Spotswood is hurting after losing for a third successive season on the Western Region Football League’s biggest stage.
This grand final defeat was more cut and dried than the one-point heartbreaks of the previous two seasons, but it was no less painful.
The Woodsmen were in their eighth consecutive grand final but were on the receiving end of a 77-point mauling from Deer Park, which sent out one of the most accomplished sides the league has seen.
The utter devastation suffered by the Woodsmen 12 months ago was replaced by resignation about how this decider would end from about the midway point of the third quarter.
Veteran Woodsmen defender Mick Lewis told Star Weekly his side wasn’t allowed to produce its usual free-flowing, hard-running football, being stifled by the well-drilled experienced opposition.
“[Deer Park] have the skills and maturity to move it around and run the ball, but at times they hold up the pace and work it back and forth across their half back line to find a target,” he said. “That hurt us, they picked us apart a bit. When we started to get a bit of run, they just held up the pace.”
If you think the Woodsmen are on the way down, it might be a tad premature.
They fielded a large number of young players with bright futures against the battle-hardened Lions. They also won the under-18 division 1 premiership.
The Woodsmen have a sound veteran presence, but Lewis believes the middle tier – ages 24-27 – is lacking in depth and needs to be addressed.
“The future is very bright,” Lewis said. “Probably half [of the grand final] side would’ve been under 23, but there’s that gap in the middle,” he said.
The Woodsmen fielded 15 homegrown players in the grand final, including Tom Langlands, who took the reins as player-coach this season.
David Iaccarino starred on the losing side in the grand final. The starting onballer ran himself into the ground and finished with five goals from midfield.
“Throughout the season he’s shown why he should’ve been drafted with his ability to extract the ball and get it going forward,” Lewis said.
Will Langlands is the only player to feature in all eight of the Woodsmen’s grand finals.
“He epitomises Spotswood,” Lewis said. “What he’s done is amazing.”
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