He remained static in 1979, but the following year Lee moved into the elite of Australian Rules as his ability as a knock ruckman combined with the running power of fellow Mildura recruit Dale Weightman, Robert Wiley, Geoff Raines and Bryan Wood to give one of the most potent forward lines in Australian Rules history an abundance of ball.
The Tigers won eleven successive matches early in the 1980 VFL season and, after a slump as injuries took toll late on the home-and-away rounds, returned to their most devastating form in the finals.
1983 and 1984 saw Lee back to his 1980 form as unchallenged Number One ruckman for the Tigers, in spite of the club declining to near the bottom of the ladder with only seven wins in 1983 and ten in 1984.
Lee was regarded as a leading candidate for the Brownlow in both seasons and in 1984 won his club's best-and-fairest by a record margin, in the process being listed as one of the VFL "Players of the Year".
However, 1985 saw a succession of major injuries begin to decimate the remainder of Mark Lee's career: he missed the second half of 1985 with medial ligament damage to his left knee and from 1986 to 1991 played just eighty-seven senior games.