GVL Data | Lions ‘little bit better’ at the end while unearthing a chink in Echuca’s armour

A late goal from Josh Alford in the final minute of the match sealed the Lions’ fate as the second team to defeat the Goulburn Valley League heavyweight in the past two seasons.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to run through some of the leading statistics from the contest to give GVL followers a chance to see if there are any chinks in Echuca’s armour.

The opening quarter was a fascinating battle as Seymour’s ability to the win the ball was met by ferocious intensity and pressure from Echuca.

The Lions dominated the total ground ball gets (28-15) with 20 of those coming from loose balls.

Nathan Beattie had 11 disposals in that rollicking first term, along with four ground ball gets and led by example.

It was no surprise to see the second best tackling team in the comp bring the pressure and Echuca went on to lay 23 tackles, compared to Seymour’s 11 and finished with plus-16 overall pressure.

In the second quarter the two sides reversed roles and it was Seymour that out-tackled and out-pressured Echuca, while the visitor began to get hands on the ball first by winning total ground ball (27-19) and having a whopping 19 of those come from hard ball gets.

The two sides continued to trade blows and at three-quarter time it was Seymour that held a slim one-point advantage.

With it all to play for in the last term, Seymour was able to execute better in front of goals and finished with a scoring efficiency of 44 per cent ― compared to Echuca’s 11 per cent from 15 inside 50 entries.

Seymour equalled the tackle count at 11, yet laid more effective tackles with nine for the term.

The Lions won the hit-outs (13-9) and clearances (12-8), but lost contested possessions (32-33) and inside 50s (15-9).

Alford, who booted two goals in the triumph, spoke after the match about how the Lions were able to just hold on despite the run of play.

“They are a very good side, one of the best sides we’ve played. They are very hard at it, really skilful and they took it to us all day,” the Lions forward said.

“We were just that little bit better at the end there and just got over the line.

“We had to make sure we didn’t let our efforts go out the window and we just pulled away and hung on. It was a really good win.”

One glaring statistic that will be of interest to rival clubs was Seymour’s ability to negate Echuca’s dominance inside forward 50.

The Murray Bombers lead the competition for marks inside 50 and average 17 a match.

Echuca managed eight for the game, compared to the hosts’ 11, and only posted 2.2 (14) from marks inside 50, while Seymour chalked up a whopping 7.0 (42).

It was the club’s lowest tally of scores from marks inside 50 this season to date.

All three of Echuca’s lowest results have come against top-four sides.

The Murray Bombers managed 3.2 (20) against Kyabram and 3.3 (21) in the narrow win over Euroa.

From 10 games in 2023 the ladder leader averages 54.4 points a game from that scoring source.