In one brave act, Ben Bese encapsulated what it meant for Williamstown to advance to Sunday’s VFL grand final against Box Hill Hawks.
The moment came deep into time-on of the second quarter in last weekend’s preliminary final against Essendon, when the youngster was faced with a split-second decision to go hard at the contest or click into self-preservation mode.
Under normal circumstances, a footballer worth his salt would not second guess; he’d go hard at the football.
But Bese had broken his collarbone in a previous contest, pinballing off Essendon opponent Shaun Edwards into Daniel Coghlan at full steam.
So Bese would have been excused if he’d chosen to stay flat on the grass. But with the Seagulls leading by five points in the shadows of half-time and the ball inside Essendon’s attacking 50, Bese rose up off the canvas, made a secondary run for the ball and split three opponents to clear the danger, which maintained a slender Seagulls lead at half-time.
Bese may not play in the grand final at Etihad Stadium, but had he not put his body on the line his club could have missed out, too.
Seagulls vice-captain Cam Lockwood led the chorus of praise for Bese after the 15.12 (102)-12.18 (90) win.
“That was a massive lifter to us,” he told Star Weekly. “It was a definite goal he stopped.”
Lockwood was an integral part of the Seagulls’ win. He started on the half-forward line and proved far too elusive for his Bombers opponents, but
Bese’s injury had a knock-on effect to his own game.
Lockwood was called on to play across half- back when Bese was in the hands of the trainers and did it with aplomb.
The Seagulls have an ability to mix and match positions and that could pose a headache for Box Hill. They are so well drilled under experienced coach
Andy Collins that they can change game styles on the run. Breathtaking bursts of attacking football can be replaced by dour tempo football.
“Collo [Collins] has brought a fairly defensive game plan,” Lockwood said. “It had been sort of too free-flowing the last couple of years and now we’ve got balance.
“All the good teams hold the ball and we’ve got to be able to hold it and hit up the targets.”
