The rise and fall of the Lalor Football Club empire: Part 1
It’s 30 years since Lalor’s hat-trick of Diamond Valley Division 1 premierships, an era in which the Bloods ruled the northern suburbs.
Northern
Don't miss out on the headlines from Northern. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Like the Roman empire, the Lalor Football Club rose from humble beginnings to domination in the 1990s.
All roads led to Sydney Cresent when the Bloods ruled the Diamond Valley Football League.
A golden age delivered a hat-trick of premierships and four flags in a decade.
It’s power built on a core group of local juniors that came up together combined with experienced, ex-VFL stars.
An era that also saw Anthony Koutoufides and Lance Whitnall flourish and become stars of the AFL.
This season marks the 30th anniversary of the historic three-peat of 1993.
When the Bloods won an all-time great grand final, defeating Bundoora by 14 points in one of the highest scoring deciders in league history.
Having joined the DVFL 12 years earlier, Lalor won its maiden league premiership in 1980 and was never far from the mark, finishing runner-up in 1982, 1984 and 1989.
That grand final defeat to Greensborough would spark a decade of success.
The Bloods played five consecutive grand finals, winning in 1991, 1992 and 1993, and returned to the summit in 1998 with an against-the-odds flag.
PART ONE IN A DOUBLE FEATURE ON THE RISE AND FALL OF LALOR FOOTBALL CLUB, READ PART TWO TOMORROW
Between 1989 and 1998, Lalor won the most premierships, played in the equal most grand finals and finals in nine of 10 years.
Former Collingwood player and 1980 premiership coach Barry Rist returned to lead the club to the title in 1991 before North Melbourne and Carlton big man Steve Easton took the reins.
Easton said the success was built on a golden generation.
“We were a mixture of a group of kids that came through from the 19s that Peter Marshall brought up,” he said.
“Risty saw a really good group of kids and added a few older blokes such as myself, Graham Spillard and Darren Sleeth and got a pretty good mix.
“Risty was an excellent coach, he’d been all over the place and had a good eye for talent.
“Lalor didn’t have a lot of money, it just had the resources of its kids and it was a group of kids that was quite exceptional.
“Darryl Sinclair, Steve Petrucelle, Shane Watts, Graham Isherwood, Archie Parisis, Vinny Dattoli and Steve Willox all came through together.”
Spillard, Sinclair, Petrucelle, Watts, Isherwood, Parisis, Dattoli, Willox, Brad Langborne, Chris Vitiritti, Fairchild and Chris Dao formed the Bloods’ backbone, playing in all three premierships.
Lalor would finish fourth in 1990 before a dominant 1991 campaign saw them claim the minor premiership, losing just three games, and spearhead Jamie Solyom win the goalkicking medal with 73 majors.
A 19-point win over North Heidelberg in the major semi-final was followed by a commanding 37-point grand final win as the Bulldogs were kept goalless for the match.
And they would do it all again 12 months later.
The Bloods came in as underdogs after a 62-point semi-final defeat to North but thrived in the Epping Reserve mud pile.
Jason Heatley had kicked 118 goals that season but he and John Bourke were nullified by the weather and the Bloods’ 38-point win saw them to back-to-back.
While the previous two finals series had been slogs, the 1993 season was anything but.
Both semi-finals saw more than 200 points scored before Lalor put an exclamation mark on its rivalry with North Heidelberg with a 150-point win in the preliminary final.
The Bloods met Bundoora in the decider, which will long be remembered as an entertaining back-and-forth goal-fest.
Lalor completed the hat-trick 17.15 (117) to 15.13 (103).
Before he was a premiership coach at West Preston-Lakeside and now at Heidelberg, Vinny Dattoli was a reliable defender for Lalor and remembers a strong bond that helped overcome several challenges.
“I was 20 in that first grand final win against North Heidelberg in the mud out at Epping, it was a miserable day but a good win,” he said.
“In ‘91 everyone was young, we pretty much all went to school with each other, Barry was a hard-nosed coach and we had some really good leaders in Steve Easton and Ray Shaw – it’s probably shaped me as a coach.
“Then in ‘92 we were complete underdogs after getting touched up in the second semi, they had a formidable forward line, so I think the gods played a big part in us going back-to-back.
“The conditions were horrendous again and without being rude to North Heidelberg I think we were more committed to the contest in the conditions.
“Into ‘93, we had our challenges during the year, we lost Terry Hecker and Jamie Solyom, two significant outs who left mid-season to go and play in Frankston.
“We were fortunate enough, in a really good game against Bundoora, to get over the line with Paul Honey and Shane Watts kicking the sealers.”
In 1994, Lalor had a chance to win a four-peat but old rival North Heidelberg finally got its revenge in a 30-point victory.
The Bloods remained a power, making finals in 1995 and 1996 before missing out on percentage in 1997.
However, the drought would not last long as Ray Shaw returned to Sydney Cresent to led the club back to premiership glory.
Lalor lost just two games in the home-and-away season as former Collingwood forward Athas Hrysoulakis booted 88 goals to win the league goalkicking award.
Shaw’s men suffered a shock 58-point hammering in the major semi-final from Bundoora before bouncing back to knock off Easton and his soon to be four-peat Northcote Park team in the preliminary final.
As they’d done in 1992 and 1993, the Bloods turned the tables on the big stage to claim an 18-point victory.
“I had some really good friends still at the club and I saw the challenge to take Lalor back to the top,” Shaw said.
“Mark Cini had a word with me and I made up my mind, the coaching jobs I accepted as a challenge, anyone can coach a good side, and Lalor weren’t poor they just needed some professionalism.
“We played some mind games (before the grand final) when I got Steve Willox to do the warm-up before the game and I think a few Bundoora people saw that and it might have played with their heads because he was never going to play.
“Then we had Athas (Hrysoulakis) sent off early in the game, so it was a fantastic effort, the boys worked so hard and there was this camaraderie among them.”
It would be a fourth premiership for Sinclair, Petrucelle, Langborne, Isherwood, Parisis and Watts, while Willox and Dattoli missed due to injury.
DIV 1: HEIDELBERG RETAINS HEAVYWEIGHT BELT
LEADER: GET YOUR NORTHERN FOOTY NEWS HERE
DIV 1: NORTH’S NEW ERA STARTS WITH OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The flag was a glorious end to Lalor’s golden generation.
It was the zenith of the empire as the reserve grade made it a premiership double.
The Bloods finished seventh in 1999 and a year later the club’s time in Division 1 was over, relegated for the first time in club history.
But only briefly.
THE STORY OF THE LALOR FOOTY CLUB CONTINUES TOMORROW
Ex-AFL talent among newest Northern recruits
RECRUIT TRACKER: Local footy silly season is in full swing and Northern league clubs have brought in more than 50 recruits, including ex-AFL and VFL talent, league medallists and more.
Popular footy show shuts down amid league crackdown
A local football league’s decision to limit its clubs’ access to outside media, threatening fines or disqualification, has forced a popular fan-driven footy show on Facebook to shut down.