By Lance Jenkinson
A day that started full of optimism turned into a horror show for Altona.
The script could not have been more gut-wrenching for the Vikings in a three-point loss to Deer Park in the Western Region Football League division 1 grand final at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday.
Vikings midfielder Steven Kennedy was still shell-shocked long after the final siren sounded on the premiership that got away.
“You won’t lose in too many worse ways I don’t think,” he said. “It’s still pretty raw really, a bit of a numb feeling.
“That will be one to look back on and rue.”
Considering it was Altona’s first grand final since 2012, there were no signs of any early nerves.
The Vikings were clearly the dominant side in the first half, dictating the play with their quick ball movement and playing with a physicality befitting of a grand final.
At half-time, Altona led by 25 points, the vast majority of its players winning their one-on-one duels and the team seemingly in a commanding position.
Even the Vikings fans were getting chirpy to the Deer Park players in their vicinity, sensing their great run of premierships could be coming to an end.
Then came a tough third quarter for Altona.
It was one of the most edgy quarters of football seen in the WRFL for a long time.
It started with Deer Park defender Jackson Barling running off the back square and taking aim at any Altona player in his zone.
Barling felled Kennedy behind the play and that act, like it or not, signalled a change in momentum in the match.
PHOTO GALLERY: WRFL division 1 grand final
Soon after, Daniel Cooper saw a yellow card for a swinging arm and then Chris Stewart was issued one and joined him in the Deer Park sin bin for a brain fade act.
While it led to a numerical disadvantage, playing 16 on 18, Deer Park coach Marc Bullen knew his side was cooked if it did not try something different in the third quarter and the injection of an “
’80s style” rough and tumble into the game proved successful.
It got the intimidation factor back for the Lions and had Altona players second guessing.
Kennedy admitted his side went away from what made it play well in the first two quarters.
He put it down to the physicality of Deer Park and the fatigue and physical toll on his team that eventually saw them worn down.
“Players sort of didn’t take the risks we would normally do [in the second half],” Kennedy said.
“We’re a side that likes to move the ball at angles and cut through the middle of the ground by handball and foot and we just stopped taking it on.
“In the third quarter, we had two extra on the ground because they had two sent off and they kicked two or three goals in that period, so it just shows how much we tightened up.
“I still can’t believe we actually lost from that position, but it is what it is at the moment.”
Leading by 19 points at three-quarter time and kicking with the aid of the wind in the fourth quarter, the odds were still stacked in favour of Altona.
It did not take long for Deer Park to stamp its authority on the last quarter though with Spiros Amarantidis goaling inside the first minute and further goals to best-on-ground Jeremy Mills and Amarantidis getting the Lions on level terms.
The Vikings were the minor premiers for a second year running, premiers in the reserves and minor premiers in the under 18s.
“We’re doing something right as a club, but we just haven’t got that ultimate glory in the seniors, which hopefully isn’t too far away.
“We’ll come back next year bigger and better and this is not going to stop us from trying.”
It was Deer Park’s seventh premiership in a row, a Victorian metropolitan record. With 11 senior premierships, the Lions are fourth on the all-time premiers list behind Spotswood (15), Parkside (14) and Braybrook (12).
