Tara Murray
Deer Park has proven some of its naysayers wrong, with the Western Region Football League division 1 side on track for another finals series.
After seven premierships in a row, many people predicted the Lions would slip back to the pack after a changing of the guard.
But the Lions are currently in a finals position, sitting fourth after 11 rounds.
Lions coach Mark McGoldrick said the high standards that had been set during the premiership run had flowed onto the new group.
“I think we’ve done a terrific job,” he said. “We’ve got a very young side.
“We’re performing with less [player] points than any other club and we don’t have juniors coming through.
“Last year our reserves finished bottom of the ladder. We haven’t fallen off the mountain.
“The new players have really bought into what we’ve been doing.”
McGoldrick said there were a number of players who had stepped up and taken their games to the next level, to help fill the void left by those who departed.
He said skipper Spiros Amarantidis was leading the way.
“He’s been around four of five years,” he said.
“Luke Scicchitano is only 19 years old and a new player at the club. Nicolas Aleksovski, is 19, and he was leading our goal kicking at one stage.
“Scott Greenhough has been around but he has shown some growth and stepped up in the role that Chris Stewart long held.”
McGoldrick said at the start of the season the side hadn’t been overly confident in playing finals, but was really happy with the position it was in.
While finals are a bonus this year, McGoldrick said the focus remained on building for the next couple of years.
“Hopefully we’ll get our player points reinstated so we have the same as everyone else,” he said.
“And we still have a lot of improvement in us.”
Speaking before the announcement that play would resume this weekend, McGoldrick said while it was tough this season with the stop-start nature of the season, there were some real positives out of it.
“The season is comprised, with missed games and the draw and it has drawn some angst among some clubs including us.
“The start of the year we knew that it would happen and there was the possibility of missing games.
“We’ll get at least 14 to 15 games this season, after no games last season. I’m a half glass full person and i’m just grateful to have games.
“Everyone just wants to come back and play footy with the boys.”
