The Standard | DARCY Lewis says joining his father Geoff as two of only four Dennington premiership coaches will take a while to sink in.
Lewis, 32, steered the Dogs to a 12.15 (87) to 12.7 (79) defeat of Merrivale in the Warrnambool and District league grand final at Reid Oval on Saturday.
The centre-half-forward was one of the dominant figures on the ground after the Tigers’ first-term blitz, leading the way alongside six-goal hero Alex Pye and key defender Luke Duncan to overturn a 42-point deficit.
He won the AFL Victoria Country Medal for best-afield as voted by the umpires while Pye was the Scotty Stewart Medal winner as voted by the media.
Fans and teamates chanted “Darcy, Darcy, Darcy” after Duncan and Chris Keilar lifted him onto their shoulders in the centre square moments after the siren.
The win ended a 27-year premiership drought stretching back to 1988, when his father was at the helm.
“The individual thing, it hasn’t sunk in yet, it hasn’t hit home. I’ve got the biggest relief for the club,” he said.
“The amount of supporters who have come up and said ‘thank you’, I’m just so proud we could do it for them.
“The individual thing hasn’t sunk in yet. I guess one day later in life I’ll look back and I’ll be proud we’ve won and I’ve coached one, but at the moment it’s all about them.”
Lewis said “absolutely” the monkey was off the back. The Dogs had lost four grand finals since 1988 – 1989, 2006, 2010 and 2013.
“I’ve been there nine, 10 years having a crack trying to get it done,” he said.
“I can only imagine what it’s like for the old stalwarts of the club who have still been fronting up every pre-season, seeing a new wave of players come through hoping this might be the year.
“They’ve been doing it for 27 years and they stay positive every single time, they thank you no matter what. It’s all about doing it for them today.”
But Lewis’ emotions were in contrast to his demeanour when the Tigers raced to a 7.2-to-0.2 lead after 25 minutes. He noted the parallels to the 2010 decider, when Kolora-Noorat dominated early and held on to prevail.
“I knew we were never going to be down and out, we had to find a way to get it in the boys’ heads to keep believing,” he said.
