistics in regard to contested possessions.
The pair has an enormous work ethic, both ranked in the top 20 for tackles.
Rochester ruckman Daniel Russell is the top tackling player for the Tigers (26th in the competition).
The Tigers are the eighth-ranked tackling team in the competition.
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