Tara Murray
After slowly building into the Victorian Football League season, Williamstown is ready to peak at the right time according to forward Joel Ottavi.
The Seagulls finished the regular season in fifth, the Seagulls had the weekend off with the wildcard round play off.
Having missed finals last season, Ottavi said it was nice to be back playing footy at this time of the year.
“It’s really good,” he said. “It has been really positive how we have built.
“We’ve built ourselves up over the season and I think we started to get a few things right towards the end of the season when you want to get things right.
“It is really exciting to see what we can do come finals.”
Like the group, Ottavi said he felt he had got better as the season had progressed. He finished the regular season with 29 goals for the season, the most for the club.
“I was slow to get off to start with,” he said.
“I think I built into it as we had a very new group compared to last year. I suppose just gelling with the new guys and once all on the same page.
“We helped each other get our form up which has been good.”
The Seagulls looked to add some more experience to the group after last season’s disappointment.
The likes of Oscar McDonald, Harry Jones, Marty Hore joined the club and league games record holder Ben Jolley came back to a place he calls home.
Ottavi said it was massive those guys had brought to the club, not just on field, but also off field.
“The club did really well with the recruiting side of things,” he said. “When those boys turned up during preseason it was really exciting.
“It brought a nice breath of fresh air to the pre-season.
“Leadership, that is the biggest thing. They bring on field greatness but the leadership that they provide to what is a really young core still, it’s invaluable, they’ve been unreal with their leadership.
Having joined the Seagulls in 2019, Ottavi has become a key part of the playing group.
Each year he has had more impact.
“I’ve been really fortunate with the opportunity that Willy gave me back then and I’m more than happy to call Willy home,” he said.
“I really enjoy my time playing at the level and playing for Willy.”
Ottavi said the AFL dream was always still there but knows that he is getting older.
He said he’s more than happy playing at Williamstown and will continue to play his role and hopefully continue to play good football.
Ottavi said it was a strange situation having had the week off before finals, but said it was the perfect opportunity to freshen up the group ahead of a big finals series.
The Seagulls will face Collingwood in an elimination final on Saturday.
He said they were looking forward to a good finals series.
“We’ll put our best foot forward each week and back in the coaches. They put a brand to us they brought in at the start of the year and we think it can stand up in finals.
“We’ll see how we can go and see how far we can take it.”
