When you have the firepower that Deer Park possesses, half the battle for coach Marc Bullen is keeping all the parts in the mix happy.
The chemistry between the Lions forwards was on show in Saturday’s ominous 70-point trouncing of previous ladder leader Hoppers Crossing in division 1 of the WRFL at Hogans Road Reserve on Saturday.
Bullen praised the selflessness of all his forwards, led by Brendan Fevola, who is content to play second fiddle on occasions for the betterment of the team.
“It’s about sharing the ball around and being able to find different avenues to goal,” Bullen told Star Weekly.
“Brendan’s been a big advocate of that too, especially when you’ve got other proven goal kickers in Kwame McHarg and Jase Perkins.
“Today was highlighted by Fev getting five, Jase got five, young Spiros [Amarantidis], who had a super game, kicked four”
Deer Park’s thumping victory would have frightened the other sides in the finals picture.
Hoppers Crossing stays second to Deer Park on percentage, but coach Steven Kretiuk rates the Lions the stand-out side “by a mile”.
The Lions were always going to be right there at the pointy end after strengthening a side that had won three premierships on the trot.
Their form line this season had led some to believe the premiership was up for grabs but the win over Hoppers Crossing was close to as good as it gets.
“After losing here by 79 points last year to turn that margin around today was a sensational effort,” Bullen said after the match.
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Adam El Houli was Deer Park’s best player across half back and the former Aberfeldie star is proving an astute acquisition.
“Not only can he defend, but he also sets up that many attacking opportunities for the side with his penetrating left foot,” Bullen said
But it was Amarantidis who stole the spotlight.
“I’ve been pretty critical of Spiros in the last couple of weeks as I thought he was playing individual football,” Bullen said.
“But today he had the team at the foremost of his mind. His tackling pressure was outstanding and I think he had about 12 KPI defensive acts.”
The highlight of Deer Park’s win was a goal of the year contender from Shannon Byrnes.
“It was the best goal I’ve seen in four years,” Bullen said. “He found the ball about 20 metres out on the boundary late in the last quarter, someone came at him and he evaded him, then he evaded another tackler, handballed the ball through the defender’s legs, then tapped it on, ran around and snapped a goal.”
