BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
DEER Park completed a remarkable undefeated season with a 131-point annihilation of Albanvale in the WRFL Division Two grand final on Sunday.
It was almost the same margin that separated the two in the qualifying final, indicating just how far ahead of the field Deer Park has been this season.
Few would have been surprised by the one-sided nature of the grand final, but while it was not an ideal result form a league perspective, it does raise hopes for a closer Division One and Division Two competition next season.
Albanvale did not help maters with its defensive mindset.
The flooding tactics were somewhat effective in the first quarter, when the Cobras held Deer Park to four goals, but the problem was they were not getting any penetration themselves. The 37-12 inside 50 count at half-time told the tale.
Once the Lions improved their delivery into the forward line, the juggernaut could not be stopped. Coach James Condos, the undisputed star of Division Two, bagged seven goals, while Christian Day won the Rex Swann medal for best on ground with his 40-possession performance.
Nick Condos, who co-coaches Deer Park with his son James, said promotion to Division One was the ultimate goal for the Lions.
“We worked very hard. We started way back in October. It’s a long process and eventually we got the rewards that we worked hard for,” he said.
“(Promotion) was our main goal but obviously we didn’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. But we’re putting plans into process so we can go up there and not just be one of the numbers, we want to go up there and have a real input into the competition.
“I’ve been in this game for a long time and obviously James (Condos) has been around footy for a while. The players that we went out to recruit were all quality people and we knew they would mix in and work in so it was really good.
