By Molly Magennis
The Williamstown Seagulls VFLW succumbed to Collingwood on the weekend after a slow start made it difficult for any sort of comeback.
The Pies came out strong at Victoria Park, and were able to maintain consistent momentum throughout the game, resulting in a 6.2 (38) to 2.6 (18) win against the Gulls.
Coach Penny-Cula Reid said the girls were unable to have the same impact early on as they had in the previous two rounds, but were able to convert when the opportunity did arise.
“I thought the game, when we did get the opportunity to convert early on, we were able to, so we had less inside 50’s to Collingwood and we still had the same scoring opportunity,” she said.
“The first quarter they kicked three goals one and we kicked one goal three, so in terms of our ability to get the ball in there we just didn’t have the polish on the end of those entries and, you know, ultimately, that’s what really cost us in the end.”
A former coach of the Pies VFLW side, Cula-Reid said after watching a few of their previous games, she’d identified some areas she thought the Gulls could take advantage of.
“I thought we did that quite well. We looked at the way they wanted to move the ball and we adjusted our defensive strategy to help compensate for that and I thought that the girls did a really good job in trying to implement a new strategy that we want to try and build in,” she said.
“I reckon if we had another quarter, we may have been able to get a couple of goals back but when you sort of start slow, you’ve got to play catch up footy from there, which is basically what we did.”
The Seagulls had another debutant in round three, Ellie Cleland, hailing from Blackburn Football Club.
The forward had an impressive game for a first debut, with one goal and 11 disposals.
“We originally selected her as a defender, and she played the practice matches through the sort of defensive area but then we sort of saw some really strong traits of sort of like a role up forward for us and made her second game forward in the practice match,” Cula-Reid said.
“Ellie is like our utility player that we can sort of pick anywhere across any line and she’d be able to contribute.”
The Gulls will take on Essendon in their round four clash, who currently sit on top of the ladder with a very impressive start to the season.
Cula-Reid said that while she acknowledges the team has a big battle on their hands this weekend, they’ll focus on sticking to their new defence strategies and building on their brand of footy.
“I think for us, we’ve just got to stick to our process and what we’re trying to build here because it’s only just sort of begun in terms of what we’re building whereas I guess, Essendon have had five years to build, they’re looking really strong.”
Details of the Gulls game against Essendon are yet to be finalised.
COLLINGWOOD 2.0 3.1 5.1 6.2 (38)
SEAGULLS 0.3 1.3 1.3 2.6 (18)
