ALTONA has completed its meteoric rise from also-ran to powerhouse of the Western Region Football League division 1 in the space of an Olympic cycle.
The architect of the operation, coach Anthony Eames, inherited one of the ‘whipping boys’ of top division and turned it into a feared outfit in four seasons.
CLICK HERE for our huge gallery of the grand final and celebrations.
Eames recalls a time earlier in his tenure when the Vikings were on the receiving end of some brutal losses to the best sides of the day.
‘‘We got smashed, particularly by the top sides,’’ Eames told the Weekly.
‘‘We were very competitive in my first year against the fifth, sixth and seventh sides and I think we finished a game out of the finals in sixth spot that year.
‘‘That was an improvement on the year prior, but every time we came up against a Spotty or a Port Colts, we’d cop a 20-goal-plus drubbing.’’
The Vikings learned valuable lessons from those beatings and were under no illusions about the gap that existed between the best and the rest.
The pain of those results was in the back of their minds every long preseason and training session. The road to the top was paved with sacrifices for the Vikings, whether it be an extra training session midweek when players of the other clubs were at home watching TV or the extra post-game recovery sessions.
The toppling of this great Spotswood side — premiers in four of the previous five seasons — was designed every step of the way.
The professionalism of the Vikings is second to none and the mindset of the players to reach these heights was borne through a collective understanding of what it required to be the best.
Eames says the Woodsmen had been in his team’s sights for some time and getting to their level was the main ‘‘driving force’’.
‘‘Spotty have been a great club for a long time and we’ve been aiming for them for a while,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve sacrificed from November all the way through to now.’’
Eames thoroughly enjoyed beating the Woodsmen on a stage they have owned in recent years. It was a sign of maturity from the Vikings to rebound from their one-point loss to the Woodsmen in last year’s preliminary final and turn the tables.
Eames is a respectful coach, a modest man and understands the history of the competition and what the Woodsmen have been able to achieve in recent years.
Unprompted, he made a point of saying that his club can’t have overthrown the Woodsmen dynasty on the back of one flag, and it might never reach the levels of its rival.
But this could be the start of something special for the Vikings, who are young and hungry for their own period of success.
‘‘We’ve got a long, long way before we catch Spotswood,’’ Eames said.
‘‘I don’t think we’ll ever go past them as far as their onfield deeds.
‘‘At this stage, we’re happy to compete with them and keep working towards getting better next year.’’
