The past three years have been littered with highlights for the Deer Park Football Club.
The Lions have barely lost a match in the Western Region Football League and are arguably the best suburban football team in the state.
However, for coach Marc Bullen Saturday’s grand final win stands above all else as his favourite moment.
Bullen’s Lions bullied their way to their third successive premiership, toppling Werribee Districts by 136 points.
“This is the pick of the bunch for me purely because it didn’t look great in the middle of winter,” Bullen said. “We had inconsistency in our training form and our playing form. There was a lot of external pressure to get the result. I’m just proud to be the leader of a great bunch of men.
“It is all about the players and the club today and I am very proud to be a part of it.”
It was three rising stars who created one of the many highlights for the Lions on Saturday.
Just 12 months ago, Jayke Ewer, Spiros Amarantidis and Sohrob Ismail all watched on from the sidelines during the club’s premiership win over Spotswood, with the trio narrowly missing out on selection.
Fast forward to last week and all three now have premiership medals hanging around their necks.
Ismail and Amarantidis were both key contributors throughout the match while at just 19 years of age, Ewer was named in the WRFL’s division 1 team of the year.
Bullen said Ewer had the potential to play at an even higher level in the future.
“There were three or four kids today that have got their first premiership and that is what it is all about for me,” he said. “There is no question Jayke could go on and play VFL. I think he should be trying out next year if he has the commitment to do it and he wants to do it.
“He is a traditional forward but I threw him in the backline and he has just been super. He has beaten the best smalls, he is composed, he is good in the air and he is a super athlete.”
While the celebrations are expected to last for a while yet at John McLeod Oval, talk is already turning to the potential for a fourth straight premiership next season.
Although there may be a couple of retirements at the Lions, Bullen is confident he will be able to keep the core of his list together.
“Traditionally we have turned one or two players over. This year might be a bit special because we might have one or two retirements in the group,” he said.
“We will just wait and see what happens. We will get the celebrations out of the road first. We may add one or two players but we will keep the core players and try to create even more history.”
