Strathfieldsaye threw itself straight into the deep end in its inaugural season of 2009, opting against starting in a district league and entering directly into the Bendigo Football League.

In just their sixth season, the Storm captured their first senior premiership on Saturday with a 55-point win over Sandhurst - a club with more than 150 years of history - in what was just their 114th game.

“When we made the decision to come into the BFL, we had a focus on making sure we were competitive from day one,” Patterson said.

“We’ve always tried to recruit the right kids and the right players who would stay.

“This has certainly come a lot quicker than I ever envisaged and today is for everyone involved with the club... it’s just fantastic.

“We’ve had amazing support from the players, community and the sponsors and today just vindicates the decision we made those years ago to come into the Bendigo league.”

Patterson was president of the Storm for their first four years in the BFL, with Glenn Cowling having taken over last season.

“This has been a real team effort. We’ve got a hard-working committee and we’re obviously rapt with the way we’ve performed as a club this year,” Cowling said.

“We’ve built a club from scratch and we’ve always aimed high and to get to where we have got to today is a magnificent achievement by a lot of people.”

The Storm has improved in every one of their six seasons, starting from finishing 9th in 2009 to 7th, 6th, 3rd, 2nd and now premiers.

Adding some perspective to the Storm winning their first flag in just 114 games is how many games some of the BFL’s established clubs have played since their last flag - South Bendigo (374); Kangaroo Flat (315); Kyneton  (276) and Castlemaine (242).

THE STORM SEASON BY SEASON:

2009 - won 4, lost 14. 9th.

2010 - won 6, lost 12. 7th.

2011 - won 9, lost 9. 6th.

2012 - won 14, lost 7. 3rd.

2013 - won 13, lost 5, drawn 1. 2nd.

2014 - won 19, lost 1. Premiers.