Second half surge shoots Seymour out to convincing win over Benalla

There’s no denying it’s been slow going for Seymour in the opening four rounds, but at the fifth time of asking, the Lions had their share in a 21.14 (140) to 13.7 (85) blitz at Benalla Showgrounds.

Seymour took a while to get the cogs turning in front of the big sticks, kicking four behinds before the first major sailed through the middle posts.

A goal-heavy last 10 minutes favoured the Lions as they led 30-15 at quarter time, but Benalla kicked back to cut the visitors’ lead down to just four at the main break.

While Seymour’s first half effort wasn’t ugly, Davey said he challenged his side to stand up and deliver to the best of their ability.

“What they’d done so far was okay, but it was by no means as good as they can play,” he said.

“They weren’t putting the best picture of themselves out there.

“It’s okay to just cruise along and know you’re going to win, but how about really putting yourself out there and doing your best defensively and offensively and seeing what happens?

“In the second half, they applied themselves much better and that was probably it really.”

Safe to say, Seymour got the memo.

The Lions went berserk in quarters three and four, entering Benalla’s defensive 50 at will and converting with ruthless aplomb to steal victory away.

Mason was right at the heart of it, as Seymour snagged 15 second-half majors to the Saints’ seven, capping a game-breaking performance for the flashy centre-half forward.

“He (Mason) is a great talent and by no means has he played his best footy yet - he’s got a lot of good footy in front of him,” Davey said.

“He’s a really important part of our team, and the boys love what he brings. He’s a real barometer for us; when he’s going well, generally our whole team is going well.

“He’s a very dangerous forward.”

Mason unsurprisingly nabbed best afield honours for Seymour, while Jack Murphy and Nathan Fowler (four goals) also impressed.

For the Saints, Mark Marriott was good as always and also chimed in with five majors, while veteran Tom O’Brien kicked four.

Saturday’s defeat also condemns Benalla to the ladder’s foot while it bumps Seymour up into ninth.

With AFL superstar David Mundy ready to make his first cameo of the season in Lions’ colours in the upcoming match against Kyabram, there’s plenty to smile about at Kings Park at the moment.

“Dave’s very excited, he messaged me probably within 10 minutes of the game finishing on the weekend and said ‘fantastic, huge win, let’s go’,” Davey said.

“He’s very keen...it’s been a long time between games at Seymour for Dave, so he’s very excited. He’s such a great fella so we’re expecting a big crowd and a big game.”