Saturday’s split round action had three-win sides Seymour and Shepparton Swans collide with virtually all the marbles on the line.
The loser, in essence, could kiss any realistic September ambitions goodbye for the year.
It certainly looked that way on the park as well.
Hostile weather got the better of both sides early as the Lions piled on — and squandered — chance after chance in the opening term.
Ricky Schraven’s shrewd snap appeared to set the tone positively for a Kings Park crowd braving the frost, but an ugly 1.6 adorned the scoreboard once Ben Davey gathered the squad at quarter-time.
In that moment, it was as if the two sides played in entirely different environments for the first 10 minutes of the second term as Seymour rapidly piled on four majors, including a memorable first senior goal for debutant Oliver Munro with a set shot.
Staring a 28-point deficit in the face midway through the quarter, Jedd Wright’s side quite suddenly roared into life with the season all but written off if it continued to sink further.
By half-time, onlookers had witnessed a nine-goal stanza just half an hour on from an opening term where hitting three consecutive targets looked nigh on impossible for either team.
Momentum swings aplenty continued after the long break as Seymour sought to recover from the temporary loss of star man David Mundy following a dump tackle that sparked a brief melee shortly before half-time.
The Swans would go a man down in the incident as Joeve Cooper suffered concussion as a result of the tackle, but his teammates fought on to steal a surprise lead in the third term’s latter stages.
Though the Swans unleashed a flurry in the closing minutes before the final change, appearing likely to have the third term’s last word as they had done in the previous two, Riley Mason would convert after the siren from a free kick to galvanise Lions players and fans alike.
The final 10 minutes were played in almost preliminary final-like areas of intensity and pressure as both sides bogged down once more.
In search of a goal to drop the margin to five points, Seymour penetrated forward 50 countless times as the Swans scrapped their way out time and again.
The last handful of minutes were played in near-total obscurity with sunlight rapidly fading and no floodlights on.
What mattered most, though, was the brightly illuminated scoreboard reading out an 11.7 (73) to 9.8 (62) win for the Swans at full-time.
Having scraped through to fight another day, Wright beamed in speaking of his side’s tenacity in the latter stages.
“We knew it would be really tough with Seymour in good form, but we knew we had good players coming back in,” Wright said.
“I was just really proud of our boys’ effort to hold on.
“We’ve worked really hard on that last 10 minutes, just getting numbers behind the ball and getting stoppage after stoppage.
“We’ve worked on all those things as a team and I was proud of how they stalled Seymour’s momentum without letting them score.”
Zac Alderton was highlighted by both coaches as a standout on the day, with Mark Kovacevic and Max Clohesy noted as top contributors for the winners.
The question now remains around the Swans’ future aspirations as a bye weekend precedes a crunch meeting with Mansfield in a fortnight at Princess Park.
“Internally, we’re confident as, bar Echuca, we haven’t been blown out by anyone,” Wright said.
“On our day, our best footy can take it up to anyone, but we’ll just rest and enjoy this week before they look ahead to Mansfield.
“A lot would have to go right (to make finals). We dropped games we shouldn’t have early, but we’re just looking for growth at this stage.
“Hopefully we play a bit better than today against Mansfield and keep the momentum rolling.”
On the losing end, Lions coach Davey did not shy away from suggesting probable causes of his side’s eighth defeat this season.
“There were too many guys who didn’t play to the standard of the GVL,” Davey said.
“Too many of them were passengers in the conditions and a couple of Swans guys had great games.
“The first quarter was pretty even, but we didn’t make the most of our opportunities.
“Echuca (next after the bye) is the yardstick and the best team by a mile for the last few years. We’ll just have to regroup and reset and each player will have to have a look at themselves, wondering if they want to knuckle down and make things better.”
9°C