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Rampant Deer Park Lions chase hat-trick of flags

Deer Park has the chance to achieve what has been done only five times previously in the Western Region Football League’s 84-year history.

Victory in Saturday’s grand final against Werribee Districts will give the Lions a third straight division 1 premiership.

The last club to win three straight A-grade premierships was Spotswood, from 2007-09.

Braybrook (1973-75), Footscray F and Y Socials (1959-61), Braybrook (1954-56) and Deer Park (1939-41) are the only sides to have completed the triple.

A three-peat would will also complete a remarkable turnaround for Deer Park, which was in division 2 just five seasons ago.

Vice-president Matthew Pratt said the club would be leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of another premiership.

“Originally, the club had a vision and it knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight,” he said.

“Regardless of money, you still need to get the right people to your football club, on and off field. I think that was a massive change to the club and it’s great to be in this position now. We will do a mountain of work analysing the opposition between now and the grand final.

“We’ll look at [Werribee Districts’] best players, what they do well and the weaknesses.”

Deer Park goes into the grand final with all the momentum after the perfect lead-up.

The Lions enjoyed a week off in the first round of finals before crushing Werribee Districts by 46 points in their qualifying final.

The Tigers qualified for the biggest game of the season with a win against Hoppers Crossing last week.

Deer Park and Werribee met twice during the home and away season, winning a game each.

“I believe any of the top three can beat each other on any given day,” Pratt said. “It depends on the circumstances and the players available on the day.

“We were very prepared for Werribee Districts last time we played them. We did a lot of homework on them and wanted to understand their strengths and target their weaknesses.”

While there has been some change to the playing group over the past three years, the man who has been there for every training session is Lions head coach Marc Bullen.

Since joining Deer Park for the 2013 season, the former Essendon AFL player has coached the Lions to just four losses.

Deer Park announced last week that Bullen has re-signed for 2016.

“One of the great things about Marc is … it doesn’t matter who the person is, they can be an ex-AFL footballer who has played 250 games or an 18-year-old kid coming in for his first, he treats them the same,” Pratt said.

“If he has a message to deliver he will deliver it in ways the players understand.”

The grand final will be played at Avalon Airport Oval, with the opening bounce at 2.15pm.

 

 

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