From almost folding Lalor Warriors will play its first grand final in 11 years

Three seasons ago Lalor Warriors was on the brink of collapse but fast forward to 2020-21 and the club is back on its feet and ready for its first grand final in 11 years.

Lalor Warriors are on the verge of something special.

Three years ago the NMCA club was on the verge of folding after a player exodus but on Saturday it plays its first grand final in 11 years.

Once a top-flight Jika Shield power – the club played three preliminary finals in four seasons between 2013-14 and 2016-17 – the Warriors were demoted to the association’s seventh tier in 2018-19.

However, a dedicated committee saved the club from going under and rebuilt.

Lalor was promoted back to B Grade last season, where it reached the semi-finals, and elevated to Kelly Shield – the NMCA’s third tier – for 2020-21.

Warriors stalwart Steve Krstevski said it had been a long road back but he was proud of the work done on and off the field.

“Basically, the club was going to close its doors, myself, Dean Sinclair, Ross Bulman, Sonny Chamberlain and Travis Williams got together and said this club is too proud to let it go.

“Then Nadia Falvo and Tania Simic started our women’s program, which gave us a different direction and it’s been an amazing part of our club for the past three years.

“Around April (last year), we contacted Mohammed Soufi who was instrumental in getting the side up and running again.

“He recruited five players and then we spoke to a few ex-players and they were happy to come back as well.”

“We asked the competition if we could go up because we knew the calibre of players we were going to get … it’s been great for the club to play in Kelly Shield but we’ve got to get the job done on Saturday.”

Jae Delcus celebrates a wicket for Lalor Warriors. Picture: Chris Eastman

Such has been Lalor’s rise the club finished 15 points clear on top of the Kelly Shield ladder this season, losing just one match.

Conor Burns and Baljeet Kalra finished one-two on the competition’s run-scoring charts with Sahil Suri and Themi Tilkeridis fourth and fifth, while Kalra was also the second leading wicket-taker with Jae Delcus third.

The Warriors progressed straight to the grand final with a win over Fiji Victorian in the semi-finals and will face it again in the grand final at Oulten Park North.

Krstevski said winning the Kelly Shield premiership would be an unbelievable achievement but success was also measured in other ways.

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“We measure success on how many participants we’ve got at the club, we haven’t struggled to field sides this season and three of our four teams played finals,” he said.

“The ultimate goal is to win the First XI flag but we’ve had a successful season with the amount of participation and being financially sound.

“We thought this season might be a foundation year and now it’s about sustaining that and if we’re successful on Saturday hopefully in two or three years time we’re competing in A Grade again.

“It’s been good because we’ve been able to sort of start the club again, it’s basically a new club the last three years – the women’s program, new players and we’re financially sound.”