In 2019, Oak Park was relegated from Division One after a one-win season.
For a club that qualified for the Premier Division grand final in 2011, it completed a dramatic slide to the Essendon District Football League's third tier.
But under the leadership of premiership player, flag-winning coach, and former Williamstown VFL assistant Todd Clark, the Kangaroos have bounced back with vigour.
After claiming the Division Two flag last year, Oak Park – like all promoted clubs – set survival as its top priority this year.
But after a patchy start in the hotly contested Division One competition, the Kangaroos rallied to finish fifth with nine wins in the home-and-away campaign, two-and-a-half games clear of sixth-ranked Craigieburn.
They enjoyed a six-game winning run between rounds 11-17 to emphatically stamp their spot in finals, toppling Moonee Valley, Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Keilor Park, Tullamarine, and Rupertswood.
Oak Park's season ended with a plucky 14-point defeat to St Albans in Sunday's elimination final, but a quick glance at history underlines the enormity of their achievement.
The Kangaroos are the first senior men's side to contest Division One finals the year after promotion since the EDFL reintroduced three divisions over a decade ago. Airport West achieved the feat in Premier Division in 2013.
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Clark, who had no hesitation in declaring his team had exceeded expectations this season, said the club was determined to avoid a dose of "second-year blues" and get busy over summer.
"We've seen that and we've been very wary of that. If we don't get out there and are bullish to get the players we want, then it's a danger certainly," Clark said.
"You're never going to get everything you want, but hopefully we can get some (players) in. The core is there and that's the beauty, and we said after the game obviously on Sunday that we were proud of the season and we were brave.
"But we're not going to hang our hat on that.
"The players are really driving it and saying, 'We need some people coming in.'
"If we sit back on our heels, we're kidding ourselves."
Clark said Oak Park had assembled the right group to take them forward.
He said his players were hungry to continue to improve as the Kangaroos look to add depth to their list, while also bolstering their key-position stocks.
"Getting out of Division Two, there was a couple of hurdles along the way with COVID (2020), the season being cut short (2021), and then Keilor Park just dominating (2022)," Clark said.
"Last year, we were pretty much thinking if we can't move up this year, then players start thinking if they want to improve their footy somewhere else... so that (winning the Division Two premiership) was tick number one and now they want to keep growing and keep playing against these good sides to measure themselves as a team.
"Our focus is, as with most off-seasons, just a couple of key posts to support – down back and forward and potentially a ruck.
"But they're not cheap, those guys. So you've got to try and manage your group to see if it can work."
Oak Park's impressive season has already had a positive impact on its bid to strengthen its list.
"Probably your best recruiters are your players. The one thing for us moving forward is because of the showing we did this year, we're starting to get people (coming) our way, asking, 'Can we have a chat' versus the other way," Clark said.
"That's one of the advantages of being able to make the finals and show that we weren't just in there to survive.
"It's bloody hard to recruit Division Two footballers, so we need to keep pushing through with that.
"They're as close off the field as on the field, which is pleasing to coach."
The Kangaroos landed an influential set of recruits with the likes of Jye Smith (Moama), Paul Pascu (Glenroy), Joshua Ksiazek (Glenroy), Kane O'Halloran (Therry Penola), Rory MacGregor (Therry Penola), and Adam Clemente (Pascoe Vale) among those to impress.
Clark described them as "good club people" and added: "If you get on your own pedestal, you get knocked off it pretty quick."
Oak Park was forced to make changes after losing several members of the previous year's premiership-winning team, but it appears in good shape with stars Max Gleeson, Taylor Hotchkin, Jedd Taylor, and Lachlan Ronaldson also at their disposal.
"The essence of our group is local. Probably 60-70 per cent of them have played under 12s at Oak Park and all the way through," Clark said.
"Even getting Kane O'Halloran (65 goals in 2024) and Rory MacGregor from Therry, they played juniors with these guys at Oak Park as well. You can't buy 60, 70 games of playing together."
Clark said his players thrived under the extra heat of the second tier this season.
While Maribyrnong Park, West Coburg, Hillside, and St Albans – the predicted top contenders pre-season – remain in the flag race, the Kangaroos proved themselves as the clear fifth best team and have laid a platform for future success.
"For a lot of our players, it wasn't that daunting for them," Clark said.
"Obviously there's bigger bodies and the speed of the game and so on, but I think they all adjusted well.
"We knew that the first half of the year was going to be finding our feet and we always thought we'd have a better second half, again with the draw opening up. The top four sides were pretty hard to get, which has been proven.
"In the second half of the year, they kept going and our injury list wasn't too bad. Missing Lachie Ronaldson for the final, he'd been in superb form, so he was a bit of a loss. But otherwise we were pretty much where we were at.
"No one looked like a fish out of water playing their role. They really, really enjoyed the challenge of it, coming from Division Two, where you can dominate and get some lazy habits and so on.
"They relished the contest and they were the ones who were really confident that we could push (teams)."
Clark, a dual senior premiership mentor at Oak Park, said his future in the top job would be discussed in coming weeks.
"I've just got to work through some stuff with my footy manager and see how we go," he said.
