Tara Murray
There were some rare smiles for Williamstown in the Victorian Football League on Saturday.
After a disappointing season which has been riddled by injuries to senior players, the wins have been few and far between.
But on Saturday they were able to come away with the points in difficult conditions against Carlton.
The Seagulls jumped out of the blocks and were able to hold on to win, 11.6 (72)-8.10 (58).
Seagulls coach Justin Plapp said it was nice to see the guys get a win.
“It’s been a tough year,” he said. “They’ve been training pretty well and been pretty resilient.
“They were pretty excited about it.”
Plapp said they knew they were in for a challenge against an AFL-aligned team with several players who had played AFL this season.
He said getting off to a good start was a key to the match.
“They played against a pretty good team,” he said. “We were able to execute some stuff in tough conditions.
“We got a good start with a pretty strong wind and hit the scoreboard.
“We were able to defend well and there was a fair bit of tactics around what we did.”
Corey Preston and Billy Myers kicked three goals each in the win.
James Cousins and Nick Mellington had plenty of the ball.
Plapp said ruckman Tom Downie continued his good season, while Jordan Gallucci was another standout.
Matthew Gaul in his fourth game had the job on Paddy Dow and did a good job of restricting him.
The Seagulls moved up to 18th on the ladder with three wins.
Plapp said while it had been a tough season, the development and opportunities some of the younger players had gotten would be valuable going forward.
“It has been hard not having senior players every week,” he said.
“The biggest part for us has been the younger kids and the growth and improvement. Some aren’t necessarily at the level we need them to be, but we’ve had to expose them.”
The Seagulls face Collingwood this Saturday, before a bye and then a final round match up with the Sandringham Zebras.
Plapp said they wanted to make it as hard as possible for the other teams in the run home.
“We’ve got two games left against teams who are around the mark for finals,” he said.
“We want to disrupt their seasons. We don’t want to give them anything and we believe we can win a game or two.
“We’ll look to get players back into the team as well.”
