Local footy: Melbourne’s best suburban clubs from 2010-2019
One team hasn’t missed the finals, while another won seven flags straight — was it enough to make them the greatest suburban Melbourne club of the past decade? The stats don’t lie.
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Just who is the best suburban footy club of the past 10 years?
We’ve gone through all the ladders and finals results from Melbourne’s six senior metropolitan competitions – the Southern league, WRFL, EDFL, VAFA, EFL and NFL – to find the 10 top-flight clubs with the best winning percentages since 2010.
Clubs had to spend at least five of the past 10 seasons in the top grade of their competitions to qualify, and surprisingly no VAFA clubs made the cut.
There is bound to be debate, but the numbers don’t lie.
10. HEIDELBERG (NFL)
132 wins, 66 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 66.3
Heidelberg was the Northern Football League’s dominant team of the last decade but it was also a decade of what could have been. The Tigers’ finals winning percentage was 44 per cent after they displayed supreme home-and-away form consistently. Heidelberg qualified for five grand finals and had just the one flag to show for it after capturing a four-peat in 2006-09. After a couple of sixth placed finishes in 2017-18, the Tigers returned to their glory days by finishing second last season, only to crash out in straight sets.
9. STRATHMORE (EDFL)
129 wins, 62 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 67.2
The Mores can never be counted out of the ‘EDFL contenders’ conversation and have been one of the competition’s leading clubs for several seasons. The last 10 years have delivered two-heart-stopping grand finals triumphs, with Strathmore toppling Oak Park by two points in a memorable 2011 decider and defeating Aberfeldie by the same margin in 2014. The Mores also completed an 18-0 home-and-away season in 2012 before beating Greenvale in the major semi-final. Two weeks later they went down by two points in the grand final. Strathmore’s worst season of the last decade came in 2016, when it finished seventh, showing the club is always around the mark. It has suffered preliminary final losses by a solitary point in the past two seasons.
8. EAST BRIGHTON (SOUTHERN)
98 wins, 43 losses, winning percentage 69.5
It’s funny how quickly fortunes can change. The Vampires were a power in the Southern league, making finals in six straight seasons from 2010 and four straight grand finals between 2011 and 2014 – winning two. East Brighton lost just 10 games in that four-year stretch, claiming two minor premierships along the way. However, a player exodus after the 2015 season saw the club suffer relegation after a winless 2016. It hasn’t made finals since in Division 2.
7. ST PAULS (SOUTHERN)
143 wins, 58 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 70.8
The Doggies ruled the Southern league in the last decade, making finals every season except one and claiming three premierships from three grand finals. After last year’s triumph, Dingley has more flags but can’t match St Pauls for longevity. The Doggies lost just two games in their 2013 premiership season and notched some massive wins, including a 171-point hammering of Heatherton, 111 and 113-point wins over East Malvern and 129 and 187-point hammerings of Highett. A genuine force.
6. ABERFELDIE (EDFL)
142 wins, 55 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 71.7
Aberfeldie was anything but a powerhouse at the start of the last decade, finishing the 2010 season with just four wins and finishing in ninth position. Fast forward to now and Abers have qualified for a remarkable seven consecutive grand finals in the top flight of the hotly-contested EDFL, collecting premierships in 2015, 2017 and 2018. The club produced a perfect season in 2015, powering past Greenvale in the decider with a star-studded line-up featuring six players with AFL experience. That success snapped a 41-year premiership drought. Aberfeldie knocked off the Jets again two seasons later before beating Keilor in the 2018 season finale to achieve back-to-back senior flags for the first time in its history. After a fruitful off-season recruiting campaign, Abers are expected to be there at the pointy end in 2020 if a season is given the green light.
