GVL Data | The numbers behind Seymour’s smash and grab first quarter against Mooroopna

By Liam Nash

Aug 28, 2024

Nathan Fowler and his Seymour teammates conducted an all-out assault against Mooroopna in the first quarter on Saturday. Photo by Aydin Payne

If you read the forecast from 2pm-2.30pm at Seymour’s Kings Park, a dark red patch blowing through would’ve shown — but rain wasn’t on the radar.

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Instead, the precipitation in question was goals. Lots of goals.

Seymour went berserk in the first quarter of its final Goulburn Valley League game against Mooroopna, stunning the favoured Cats into submission to eventually clinch a 20.11 (131) to 6.11 (47) victory.

The Lions’ nine-goal hailstorm chopped right through Mooroopna’s defence, heaping on a seismic amount of scoreboard pressure to which the Cats could not claw back.

However, some stats from the crushing first quarter may raise an eyebrow.

Mooroopna had more of the ball and cleaner hands and feet, returning 75 disposal efficiency from 83 touches in comparison to Seymour’s 70 per cent from 76 touches.

The Cats ruled 27-5 in hit-outs (4-2 to advantage), and as expected due to the scoreline, tripled Seymour’s rebound 50 count 9-3.

Despite an even keel in pressure of 33-33, Seymour mustered more pressure acts (18-16), while John Lamont’s boys laid more tackles (15-12).

It all seems reasonably even, so how did Seymour lump on 55 points in half an hour?

Ben Davey’s boys won more contested ball (40-30) and, crucially, sunk a whopping 18 inside 50s into Mooroopna’s danger zone during the opening period.

Though the inside 50 entry efficiency between the Lions and Cats was similar, Seymour simply did more with the red thing in the spaces that mattered.

Oh, and Riley Mason was dumping them in, too.

Seymour’s star forward, who has been embroiled in a goal-kicking quandary alongside Kyabram’s Anthony Depasquale, booted three majors in four minutes late on to cap a furious Lions cannonade.

He accrued almost a third of his total 156 ranking points in the first term, while Jack Murphy and Tom Maloney were key string pullers in Seymour’s opening rip.

Maloney was the game’s best performer on paper with a double ton ranking point total thanks to his 36 disposals (18 contested) at 81 per cent efficiency, 10 clearances and 11 goal involvements.

Other standouts were returning gun Nic Quigg (41 disposals), Jack Murphy (18 score involvements) and for Mooroopna, Coby McCarthy (34 touches) saw a fair amount of ball.