Darley first grade captain Brad Barnes admits his side's drought-breaking premiership feels a little hollow, but believes his team is fully deserving of its Ballarat Cricket Association premiership.
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"I suppose it does (feel hollow), (but) I think in the end they've ended up with the right result," Barnes told The Courier.
"If you had have given us an opportunity to play I think all of the boys would have jumped at it for sure.
"Even if we do lose, we lose. You'd rather have a game and have a crack before winning it the way we did."
The Lions were awarded the first grade premiership after the BCA called off the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Darley had been set to take on Golden Point in the grand final at the Eastern Oval across two weekends, starting on March 21. The game was trimmed to a two-day fixture when the BCA decided to try and squeeze all cricket finals into last weekend, but shortly after making that call, changed its mind and abandoned all play for season 2019-20.
This saw Darley, for its top-placed finish on the ladder, win the flag.
Barnes said the team celebrated the breakthrough success.
"Maybe it might have been a little bit different had we have not had the year we did. If you scrape through and you might end up on top on percentage, maybe that might be a little bit different," he said.
"But after having the year we did have, I don't think anyone could ever say we didn't deserve it."
Darley came awfully close to being bundled out of the premiership race in the semi-final battle with East Ballarat. The Hawks had been 1-82 chasing the Lions' 174, but were eventually skittled for 165.