5. BALWYN (EFL)
149 wins, 56 losses, 2 draws, winning percentage 72
The Tigers entered the decade hunting the great Noble Park sides which would win back-to-back flags across 2010-11. But unlike any other top-flight team, Balwyn ended the decade with four flags to its name. A breakthrough for the club had been brewing following the club’s 2008 flag. Names like Gilchrist, Gobbels, Murray, McMahon, Crowe, Milhuisen to name a few would propel the club’s next tilt – which came to fruition in 2012 under dual premiership Bull, Dan Donati. Back-to-back flags across 2012 (defeating Vermont) and 2013 (Noble Park) set up an opportunity for a three-peat in 2014, but Norwood proved too good on the big stage. Fast forward 12 months, and the pair would meet again in the grand final. Balwyn had finished minor premier by two games, followed by Norwood in second. And while the ladder suggested just two matches separated first from second, the grand final suggested a much wider separation, in the form of a 111-point drubbing to mark the Tigers’ third flag in four seasons. Balwyn added another cup to its ever-growing collection in 2016, stunning minor premier Vermont by 12 points in the decider to make it four in five seasons.
4. GREENVALE (EDFL)
145 wins, 54 losses, winning percentage 72.9
The Jets have been the most consistent EDFL club of the past 10 years, narrowly beating out Aberfeldie. Greenvale claimed back-to-back premierships under Anthony Rock in 2012 and 2013, defeating Strathmore and Aberfeldie respectively. The Mores were undefeated entering grand final day in 2012, but the Jets rose to the occasion in a classic decider. They also fell one step short of the ultimate prize in 2010, 2015 and 2017 (they finished the regular rounds minor premier in 2010 and 2017). Greenvale missed finals just twice during the decade – in 2014 and 2019 – underlining its status as one of the EDFL’s power clubs, alongside the likes of Aberfeldie, Keilor and Strathmore.
3. VERMONT (EFL)
148 wins, 50 losses, 2 draws, winning percentage 74
The 2010s saw the mighty Eagles contest five grand finals for back-to-back flags in 2018 and 2019, guided by coach Harmit Singh. They haven’t ‘just’ won the past two deciders either – they’ve been resounding victories, accounting for South Croydon by 35 points (although Vermont had led the Dogs by 70 points, 18 minutes into the third), and Blackburn by 36 points after dropping just one game all season. The glaring missed opportunity is the 2017 decider when Vermont was upset by South Croydon, despite heading into the match as the heavy favourite. The Eagles had lost just one match all season and defeated the Bulldogs by 76 points two weeks prior to the grand final. The other grand final losses came in 2012 and 2016 against rival powerhouse Balwyn. Vermont’s past two premiership-winning campaigns have included just four losses in 40 games of the EFL’s top flight.
2. SPOTSWOOD (WRFL)
152 wins, 52 losses, winning percentage 74.5
Spotswood was the Western Region league’s heavyweight club before Deer Park’s era of dominance. The Woodsmen qualified for five consecutive grand finals to start the decade, which came after it completed a three-peat from 2007-2009. The Woodsmen knocked off Albion by 35 points in the 2011 decider, but lost the other four grand finals, including painful one-point defeats to Altona (2012) and Deer Park (2013) in consecutive seasons. Spotswood has been a perennial contender since, qualifying for finals in each year of the decade in a remarkable achievement.
1. DEER PARK (WRFL)
129 wins, 28 losses, 1 draw, winning percentage 81.6
It will surprise few to see the indomitable Lions in the No. 1 spot. Deer Park spent the first two seasons of last decade in Division 2 of the Western Region league before finishing a credible sixth in the top tier in 2012. Former Essendon player Marc Bullen then took over as coach and has steered the powerhouse to seven Division 1 premierships in a row – a metropolitan record. Three of the Lions’ grand final triumphs (2013, 2017 and 2019) have come by three points or less, but there have also been some massive wins in the final match of the year. Bullen rates the club’s 2014 premiership side as the best he has coached. Deer Park completed an unblemished season that year, culminating in a crushing 77-point grand final victory over Spotswood. The premiership 22 featured five ex-AFL players – Brent Guerra, Ryan Hargrave, Bret Thornton, Ryan Houlihan and Bullen. The Lions haven’t stopped roaring.