Tara Murray
The future is bright for Williamstown in FV state league 3 north-west.
While the side is sitting in the middle of the table, it has been a season of transition.
Football director Jason Drozdek, who is in his first season in the role, said there had been a big focus on giving opportunities to players who come through the club.
“Where the club is at the last five to six years, we are now one of the largest clubs in Hobsons Bay in terms of participation,” he said.
“We have from MiniRoos through to senior football. We want the youngest players at the club to see the transition through the sides.
“It’s the way the club is going for the foreseeable future.”
Drozdek, who oversees the senior, reserves and under-17s, said it had been exciting to see what the younger guys had been able to do.
He said the senior side was one of the youngest sides that they’d ever had.
“About 60 to 70 per cent of the side are junior players from the club,” he said.
“Our under-17s and reserves are both on top of the ladder. They have the same coach and there’s a lot of transition between the two teams and the whole club compared to previous years.
“Everyone is helping each other.”
Drozdek said it had been an up and down season for the senior team.
On Saturday, Williamstown had a 2-2 draw with the Sebastopol Vikings.
Williamstown opened the scoring just before half time. The Vikings levelled just after the break before hitting the front in the 72nd minute.
An own goal levelled the scores and saw Williamstown take home a point.
Speaking before the match, Drozdek said with a young side they weren’t sure what was going to happen this year.
“We’re sitting in the middle of the table,” he said. “We’ve been a bit inconsistent.
“We had a large turnover from last season, about 50 per cent.
“We wanted to be around the middle of the table towards the higher end of the table. We had a few injuries as well and probably underestimated the strength of the league.”
Drozdek said realising they were lacking a bit of experience, they had looked to add a few more player signings before the transfer window ended.
“Hopefully it will help the young guys,” he said. “Hopefully we will be a lot stronger than at the start of the year.
“We’ve got young boys who are fitter and seem to have less injuries. We should have our squad in the next few weeks.”
In other results, Altona North had a 3-3 draw with Craigieburn City.
In state league 1 north-west, Yarraville Glory had a good win against Clifton Hill.
The Glory scored twice in the first half, before coming away with a 3-1 win.
Altona City and Banyule had a 1-1 result.
In state league 2 north-west, Altona East Phoenix lost to Albion Rovers, 5-1.
