Gallery | Seymour’s premiership quarter snatches Goulburn Murray Junior League under-16 division two flag

In a gripping Goulburn Murray Junior League under-16 division two decider at Deakin Reserve, Seymour clawed its way back from a sluggish start to roar home 8.6 (54) to 4.1 (25), with a bruising third term stamping the Lions’ authority on a premiership that looked doubtful in the opening exchanges.

The Cats struck first and fast.

Aiden Osborne’s set shot from just inside 50 never looked like missing, and when Bodhi Luvara clunked a mark on the edge of the square before snapping smartly, Mooroopna was 12-0 to the good.

The majority of the quarter was played along the Skene St wing, Seymour probing but never punishing, the Cats’ structure holding firm.

At quarter time, the Lions trailed and looked rattled.

Nigel McCarthy’s side didn’t panic, but they were guilty of wastefulness as a pair of missed chances in the second term stung all the more when Mooroopna’s Rhylee Marsters swooped and banged through a rousing goal to stretch the margin to 17.

Then came the downpour — rain bucketing, the ball as slick as soap.

But in the latter stages of the term, Seymour managed to get a grip as Jordy O’Connell snapped truly to crack the Cats’ resistance before another scrambled effort dribbled home off the deck.

Suddenly, the Lions’ pressure was telling and by half-time, the margin had shrunk to just two points.

McCarthy didn’t mince words at the break.

“The half time speech, I pretty much revved them up and put a rocket up their arse which is what they needed,” he said.

“They came back and bounced that third quarter - which I felt was the premiership quarter - where they won it.”

He was right.

Seymour emerged from the sheds like a side possessed, stacking up repeat inside-50s and slotting three goals to Mooroopna’s one for the term.

The margin ballooned to 10 points at the last change, 35-25, and all that was left for the Lions to do was to lock it in.

In the last, Seymour simply strangled the life out of the contest.

Baxter Loweke’s snap on the turn, all instinct and timing, broke the dam wall, and when William Schaeffer-Steel capped a sweeping move with a classy finish on the run, the celebrations began in earnest.

Ben McCarthy was named best on ground, his ball-winning and leadership proving pivotal to turning the tide.

For Mooroopna, the pain was doubled — a second grand final loss of the day after the under-14 heartbreak earlier.

For Seymour, it was sweet vindication of a season’s worth of work that threatened to boil over after the Cats’ early salvos.

“To be honest, I actually expected them (Mooroopna) to bounce that first 10 minutes,” McCarthy said.

“The last two games we’d played against them, they’ve kicked two or three goals there.

“They came out pretty hard, but to our credit in that second quarter, we hung in there - and premierships are won in the second half.”