By Lance Jenkinson
Williamstown coach Andrew Collins is staggered that his phone is not ringing off the hook with AFL recruiters wanting to make inquiries about the impressive young talent on his club’s list.
In his five years as senior coach of the Seagulls, there are certain AFL clubs that have not even contacted Collins with a question once, which disappoints him mainly because of the rich array of talent he feels privileged to work with on a daily basis that could miss out on their AFL dream.
“It’s embarrassing that some club’s recruiters won’t even give VFL the time of day,” Collins said.
“There’s some recruiters and some clubs that have never spoken to anyone at Williamstown in my five years there.
“If I was the CEO of an AFL footy club and I found out that my recruiters weren’t talking to VFL clubs, I’d be pretty annoyed.”
Williamstown’s runaway 44-point win over Richmond in the Victorian Football League at the Swinburne Centre on Saturday should serve as an incentive for recruiters of all 18 AFL clubs to touch base with Collins to dissect which players could potentially step up to the big league.
Some AFL club recruiters will no doubt be on the line to Collins, but some will not be bothered and their club might miss out on a future star.
Collins is more than willing to take calls from any recruiter interested in one of the Seagulls players because he knows how much ready-made talent there is on the list.
The next Kane Lambert, who went on to play in a premiership with Richmond after rejuvenating his career with Williamstown, could be in the Seagulls nest this year.
“I have no vested interest in any one club, I just want to see what’s best for these boys to get an opportunity to play AFL,” Collins said.
“There’s some terrific clubs in the AFL that do their due diligence and then there’s other clubs I’ve never heard from and neither has the footy club.”
Saturday’s game was an arm wrestle for three and a half quarters, but the Seagulls tore it apart in 15 minutes of fury in the last quarter.
Leading by 10 points, the Seagulls banged on six unanswered goals to romp to victory.
“No team really got the ascendancy over the other until the last probably 15 minutes of play,” Collins said.
Williamstown captain Adam Marcon had a day out against his former club. Marcon capped a best-on-ground display in the midfield with three goals.
Star onballer Michael Gibbons showed why he is in the mix for a second Liston Trophy.
Lachie Schultz jagged four goals, while Nick Rodda and Ben Cavarra added three each.
In general, it was an even team performance from Williamstown, who made it two consecutive wins.
“We were really fortunate that we had good players right over the field,” Collins said.
Williamstown will be out to defend fourth spot when it hosts traditional rivals Port Melbourne at the Williamstown Football Ground on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Footscray is only just clinging to a spot in the VFL top eight after a 20-point loss to North Melbourne at Avalon Airport Oval.
Mitch Honeychurch and Angus Monfries kicked three goals for the Bulldogs, while Tim English (49 hit outs) and Tom Campbell (43 hit outs) dominated aerially.
The Bulldogs travel to Windy Hill to play Essendon on Saturday.
