But upon the Lions’ return to action in round eight of the Goulburn Valley League senior football competition at the weekend, Mooroopna delivered a reality check, denying Seymour the win in a clash it would have entered as firm favourite.
Proving once again that, on their day, anyone can beat anyone in the GVL, the Lions were upstaged by the Cats at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve, suffocated in the first half and unable to overturn the deficit in the second as they fell to the 8.17 (65) to 13.10 (88) defeat.
From the opening bounce on Saturday afternoon, the Lions looked a step behind the Cats, who peppered the goals at one end to record seven scoring shots in the first quarter, while Seymour managed a solitary behind for the term to trail 0.1 (1) to 3.4 (22) at the first break.
The slow start continued into the second term as, despite recording four of the first five scoring shots of the quarter, the Lions were unable to find a major, and were immediately made to pay for their inaccuracy, as Mooroopna slammed through another three unanswered goals to extend the lead to a commanding 37 points at the main break.
Having enjoyed a mighty start to the year and pocketed some big wins over contending sides, it was an uncharacteristic opening half from the Lions, who boasted 0.6 to their name across the first two quarters of football, the first time the Lions have gone without a major in a half since a low-scoring scrap against Euroa in round 16 last year, a game which saw a combined six goals scored.
Emerging from the rooms knowing a big effort was required to overturn the deficit, the Lions began to resemble the early-season Seymour in the third term, as spearhead Riley Mason finally put a goal on the board.
He would add a second following a response from the Cats, however a pair of majors to Dan Tuddenham saw the gap increase to a game-high 46 points in favour of Mooroopna, and though Nic Quigg got one back for the Lions soon after, Tuddenham again converted to leave Seymour staring at a 42-point deficit at the final break.
Trailing 28 to 70, a hot start to the final term saw the Lions kick the opener through Jaron Murphy, but immediately give up the next two majors to soon find themselves 48 points back, the biggest Mooroopna’s advantage had been all game.
Having struggled to score all afternoon, Seymour finally kicked into gear in the final 20 minutes of the contest, booting four unanswered goals, to get back to 17 points behind at one stage, although it proved too little, too late, as the Cats put the icing on the cake with the final goal of the game to run out 23-point victors.
For all the running they had in the final term, Seymour managed 5.7 in front of goal, too, with inaccuracy perhaps preventing the Lions from really piling on the pressure late.
Nic Quigg continued his strong run of form to be named Seymour’s best despite the loss, his third mention in the most influential is as many games, while also booting a goal, while the likes of Dylan Cook, Tom Stapleton, Jack Murphy and Jaron Murphy all stood up too, the latter booting a major to maintain his record of impacting the scoreboard in every outing so far this season.
Key forward Mason showed his class in the second half to still finish with four goals, despite Seymour only booting eight for the game, extending his lead at the top of the GVL goal kicking leaderboard to six.
The loss is the Lions’ second from their last three games, meaning they sit fourth with a 5-3 record at the end of the round.
With third to seventh on the ladder separated by a game and a half, the Lions’ round nine clash against Rochester at Kings Park this Saturday now shapes as a vital contest to regain some footing inside the upper echelon of contenders as the halfway point of the season nears.
