Shepparton does the necessary job to fend off Seymour in Goulburn Valley League scrap

Although Nathan Fowler got the Lions off to a scintillatingly quick start, kicking on with the form that had him nail eight goals in Seymour’s destruction of Tatura the previous weekend, things would dry up quickly despite the wet conditions underfoot.

At the other end there was no shortage of opportunities, but it started to look like the Bears, who kicked off with five straight behinds before finally steering through the last chance of the opening term, might make the game tighter than it would need to be.

The second term brought a highlight for the Bear cubs as debutant Cooper Mellington watched his first senior goal sail through to the delight of his teammates and the game started to more closely resemble what Shepparton has been putting up all season long.

Joel Brett’s third of the day, a handful of minutes into the third term, pushed the margin beyond 30 and it looked for all intents and purposes like a true thumping may have been imminent.

No sooner would that thought have crossed the minds of onlookers than when the game started to again plateau and mirror the tussle of the first term as the rain became ever-intensifying.

Riley Mason, fresh off a bag of 10 against Tatura, was held to a single major for the afternoon against a strengthened Shepparton defence, but Lewis McShane’s late contribution brought it under five goals at the final change.

Part of the equation was, again, the Bears’ wayward movements around goal at that particular end which brought 1.5 in the first term and 2.7 in the third to keep the contest alive against their will.

Things would tighten to put Seymour’s faint hopes to bed in the early stages of the last, though, as Trent Herbert got on with the job via a pair of well-timed goals to extinguish the game, with the Bears eventually prevailing 11.18 (84) to 6.9 (45).

Bears co-coach Xavier Stevenson had praise for the Lions’ engine room, but lauded his side’s ability to create chances.

“It was extremely tough conditions for football,” Stevenson said.

“The rain made it a pretty scrappy game, but we’re still super pleased with the result.

“We’re still developing ways to win in the wet or the dry and the boys adapted well out there, which was pleasing.

“Credit to Seymour; they’re a good side who’s coached well under Ben (Davey), and we rate their midfield as one of the better ones around.

“We may not have made the most of some of our chances forward of centre, but we were just able to use some more scoring positions on the ground to get better looks.”

Thirty scoring shots at least doesn’t lie about intent.

The Bears have typically been used to having things largely their own way during the current renaissance and the end result Saturday was twice as many scoring shots as the opposition.

This Shepparton side will have a significant say in who makes up the lower rungs of finals with a fascinating run home against three contenders, as analysed in a schedule breakdown last week in The News.

“While the scoreline shows a lot more points than goals, I thought when we had to take most of our chances, we did based on how the game presented itself,” Stevenson said.

“We’re really happy with our draw home because we play three teams that we feel are really strong football clubs.

“We just want to do what we do well and bring our strengths, which has meant a lot of pressure, and refine areas of our game.

“We’re excited by the prospect of playing three good clubs coming into finals as we think that’ll prepare us well.”