NFL 2019: West Preston-Lakeside hungry to achieve rare feat of back-to-back premierships
Reigning premier West Preston-Lakeside is hungry to taste the ultimate success again as it seeks to become the first club since Heidelberg in 2009 to claim back-to-back flags.
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Reigning premier West Preston-Lakeside is hungry to taste the ultimate success again as it seeks to become the first club since Heidelberg in 2009 to claim back-to-back flags.
Coach Rob Maiorana said the Roosters enjoyed the spoils of their Division 1 success for about two weeks before plans for their premiership defence got underway.
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Heidelberg claimed four consecutive flags between 2006-2009, but no Northern Football League side has managed that feat since.
Maiorana said West Preston-Lakeside recognised the difficulty of securing premierships in consecutive seasons.
“You really only get to enjoy it for a couple of weeks and then you are back into it,” he said.
“It’s great what the boys achieved, it was fantastic.
“But that season is gone now, we’re into a new one and we’ll have another go at it”
In the past 20 years, only Northcote Park (1999-2002) and Heidelberg have gone back to back, while five different clubs have shared the Division 1 flag in the past five seasons.
“We are under no illusion we need to continue to get better,” Maiorana said.
“Other clubs will improve and now being the reigning premiers, other clubs will put a bit of time into us.
“We can’t stand still, that’s for sure. We need to keep improving.
“I am confident we will do that with the group we have got and another year under our belts together.”
Maiorana said the Roosters had been quick to address the challenge of winning back-to-back flags when they returned to pre-season.
“They’re difficult to win, back-to-back,” he said.
“That’s probably why it’s not seen all that often.
“We had a good chat about that when we returned to pre-season back in November and the boys were all pretty adamant and committed that they wanted to have another crack at it.
“They knew what was required and that we really couldn’t dwell, sit back and just enjoy what we had done for too long.
“We needed to move on pretty quickly.
“Pretty pleased to hear that from the playing group and they wanted to knuckle down, roll the sleeves up and get stuck back into it.”
Only midfielder Josh Novelli (Lalor) and Patrick Karnezis (retired) have moved on from the grand final side, while ruckman Mark Kovacevic has returned full-time from VFL club Coburg.
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