ALTONA captain Josh Russo says the culture at his football club is one of not giving up. That was the cornerstone of a double premiership triumph on the Western Region Football League biggest day.
The Vikings came out of sticky situations twice on grand final day to win both senior and reserve grade deciders.
In the seniors, they were outplayed by Spotswood for much of the game, got the rough end of the stick from the umpires and found themselves trailing by nine points early in the final term.
But they cleared the hurdles to score an unforgettable one-point win.
The reserves were in an even deeper hole, trailing Port Melbourne Colts by 22 points at three-quarter time before rattling off seven goals to nil in a remarkable last term to win the game.
“We’ve built a culture of never giving up, putting our best out and leaving no stone unturned,” Russo said. “We kept persisting, we kept trying and I think that’s what pulled us through today.”
Russo admitted his players felt an element of external pressure leading into the senior game, starting as warm favourites after finishing the home-and-away rounds as minor premier and beating Spotswood in two of their three meetings.
They carried no burden of history, no extra weight of their club never winning a division 1 flag.
“There’s obviously pressure from the outside,” Russo said. “You finish on top and you’re meant to go on and win it. The coaching staff put us in good stead, prepared us well and we couldn’t have done anything differently.
“There was a little bit of talk about creating some history, but not necessarily as an added pressure. It’s just something the boys wanted to do.”
Russo, a candidate for the Herb Pascarl Medal for best-on-ground after his typically hard-nosed approach to every contest, says the premiership glory might usher in an era of dominance for the Vikings.
“This is what you’ve got to do to be a powerful club. Don’t get me wrong, one premiership doesn’t create that, but it goes a long way to starting it.”
