Heath Ayres arrived at Deer Park over preseason with the burden of a big reputation.
After all, he was the starting onballer and resting goalsneak in
Maribyrnong Park’s all-conquering premiership teams in the Essendon
District Football League, and a two-time Reynolds medallist for best and
fairest in the strong A-grade competition.
There was no hiding his talent, every opposition coach knew what
he could produce on the field, but so did his teammates, and with that
comes an expectation.
PICTURE GALLERY: Deer Park v Spotswood, grand final
Ayres has seemed invincible at times in his career, but the 2013
season would prove he is a mere mortal with injury problems from the
first day he set foot in the Lions den.
A long battle with osteitis pubis meant Ayres missed the first
seven games of the season. When he returned to the field, he suffered
bruised ribs first game back and would miss a further three.
Back for three more games, Ayres suffered a quad injury that would
rule him out of six more and some fans must have wondered if he would
return in time for the finals.
With just six regular season games under his belt, Ayres was forced to earn his spot in the starting 22 via the reserves.
He would eventually get back in the side, just in time for the Lions finals campaign.
“It’s been a long year of rehab and doing a lot of stuff off the track,” Ayres said.
“I trained for the first three months without the boys, doing my own stuff and that was hard going to a new footy club.”
Before Saturday’s grand final, the WRFL had not seen the best of
Ayres, but they got a sample of it in the pressure cooker of the biggest
day on the calendar.
Ayres’ touches in the big moments against Spotswood would be
critical in the stunning comeback from 41 points down in the second
term.
You can’t beat an experienced, big game player on the big stage.
Ayres has enjoyed a number of memorable moments in his career, but rates this as his sweetest.
“It’s probably the best one I’ve been involved in and this is my third premiership,” he said.
“The way it finished was unbelievable.
“I was just dumbfounded.”
WRFL DIVISION 1 GRAND FINAL STORIES
The breakdown: Quarter x quarter
