Tara Murray
Altona timed its run to perfection to seal its second Western Region Football League division 1 premiership.
After being on top of the ladder last year when the season ended early due to COVID-19, the Vikings had to work hard to get back to have another shot.
With players coming back from injury at the right time, the Vikings peaked come finals time with hard fought wins against Deer Park and Caroline Springs.
On Saturday in the grand final against Werribee Districts, the Vikings were the better side in a typical Melbourne day of four seasons in one.
After the Tigers kicked the first three of the game, the Vikings hit back and levelled the scores at quarter time.
Once they hit the front, they stayed there, winning 10.21 (81)-9.4 (58).
It was an emotional Vikings coach Corey McCall after the game. Two of the Vikings assistant coaches died during the season, making the premiership even more special.
“This is what you dream of, all the hours you put in,” he said.
“Everyone says coaching is a hard gig. You have to be really passionate and really driven, put in the hours.
“To get that reward. The club has only won one in their history, so a second one 10 years later, I’m ecstatic for the boys as well.”
McCall said they had a real slow start to the year, with the toll of the pandemic and interrupted football really taking its toll.
He said a lot of guys didn’t handle the way last season ended well, with no finals played for a second straight year.
“We had sort of struggled for pre-season numbers and were on the phone ringing,” he said.
“They were saying I might go travelling, the whole mindset changed. We slowly reconnected them and football is great like that.
“Football clubs are about relationships about connecting with your mates.
“A lot of people were engrossed with work and to come back to footy and were like we really needed this, we just sort of started building from there.”
McCall said they would have been happy starting the season 3-3, which they easily exceeded.
With players coming back from injuries, the Vikings started to get even better and finished the regular season in second spot.
“Towards the back end and when we had the opportunity to play in finals, everyone brought in then,” he said.
“Our game against Caroline Springs was hard. My boys were really sore after that game,.
“I had said I need to get some more games and minutes into our list and team, but after that game we needed that week off
“We looked really fresh we did a lot of non-contact running and ball movement.”
The Tigers had created three upsets to make it to the grand final, but the premiership was one step too far.
The Vikings dominated for most of the game, after setting up the win in the middle two quarters. It meant they could celebrate the victory late in the piece.
“I thought we were really good defensively and they kicked two from the boundary and I thought gee whiz,” McCall said. “When you start kicking goals from the boundary it might be your day.
“As I kept saying to the boys, we’re not converting our shots but we’re getting looks and it’ll come eventually.
“I would have liked to have had more of margin come three quarter time, [but] you take it by a point, you take it by 50 points if you win them. I’m extremely happy.”
Connor Menadue was named best on ground, but that honour could have easily gone to Kelly Pickard.
The defender took several defensive marks, especially in the last quarter when the Tigers were attacking.
The premiership was the club’s second after a one-point win in 2012. Steven Kennedy and Mitchell Turnbull are the only players to be part of both.
