Gallery | Seymour shows no rust after the bye with a scalding performance against Shepparton United

By the time the first change of ends rolled around at Deakin Reserve, United had been mauled inside 50, trailing 35-13 in a game that already felt like tilting the visitors’ way.

And at the final siren, the scoreboard reading 17.14 (116) to 8.8 (56), it sewed up an expected result according to Seymour co-coach Ben Davey.

“We got what we thought we were going to get,” he said.

“They’re pretty good in contested stuff, they’ve got injuries, they’re missing some quality players.

“We planned for what they were going to bring, and the boys played really well — coming off a bye, you’re never sure exactly what you’re going to get, but from the start we knew it was on.”

From the opening bounce, the script was set: Nathan Fowler clunked a mark and slotted truly from the left flank; United replied instantly via Kyle Clarke, but the rebuttal was even quicker — Nathan Beattie pouncing on a crumb and snapping sharply.

Fowler’s second arrived before United could begin to invade the Lions’ defensive arc, and while Mitch Serra narrowed the gap briefly after capitalising on a turnover, the Lions just kept hunting.

Riley Mason slotted with the poise of a VFL-hardened star, then repeated the trick moments later.

By the quarter-time siren, the cracks were already beginning to show.

And if the first term was force, the second was finesse.

Collingwood VFL-listed Mason, back in the Lions’ side for only the third time this season, launched the quarter with a precision kick from 40 metres out.

Max McLean joined in, strolling in unopposed after another Lions incursion.

When United finally broke their scoring drought through Liam Serra’s long-range bomb, the reprieve was fleeting as Beattie’s intercept and laser to Dylan Davis set up the play of the day as the youngster hauled in a one-handed grab and drilled it on the 45-degree angle.

McLean added another from a 50m penalty to send Seymour into the sheds 42 points ahead and brimming with momentum at half time.

The third quarter was another demonstration of power from the Lions.

Jack Peris struck twice in two minutes, Fowler made it three for the day, and Mason kept playing like he had an invisible ladder in his kit bag — marking above packs and finishing from improbable angles.

Lewis Lubeck’s pack grab and finish from point-blank range then pushed the margin to 10 goals, and even when United’s Kade Davies kicked a late one — and celebrated appropriately, considering it was his first on senior debut — it barely dented the Lions’ control.

Mason’s fourth, a swirling bomb off a high leap, was the exclamation mark before United salvaged some scoreboard dignity in the last term.

Nic Quigg’s early bomb was answered by a couple of United goals from Clarke and Jayedon Hexter, before Joel Serra skidded one off the turf and through in the final moments.

But Davey wasn’t surprised the finish lacked the same venom as the start.

“We just ran out of legs towards the end and probably the other thing is (with) a young group is being able to really finish teams off,” he said.

“We probably quite haven't learned that yet, so we’ve got to a stage where we're 70 points up or whatever, and you think, oh well, that's the job's done.

“But you've got to be able to put the four quarters together all the time.”

Davey lauded the performances of fellow co-coach Jack Murphy as well as the VFL-listed talents of Peris, Quigg and Mason (five goals).

For United, Clarke shone up forward with three goals.

Both sides are now playing for pride in the last two rounds, with finals out of the equation.

Davey circled the round 14 loss to Mansfield as the final nail in the coffin regarding a post-season appearance, and since then, it’s all been about blooding youth and running out games with one eye on the 2026 season.

“Since then it's just been ‘let's finish really strong, show what we've got, play good footy, enjoy it, and build a bridge into next year into a strong preseason and away we go’,” he said.