By Lance Jenkinson
Jack Purton-Smith described it as a “privilege” to captain the all-conquering Deer Park to the premiership in the Western Region Football League division 1.
Purton-Smith, a former VFL player, stood up on the podium with coach Marc Bullen to collect the Lions’ record breaking sixth consecutive title after Saturday’s 48-point grand final win over Hoppers Crossing at Avalon Airport Oval.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Purton-Smith said.
“I’m privileged to be a leader of this group.”
Purton-Smith had the captaincy baton passed on to him by Chris Stewart in 2017.
The 27-year-old has proven to be a popular leader, but one who can get his point across.
In the lead-up to this year’s grand final, Purton-Smith initiated a players only meeting to remind them what the Lions stand for, setting the tone for a big week that ended with hoisting the premiership cup.
“I was rapt to hand over the captaincy to him,” Stewart said.
“He oozes leadership on the field and off the field.
“He’s got everyone together Thursday night to have a chat before we went into the main meeting.
“He calmed the nerves.”
Purton-Smith reckons the main edge that Deer Park has over the rest of the competition is their fit-for-finals regime.
The Lions have undergone an intense training program – a second pre-season within the season, if you will – each time they have climbed to the summit.
It gets the Lions primed and ready for September and the benefits can be found in the second half of games.
While the fit-for-finals program is a raging success, Purton-Smith jokes that the intense training can lead to a bit of moaning from the players.
“‘Bully [coach Bullen] doesn’t know this, but a lot of the boys whinge to me about it,” he said.
“He’s a super coach and no one has achieved what he has done, so it’s working and we’ve got to keep doing it … until it doesn’t work any more.”
You can add good listener and an ability to maintain harmony between the coaches and players to Purton-Smith’s impressive leadership CV.
