Dalyston’s premiershiphistory retold in new book

by Tayla Kershaw

DALYSTON’S former Senior squad will be celebrating its 10-year premiership reunion during round one of the 2025 season.

To mark the milestone, premiership player Blake Carew has spent the last two years compiling the club’s journey to the 2015 grand final in a book he hopes to have on sale before the big event.

“The book came about because I didn’t have anything to show for the day,” Blake said.

“I had the newspaper from that week and a team photo, but that was it. It was originally going to just be about that year, and I was going to compile each game and have a small magazine ready, but it grew legs.”

The finished product is a recap of the 10 years leading up to the premiership, featuring photos, interviews with coaches and prominent club members, player profiles, honour boards, articles, ladder changes, and rundowns of how the club and the league were shaping up each year.

It is a story of redevelopment and success, as Blake recounts the club’s brush with demise at the start of the book.

“There was a fair story behind the 10 years leading up to the premiership. The club nearly folded in 2005. There was an off-field issue – a fight at a function led to half the team leaving overnight and they plummeted to the bottom of the ladder,” he said.

“They didn’t win a game the next year – not even close. That’s where it all started, and it rebuilds from there.”

 Blake said he particularly enjoyed recording the journeys of the squad’s younger members, who are mentioned early in the book as Fourths players and made it all the way through to the premiership team.

“I tried to build the book so you can see who was there at the start and made it all the way through to the premiership. You get to see how the whole list comes together. There were only three players in the first year who ended up playing all the way through, but each year there are more pieces of the puzzle. It’ll be a cool thing for the players who were there, as well as those who came in towards the end. They wouldn’t have known about any of this early stuff and when they read it, they might appreciate the win even more,” he said.

Dalyston went undefeated in the home and away season and in the finals during 2015.

For Dalyston supporters, the victory was a long time coming.

“In 2012, we lost the grand final, but we came out of nowhere to make that,” Blake said.

“We weren’t expected to win that year, but from there the expectation was that we were going to win. We picked up Brad Fisher from Carlton and when you’ve got that calibre of a player, you should be winning, but it took us a while.

“In 2013, we went out in straight sets and in 2014 we lost the grand final to Phillip Island, which we should’ve won. We won straight through, had weeks off and played pretty poorly.”

Come 2015, Dalyston was poised to play Fish Creek in the premiership clash.

Fish Creek had come from the same beginnings as Dalyston in 2012 – it had come out of nowhere to win in the finals and earn a spot in the big dance.

The match was close in the first quarter, but Dalyston kicked away to record an 83-point win – the league record at the time.

Blake said he intended for the book to be a small memento for the players to look back on, but felt the club’s story was something that needed to be told.

To paint the whole picture, Blake took the time to interview the coaches who contributed towards those 10 years of footy, as well as the committee members and life members of the time.

“There’s so many people I’ve gotten information from. Getting to talk to some of my previous coaches was pretty cool,” he said.

“I’ve put in profiles of the committee members and tried to make it inclusive of everyone who contributed to the success, not just the players. It became a book for the club, and I think everyone is going to love it.”

The book also features photos taken by Kilcunda photographer Paul Landells.

“When I went and interviewed (Paul), he had found a memory card full of photos from the grand final that nobody had seen before,” Blake said.

“The club has come along for the ride too. I set up a past players’ Facebook page and people have been posting their photos.”

The reunion is set for round one, with most of the squad expected to return.

“Everyone should be coming back. We’ve got a few flying in from Western Australia and Queensland, which is great,” Blake said.

Blake is currently going through the motions of finding a publisher for the book.

Once a price has been established, Blake is planning to do a presale.

He is hoping it will go towards projects within the club, including the purchase of a new trophy cabinet and an honour board for the netballers.