Preparations are well under way for a massive 2014 at Williamstown Football Club.
The Seagulls will field a stand-alone team in the Victorian Football League next year for the first time since 1999 after parting ways with its AFL affiliate of the past six years, the Western Bulldogs.
The club is on the hunt for a new senior coach to take it into a new era after the board informed Peter German he would not be reappointed.
German, who spent the past four years in the duel roles of Williamstown senior coach and Western Bulldogs development coach, is contracted to the Bulldogs for 2014.
According to Williamstown chief executive Brendan Curry, the Seagulls are looking for “someone who can do the whole gamut of the role, not just football”.
“The coach is the leader of the club,” he said. “Peter has done a very good job for us, the record is there – three prelim finals, a grand final and victory in the inaugural Foxtel Cup. Everyone thanks Peter for his contribution.”
The new coach will find plenty to build on.
There was a healthy mix of Western Bulldog players and Williamstown’s own throughout the year, giving promising young Seagulls a chance to develop.
Football manager Chris Dixon estimates the club will re-sign close to 75 per cent of its list, ensuring stability.
“We are pretty optimistic,” he said. “There’s no doubt that the club’s decision to go stand-alone provides enough incentive for players to see opportunities without an AFL affiliation.”
Williamstown bowed out at the preliminary final stage this year, hammered by Geelong by 82 points, a result that came a week after belting old rival Port Melbourne by 87 points in a semi-final.
That sort of fluctuation hampered the Seagulls throughout the season.
Hefty early wins over (100 points) and Werribee (83) were followed by a 23-point loss to Casey. Thirty goals in a 175-point smashing of Bendigo was soured by a 47-point loss to Port at home a week later. And in the space of a fortnight Williamstown beat eventual premier Box Hill but succumbed to lowly Sandringham.
“We struggled to get a good, month-long patch of footy,” Dixon said.
The emergence of players such as Jack Johnstone, Anthony Anastasio, Kirby McConnon and Charlie Nastasi, as well as the continued brilliance of Cameron Lockwood, skipper Ben Jolley, Cameron Wood and Willie Wheeler, made the Seagulls a thoroughly enjoyable team to watch.
