Deer Park has turned the biggest day on the Western Region Football League calendar into its own plaything.
The Lions ruthlessly mauled Werribee Districts in a record-breaking manner by 136 points in the division 1 grand final at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday.
Their 77-point walloping of Spotswood in the big one 12 months earlier paled in comparison to severity of this victory.
The Lions completed a fairytale premiership three-peat and continued a dynasty that shows no signs of abating.
Lions coach Marc Bullen told Star Weekly of the importance of peaking at the right time.
VIEW PICTURE GALLERY/SALES FROM THIS MATCH
The Lions showed some vulnerability late in the regular season, but not when it mattered most in September.
“We have been preparing for this day for quite a long time,” Bullen said. “You grind through the middle of winter and six or eight weeks ago we put a plan in place that culminated in today.
“I tried to play that last game against Hoppers [which they lost by 73 points] as a stepping stone going into the finals.
“I don’t know what happened, maybe we were a bit flat, doing that heavy training phase at the time.
“I have always talked about finals being group one races and we have always tried to maintain a level of training form and consistency that would get us to this result today.”
RELATED STORIES:
LIONS TREBLE FLAG ‘PICK OF THE BUNCH’
CONDOS STANDS THE TEST OF TIME
There has never been a more lop-sided grand final margin in the history of the WRFL’s top tier.
The Tigers narrowly avoided the lowest score in grand final history, 2.6 (18) recorded by F & Y Socials in 1962, by a single point, when Ben Morton goaled on the run deep into time-on of the last quarter.
It was little consolation for Tigers co-captain Matt Dean.
“I was speaking to [co-captain] Brent Morrow in the rooms and probably the disappointment wore off in the last quarter and we were just more embarrassed,” he said. “To turn up on the big stage like that and to produce that performance is embarrassing.”
Deer Park came out and physically imposed itself on the contest, much like it did two weeks earlier against Werribee Districts in the semi final.
The effect was immediately felt in the Tigers camp as they quickly reverted to standoffish football at the contest, perceiving the pressure might come from Deer Park when it was in their own minds.
The freedom the Lions were afforded in the first half was astounding.
The Tigers have become renowned for their tackle pressure, but not on this day.
The Lions prime movers, such as Bullen, Shannan Broadbent, Jack Purton-Smith, Ryan Houlihan, Sohrob Ismail and Luke Summers, were able to waltz away untouched from the contest as Tigers players looked on helplessly.
Clearly, the Tigers were overawed in the opening exchanges, but there was no excuses for the poor manning up, lack of pressure at the coal face and deplorable ball use.
The movement out of defensive 50 from the Tigers was slow and sloppy, while Deer Park’s was fast and accurate.
The Tigers disposal into attacking 50 was often rushed and Lions defenders Corey Brown, Rodney van Riet, Ryan Crawford and Max Bruin intercepted with ease.
The Lions dominance in the air was stark with Scott Greenhough and Chris Stewart doing as they pleased.
Greenhough’s tap work was sublime, Stewart’s work around the ground powerful.
Stewart finished with four goals to reiterate he is the best mobile tall in the competition.
Then there was Kwame McHarg, the recipient of the best-on-ground medal, finishing with seven goals.
McHarg is a highlights reel unto himself with his spring-heeled leap drawing the oohs and aahs from the crowd and his burst of speed leaving Tigers players trailing in his wake.
The scoreboard at half time read 13.7 (85) to 0.3 (3).
The Tigers first goal came through Jordan Patty 18 minutes into the third term, ending a run of 17 unanswered Lions goals.
Patty was easily the best Tigers player and deserved his name on the board.
He was one of the smallest players on the ground, but one of the few Tigers who had the courage to stand up to the Lions brutality, dust himself off and get to the next contest.
Better players were hard to find for the Tigers.
Morton fought hard in the midfield, while Stefan Callea and Mitch Chadwick won their share of ball, but this was the Lions day and their strength across all lines was too much for the opposition.
“We were just a class above, it is as simple as that,” Bullen said. “We won the inside football, we were physical, we had assets up forward and our defence was really consistent.
“We were running on top of the ground from minute one to minute 120.”
It was Deer Park’s seventh division 1 premiership.
They are getting used to the spotlight, having won five flags since 2009, including two division 2 flags.
The Lions left us with no doubt they are the kings of the jungle and could be for some time yet.
Division 1 grand final
Deer Park 23.17 (155) d Werribee Districts 2.7 (19)
Deer Park – Goals: K. McHarg 7, C. Stewart 4, S. Broadbent 3, S. Bloomfield 2, J. Wong 2, J. Condos 2, M. Bullen, L. Summers, R. Houlihan
Best: K. McHarg, R. Houlihan, S. Broadbent, C. Stewart, R. Crawford, S. Ismail.
Werribee Districts – Goals: B. Morton, J. Patty. Best: J. Patty, B. Morton, S. Callea, M. Chadwick, C. Molivas, C. Scudamore.
