Wyndham Suns have earned the respect of the Western Region Football League division 3 in their inaugural season.
The Suns arrived in the senior ranks with no set expectations other than to be competitive.
But the expansion club, based at Goddard Street Reserve in Tarneit, performed above expectation to make it all the way through to the preliminary final, which they lost to a more advanced Albanvale by 72 points at Wootten Road Reserve on Sunday.
“We have to be proud,” Suns coach Matthew Stoodley told Star Weekly.
“All I wanted when I signed up was not to be like other start-up clubs and get bashed every week. For a first year club it’s been brilliant.”
The Suns took all but Albanvale before them this season. The Cobras had their measure every time they met and it was no different under the finals spotlight.
“Today was a hard one to take, but we were beaten by a better team,” Stoodley conceded after the match.
“We’ve played them four times and they’ve beaten us four times, so they’re better than us … bigger, stronger and fitter.”
The Suns ran a gamut of emotions in their first season.
They started like a house on fire, with four wins in their first five games, before injuries derailed their double-chance prospects.
They had big wins over other finalists Parkside and Sanctuary Lakes but were disappointed to lose twice on the road to North Sunshine. The second of those came on the eve of the finals, leaving the tipsters with no choice but to give them little hope in the first week of the finals.
But the Suns somehow bounced back to beat Sanctuary Lakes in the elimination final, their finest moment of the campaign.
“That was a massive step for the club because we were in a lot of trouble before that game,” Stoodley said.
“We fought our way back [from 16 points down at three-quarter-time] and won. To make the finals and then win that one was brilliant.”
The Suns reserves team, co-coached by John Cott and Michael Seex, will be out to secure the Suns’ first silverware in the open-age section when they meet Albanvale in the grand final at Wootten Road Reserve on Saturday morning.
