It is six months since Deer Park last played in the Western Region Football League, but the same question remains.
Can anyone stop the Lions?
After winning the 2013 flag, Deer Park emphatically defended its premiership title in 2014, going through the season undefeated.
The exclamation point at the end of the dominating run came in the form of a 77-point thrashing of Spotswood on grand final day.
But it will be a new-look Deer Park outfit that takes to the field this season.
The Lions have farewelled eight premiership players, including Heath Ayres, Shylo Smith, Jackson Barling and Brent Guerra.
Two of the spots will be taken up by returning Lions pair Shannon Broadbent and Ryan Crawford, who played in the club’s 2013 premiership team before lining up in the Goulburn Valley Football League last year.
They will be joined by former Essendon District Football League best and fairest winner Rodney Van Riet.
The other spots will be filled by some of the Lions’ youngsters who have impressed senior coach Marc Bullen through the pre-season.
“In my opinion I’ve got about five or six young guys I believe can play good senior football,” Bullen said.
“The ball is in their court as to whether they can do that. Their training standards and form have been pretty good.”
Last year was the first time a WRFL division 1 club was able to go through an entire season undefeated.
The Lions will again be chasing history this year as they look to become the first side since Spotswood in 2007-09 to win three flags in a row.
“There is no expectation to go through the season undefeated or anything like that,” Bullen said.
“We want to make finals first and foremost, develop some kids and then hopefully we can do everything right with our training form and our training standards.
“In modern-day football, getting three in a row is very hard and there’s a lot of hard work to do.”
Deer Park will open its 2015 campaign against Spotswood in a rematch of the past two division 1 grand finals.
The Woodsmen have experienced some player turnover of their own through the off-season with Jason Cloke and Charlie Nastasi among the big names to be playing elsewhere.
Bullen isn’t buying into talk that Spotswood could be set for a slide down the ladder this season and is expecting another extremely tough hit-out. “We haven’t lost to Spotswood since 2013 in the first semi-final. We want to keep it moving in that direction and get our season off to a terrific start.”
WRFL preview
Albion
Coach: Aaron Tymms
Last year: Eighth
Round one opponent: Port Melbourne Colts
Who’s in: Shannon Dean (Riddell District Football League)
Who’s out: Joshua Sims (Essendon District Football League)
“I think we’re in a position where we will do a little better than last year but probably not as good as we would like. We have used our kids for the last two to three years. They are all 18, 19 and 20, and they just need some games under their belts.” – president Gavan Taylor
Deer Park
Coach: Marc Bullen
Last year: Premiers
Round one opponent: Spotswood
Who’s in: Shannon Broadbent (Goulburn Valley Football League), Ryan Crawford (Goulburn Valley Football League), Rodney Van Riet (Keilor)
Who’s out: Brent Guerra (Peninsula Football Netball League), Ryan Hargrave (AFL Barwon), Shylo Smith (Essendon Doutta Stars)
“I’ve got about five or six young guys I believe can play good senior football. The ball is in their court. Their training standards and form have been pretty good so far, but the proof is in the pudding leading up to round one.” – Marc Bullen
St Albans
Coach: Marcus Barclay
Last year: Fourth
Round one opponent: Hoppers Crossing
Who’s in: Anthony Cristofaro (Yarraville-Seddon), Anthony Piva (Ballarat Football League)
Who’s out: Aaron Henneman (Eastern Football League), Teghan Henderson (Riddell District Football League), Joel West (Northern Football League)
“We have a much deeper midfield this year. We’re up to eight, nine and 10 now who can all run through there. From a pace and leg speed perspective, that’s been a real bonus. It’s hard to know, but things seem to be on track.” – Marcus Barclay
Sunshine
Coach: Brendan Hallinan
Last year: Seventh
Round one opponent: Bye (Albion round 2)
Who’s in: Matthew and Lachlan Hutchesson (both EDFL), Matthew Rizzo
(Caroline Springs)
Who’s out: Russell Douglas (Heathcote District Football League), Christopher Tripodi (Essendon District Football League)
“Brendan has had the boys since November and they’re responding to his methods and his plans really well. It was a bit unfortunate how it panned out for Parkside, but we’re the first ones with the bye and we will just deal with that how we can.” – president Craig Ryan
