Until last year, Lake Wendouree was the 'nearly man' of the Ballarat league. Formed by a merger of the Wendouree and Ballarat YCW football clubs in 1995, the club had been a regular finalist in all grades; its senior side leading the way by qualifying for the finals 10 times in its first 15 seasons.
But during that period the Lakers were unable to break their premiership duck. And it wasn't just the seniors who made a habit of falling over in September. Lake Wendouree's reserves team won a number of minor premierships, yet it failed to turn any of those opportunities into a flag.
Last season, Lake Wendouree's reserves again fell at the final hurdle when they lost the grand final to Redan by 11 points. However, the Lakers were finally able to celebrate when their senior side thrashed Ballarat by 55 points in the main game at the picturesque Eastern Oval. The big win was a great reward for the many people who have built the Lakers into one of the strongest and most progressive sporting clubs in central Victoria.
"We were all pretty nervous going into the grand final and there really was a sense of relief at the end," recalls Lake Wendouree president Gavin Maher, who is now in his fifth year at the helm of the Lakers' administration. "I was so relieved for all the people who formed the club 16 years ago and had done so much work to build it up. To see their faces during the celebrations was just great."
The two clubs that came together to form Lake Wendouree back in '95 had rather different histories. Between 1945 and 1972, the old Wendouree Football Club played in Ballarat's second-tier competition, which was variously known as the Ballarat B-Grade FL and the Ballarat District Football League and included clubs like Meredith, Sebastopol and Buninyong.
Having enjoyed sporadic success, Wendouree later transferred to the Clunes league, winning a flag in 1977. When that competition became part of the Central Highlands league in 1979, they began taking on new rivals like Ballan and Bacchus Marsh. Wendouree won the CHFL flag when it beat Dunnstown in the 1983 grand final, but that proved to be its last senior premiership.
In contrast, Ballarat YCW was predominantly a junior club. A senior team had competed under the YCW name in the late 1940s, but from then on it focussed its energies on fielding teams in under-age competitions. Among its alumni to play in the VFL and AFL were the three McDonald brothers - Alex, Anthony and James. When James retired at the end of last season, after making 251 appearances with the Demons (the last 34 of them as captain), the McDonald boys had played a combined tally of 462 AFL games.
The new Lake Wendouree senior side made the finals in its first season. In 1996, it finished on top of the ladder after the home-and-away matches and then won its way through to the grand final. On the big day, however, the Lakers kicked only one goal as they were thrashed by September specialist North Ballarat, which had come from fourth on the ladder.
During the following decade, Lake Wendouree hovered around the middle rungs of the table. It often made the finals, but rarely looked like winning a flag as Melton, Sunbury and Redan dominated the Ballarat league.
The Lakers began their latest upward trend when former Ballarat Swans midfielder Mathew Battistello took over as coach for the 2008 season. Battistello guided the senior team into the finals at his first attempt, and in '09 they made it to the preliminary final but were narrowly beaten by Redan, who went on and won the flag.
Desperate to improve further, Lake Wendouree received a huge boost when it signed two-time North Ballarat VFL premiership player Paul McMahon. A powerful key forward, the 26-year-old, who had previously played junior footy with the Lakers, was a revelation last season.
His many fine performances during the home-and-away matches helped his team finish in second place on the ladder behind Sunbury, and those efforts were later recognised when he was awarded the Henderson Medal for the BFL's best-and-fairest player.
McMahon was one of the driving forces behind Lake Wendouree's upset victory over Sunbury in the qualifying final, and while he was quiet a week later when the Lakers beat Ballarat in the second semi-final, he saved his finest effort for grand final day.
Again taking on Ballarat, McMahon led the Lakers to an overdue victory by booting eight goals in a best-on-ground display.
Last year's grand final day was also a proud occasion for Lake Wendouree's netballers as they claimed all four trophies on offer. The A-Grade team's victory earned it a fourth straight premiership.
"Our netball has always been very strong," Maher explains. "Our netball coordinator, Sally McLean, is just a genius with those girls. And I'm sure what the netballers had done over the past few years really spurred the boys on. The probably felt it was their turn to have some success."
This season, Lake Wendouree's senior footballers are again up near the top of the ladder, although overcoming Sunbury, which was undefeated before its game against Melton South yesterday, shapes as a very tough challenge.
Making life tougher for Battistello is the fact McMahon is currently enjoying an overseas holiday (he was in Spain for the running of the bulls) and won't be back until a week before the finals.
There was no doubt the Lakers missed their main man last weekend when they failed to kick a goal in the opening half against East Point. The quagmire that is Lake Wendouree's home ground was partly to blame (the players have been forced to train in the car park on occasions), but the eventual 29-point loss was certainly a wake-up call for a few of Battistello's men.
Lake Wendouree's players have been able to rest their weary legs thanks to a bye this weekend, but next Saturday their crucial lead-in to the finals begins when they travel to Melton.
Beyond this season, the Lakers are desperate gain the necessary funding to upgrade the surface and facilities at their home ground. Previously a club that attracted a lot of university students and boarders from the local schools, Lake Wendouree is also focussing more heavily on home-grown talent.
"The club's probably in the best position it has been for years," Maher says. "We've worked really hard to get a lot more Ballarat kids in our juniors. We used to play a lot of boarders in our under-18 team, but very few of them came through into the seniors and reserves.
"You know what young blokes are like. We lost 19 players at the end of last year out of our reserves and seniors. But in saying that, we had nine kids come up out of our under-18s for this season, which is the best result in our club's history."
By Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Sunday Age, July 24 2011
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