Star Seymour recruit Michael Hartley stole the headlines at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon, introducing himself to the locals with a dominant 10-goal debut in the Lions’ 20.15 (135) to 1.6 (12) win over Benalla.
Heading into the clash cautious of what a fired-up Benalla might bring after a tumultuous off-season, Seymour ensured there would be no opening round slip-up as it flexed its muscles from start to finish.
Seymour coach Ben Davey said he was incredibly happy with how his side went about it.
“The main thing I took from the game was how well we were able to play as a team and the improvement we showed from our pre-season and practice games,” Davey said.
“We never had our best team in the practice games, and we didn’t have it yesterday either, but I think we showed that we are getting closer so overall I am happy with the performance.”
It all began in the first quarter for the boys in maroon, coming out of the gates white-hot with six unanswered goals to take a convincing 38-point lead into quarter time.
To the Saints’ credit they did respond in the second term, shoring up their defensive structures to stop the Lions’ run-on and pinch back some momentum to break even in an entertaining quarter of football.
But the dam wall always seemed likely to break in the second half, as Seymour emerged from the rooms with a real sense of urgency, putting the Saints to the sword with a dominant 12-goal-to-nil second half.
“Being 43 points up at half time we said, do we want to just float through the rest of this game and win by 40 or 50 or do we want to keep working on the things we want to get better at and finish really strong. So I was really proud of the playing group for not letting up,” Davey said of his team’s dominant second half.
“I think that (finishing strong) is something we have really improved upon from last year, because even though we won our first nine we never really smashed a team, so it was terrific to see that killer instinct come out.”
In terms of standout players, you could not go past the work of Hartley up forward, who thrilled the crowd with his ability to take strong marks and finish with class.
“He is just a class above,” Davey said.
“When you see those guys come back from AFL and VFL footy it is incredible to see that standard of footy and he is just elite, but he is also just a great guy as well and brilliant for our team on and off the field.
“Spending the majority of his career playing down back, we just think he needs to have a bit of fun with his footy, so we are keen to use him as a forward when he’s available and make the most of his talent.”
Along with Hartley, Seymour got great contributions out of a number of up-and-coming players, with Lachlan Waite down back, Ben Rigoni through the midfield and Riley Mason on the wing particularly impressive.
Despite losing by 123 points, Benalla had several solid contributors, with returning ruckman Josh Marchbank and co-coach Will Martiniello the stand-outs.