Unfortunately, the Demons’ run to the finish was cut short by the West Coast Eagles, who will now go through to take on the Collingwood Magpies at the MCG on Saturday. 

The Eagles carded a 18-13-121 to 7-13-55 result, punting the Demons aside on their way to the grand final. 

It’s an unfortunate finish to the season for the former Tathra player, who has been adding a “magic touch” for the Demons says his former Ainslie coach, Chris Rourke.

“Certainly when he first came to us he was out of shape. He made a great choice by coming here, he got involved with a couple of good kids in [Rob] Tuohey and [Dale] Walker, and they taught him how to train," Rourke said.

Adding with a laugh that his former protege had been a “pain in the arse”, but a delight.

"He had ability, but when he first got here I wouldn’t have thought he was going to be an elite AFL footballer. He surprised me with his workrate, once he got into it and saw the benefits, his workrate just got bigger and bigger.

"Aaron moved in with me and stayed with the family for a while. Mark Sinclair, one of our board members, gave him a job in his factory which was a pretty tough job.

"I was always worried that Aaron wasn’t going to stick at it, but he stuck at the job and stuck at his training, his training got better and his footy got better. He was a pretty driven kid, I’ll give him that."

The Eastlake Demons once felt the full effects of a firing vandenBerg, putting him down for 56 possessions during a NEAFL clash with Ainslie in 2014.

Then it was the Sydney Swans' turn. Tom Mitchell had 50-odd touches for the AFL powerhouse's reserves, and while vandenBerg only got 40, the Ainslie midfielder outpointed the future Brownlow Medal favourite.

"From then I thought ‘hmm, he’s half a chance’," Rourke said.

When vandenBerg won his second consecutive club best and fairest, Rourke knew the "big beast" would be better suited to an AFL career than the fitting and machining apprenticeship at the Royal Australian Mint he'd started.

Despite the loss on the weekend, Rourke said vandenBerg’s seventh straight game back was testament to his gritty determination despite sickness, injury and the shock death of his father. 

“Our club is really proud of him. He’s doing a great job, he’s a terrific kid, he had a really hard year with his dad, but he’ll step up, no worries about that,” Rourke said.