Tara Murray
Williamstown’s final round loss to Hawthorn summed up its Victorian Football League Women’s season to a tee.
The Seagulls suffered a 14-points loss to finals bound Hawthorn, but like in many of their matches they were right in the contest.
Having just won two games for the season, Seagulls coach Penny Cula-Reid said the season would go down as a frustrating one.
“We had opportunities to win games, but didn’t have the ability to win them,” she said.
“We competed all season. We had injuries to big name players and we had kids stand up and play a few more games than we could have expected.
“We started to find out who we want to be as a club and program, shame it happened so late in the season.”
Cula-Reid said not having a proper pre-season had hurt them with a number of COVID incidents, not allowing the group to build up their fitness base.
She said reflecting back the season overall wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t where they needed to be.
Some of the highlights of the season included the development of a number of players, especially late in the piece.
Cula-Reid was thrilled with how some of the girls had stepped up.
“Danika Di Santo came in late in the season,” she said. “She’s a midfielder but we knew she wouldn’t get many opportunities in our midfield.
“We decided to have a look at her in our backline and really stood up doing everything we asked.
“Ellie Celland is a utility who did really well.
“Some of our recruits as well. Cassie McWilliam is from the Northern Territory. When she got an opportunity in the forward line she was good along with Sophia McCarthy.
“We called them the Mac attack. It really came together towards the back end of the season. If we had a couple more weeks it could have been a different story.
On Saturday against the Hawks, the Seagulls lost 5.7 (37)-3.56 (23).
Cula-Reid said they showed some good signs, but weren’t able to get the job done.
“We weren’t able to run out the last quarter,” she said.
“Their senior more experienced players finished off the game better. It was a 14 point loss against a side that could play off in the grand final.”
Cula-Reid said their inability to put scoreboard pressure on despite having a similar number of inside 50s was again something that hurt them against the Hawks.
She said that would be one area they would look to work on in the off season, with the hope to bring back the core group again.
With the season coming to an end, several Williamstown players will find themselves on AFLW lists with the draft this month.
Aimee Whelan has already signed with Sydney. Cula-Reid said being pathway club for the AFLW, it was a win-win for the club any player being picked up.
