By Molly Magennis
Despite suffering its fourth loss in a row on the weekend, the Seagulls VFLW team are optimistic they can end the back half of their season on a positive note.
After a 49-point loss to Hawthorn last week, Williamstown were hungry to prove they were still a competitive team, something they were able to achieve on Sunday when they faced off against the Saints.
The field remained fairly even up until the start of the final term, with the Seagulls only behind by seven points and a victory in sight.
However the Saints hit the ground running in the fourth quarter and quickly put an end to the Seagulls hopes with a 6.8 (44) to 4.4 (28) win.
With the Saints being a highly competitive top six team, coach Penny Cula-Reid was impressed with the team’s ability to stay competitive during the first three quarters.
“I think that’s something that we haven’t been able to do…we’ve been good for the first quarter or a quarter, to be able to string a couple of really consistent quarters together was really pleasing,” she said.
“At one stage I’m like…we might have them here, so to have that sort of cross my mind was really really exciting and I think for the group as well to go, oh my god, we’re right in this, the belief from the group is starting to build.”
While the team’s ability to remain highly competitive for more than half of the game was an important milestone for the Seagulls, in the end it was the group’s fitness that let them down, Cula-Reid said.
“I’d say it was our fitness that sort of allowed them to run over the top of us,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say we stopped competing, we just got tired, and then when Saints had the opportunity to get clean ball and clean forward entries, that really was really hard to defend on transition.
“We don’t want teams to just go oh it’s Williamstown, we’re gonna win. So for us, it’s just really trying to establish that mentality within our group to say we’re not just here to be a part of it, we’re actually here to compete.”
After having been away from the helm for a couple of weeks due to the Easter holidays and then catching Covid, upon her return Cula-Reid made some key coaching choices, including player changes, that she said made a huge difference to the game.
“[I] made a few structural and coaching decisions that not everybody agrees with, but I think on the day it really showed that we’re sort of working towards something a little bit different and I think that’s what we needed,” she said.
“We played a new player, Camryn Tyrrell, she is a Williamstown junior, then played Western Jets and is now playing in the VFL.
“She played her first game on the weekend and she held her own and competed really well and you know, she didn’t really have much guidance or anything else, we just threw her in there and she performed and played a role for us.”
Despite suffering huge injury blows with skipper Erin Meade and Bridie Kennedy out for the remainder of the season, with four rounds left to go and finals almost certainly out of the equation, Cula-Reid is confident the girls can end the year on a positive note.
“I was speaking to the group about what we want to get out of the back end of the season, so you know, I think we’re definitely on our way to snagging a game,” she said.
The Gulls will take on Carlton next Saturday May 7 at Downer Oval.
