Bear hug: Seymour’s Ben Rigoni is wrestled to the ground by Shepparton players.
Photo by
Wayne Herring
Four points, a percentage boost and a return to the winners’ column.
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All of the above accurately outlines the aftermath of Seymour’s 20.8 (128) to 5.8 (38) towelling of Shepparton in round eight, but layered beneath it all lies something so much more telling – the Lions are hungriest when wounded.
Coach Ben Davey admitted it: his side hadn’t ‘’smashed’’ an opposition in ages.
But following its excruciating one-point loss to Kyabram in round seven, Seymour got out the proverbial bat and swung for the fences to leave the Bears dazed and confused.
“I was very happy with the end result … we’ve obviously won more games than we’ve lost over the last three years, but we’ve never really put a team away,” Davey said.
“We’ve always sort of beaten them by 30, 40 points, maybe a 60, but to win by 90 showed us the group is a bit hungrier, they’re a bit meaner.”
Judging by the quarter-time score, not even the most imaginative of bookmakers could have determined odds for what the final ledger would eventually reach.
The two sides were perfectly balanced in the opening 25 minutes, kicking 1.3 apiece to sit even as Shepparton began to assert its brand of football on the game.
And Davey knew something had to give.
“In the first quarter, it looked like if we didn’t change the way we were playing that it was going to be right up their alley,” Davey said.
“It was a really congested game of footy and they can actually use the footy when they get it on the outside.
“They can switch the play and get around you pretty good, and with all their numbers around the footy when they do break out, they’ve got good one on ones in the forward 50.
“If you let them do that, they’re going to keep the score low and have a crack at you at some stage.
Good grab: Seymour’s Tom O’Sullivan rises high against Shepparton’s Mitch Brett and Tanner Madigan.
Photo by
Wayne Herring
“So after that it was about using the ball better, getting through them and just hitting our targets better going forward ― once we started hitting targets it was very hard for them to keep up.”
Seymour’s ball magnets, such as Ben Rigoni, Jack O’Sullivan and co, grabbed the gear stick and thrusted it up a few notches in the second quarter, and from there the Lions never looked back.
With the quadruple threat forward line of Nathan Beattie, Thomas Davey, Nathan Fowler and Lachlan Waite getting free flowing service right down their throats it soon became clear Shepparton would struggle, and struggle it did as the Lions booted 7.1 in the second term.
Accuracy was hardly an issue as Seymour backed its earlier effort up with 6.1 and 6.3 quarters to round out the game a comfortable victor, and for the Bears, frustration was rife.
A melee broke out in the wake of Ted Lindon being yellow carded for a high tackle late in the show, summing up a dour day on the road for Shepparton.
For Seymour, the romp was perhaps a product of its first ― and only ― loss of the season the week prior, and the reaction from his men had Davey thinking it may not have been the worst wake up call in the world.
“Everyone was very keen to play better and do better than what they did last week and that happened,” he said.
“The loss wasn’t that big a deal in the end, because it made us review a few things.
“It was good in a way because it made everyone reassess themselves; where we are at as players, as a team, as a coaching group.”
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