Harper Sercombe
Williamstown is through to the Victorian Football League semi finals following their defeat of Collingwood on Saturday afternoon.
Fresh off a week off the Seagulls were ready for September football jumping out of the gates booting three goals to none in the first term.
The Pies only managed one goal in the first half, with the Seagulls taking a 42 point lead into the main break.
Neither side was able to get going in the third quarter, with the only goal falling to the Pies. In the last the Seagulls were able to open the game back up, kicking four goals to give them a huge 12.10 (82)-3.9 (27) win.
The win left Seagulls’ director of coaching Jeff Andrews very happy after the game.
“It was a great day for the club, we had a massive crowd, our biggest VFL crowd for a long time,” he said.
“We were playing Collingwood, but we certainly felt like we had the majority of the support.
“It was good on many fronts, the footy, the club, everything was good.”
The Seagulls had another great spread of goal kickers, with Josh Pickess, Joel Ottavi, Jack Noonan, Corey Ellison and Mitch Cox booting two each.
“It can be easy to stop one but when you’ve got a spread it makes it a lot harder from an opposition point of view,” Andrews said.
“So that was definitely pleasing.”
Star ruck Tom Downie was enormous on the weekend, dominating the air with 35 hitouts, 24 disposals, four marks and five tackles.
Andrews said Downie was terrific.
“He gave us first use of the ball, he took contested marks, everyone would want a ruckman like Tom, he led from the front, he was terrific.”
Keeping the Pies to just the three goals once again showed how stingy the Seagulls can be on defence, with particular thanks to their new recruits and dynamic defensive duo in Marty Hore and Oscar McDonald, who were both included in the VFL team of the year squad.
“It probably wasn’t a great spectacle in the defensive aspect of the game, but we were really pleased,” Andres said.
“It was pretty similar inside 50s, against an AFL affiliate side, on a really nice day, in great conditions, to keep them to three goals.
“They certainly missed a few goals that they probably could have kicked but even do it was an excellent defensive effort.
“We’re big believers in defence and contest standing up in finals and it did yesterday.”
Now with their sights set on Brisbane in the upcoming semi final, the Seagulls will be able to take great confidence out of their round 21 win against the Lions.
“When we played them it was a tough game,” Andrews said.
“It was tight all day, it was sort of see-sawing and we just got there in the end but it was pretty close.
“So we wouldn’t be expecting anything different this week.”
The Seagulls will face the Lions on Saturday afternoon in Brisbane, with the winner going through to a preliminary final.
