By Molly Magennis
Spirits are high at Williamstown, with the VFLW team nabbing their first win of the season on the weekend against the Bulldogs.
The Seagulls were able to establish a nice lead before the main break, and their ability to dominate inside 50 meant it was no surprise they eventually took home an epic 8.9 (57) to 1.1 (7) victory.
Penny Cula-Reid said she, along with the rest of the term, were feeling much better starting the week off with a win.
She said that being able to see the girls sing the team’s song in the changerooms post-match was a great feeling.
“It’s pretty funny when you see the girls who are new to the program who’ve never seen or heard this song before, we don’t really get to sing it too often, so it’s nice to get the chance to sing with everyone there.”
The game followed a similar trajectory to last week’s performance, where the Seagulls were off to a flying start and held a comfortable lead heading into the main break, only in round two they lost their momentum and were ultimately outplayed.
Cula-Reid said she was initially worried about a potential repeat, but that the girls quickly showed her they had learnt from their mistakes.
“They already recognised what we needed to do so for them to follow through on the process that we spoke about during the week, and sticking to our guns, I think showcased how mature our group is, that you know they learned from from the first week to bring into the following weeks and that’s just going to continue with the belief and the trust within each other,” she said.
In their round one match against Darebin, Cula-Reid said the girls were giving the opposition too many short 45 kicks, allowing them to move the ball forward using a short kicking game.
While they improved on this during the weekend’s game, the coach said it’s still something they need to work on moving forward, particularly in their upcoming game against Collingwood.
“I think the girls improved in that area but [there’s] still some time to work on that because coming up against Collingwood, they like that short, short kicking game.”
“So for us if we’re going to really challenge a strong side like Collingwood, we’re going to have to really drill down on that during the week.”
Sharnie Whiting continues to be a force to be reckoned with for Williamstown, again taking the top spot on the disposals list with 21 touches.
Cula-Reid describes Whiting as the team’s rebound defender, and says she’s got one of the best kicks she’s ever seen.
“She’s been really important in, I guess, the success of the program, getting the ball into her hands, that’s two ticks away,” she said.
“You know, when she kicks it 45- 50 meters, the opposition need two kicks to get it back to that same spot, so she’s just an absolute weapon for us and her progress will continue to improve and now it’s just a matter of making sure that we get the ball into her hands.”
Williamstown will aim for a second win when they take on Collingwood this Sunday at 9:15am at Victoria Park.
The Seagulls men’s VFL team will also be playing a practice match this weekend on Saturday at 1:30pm at Latrobe University, Bundoora.
BULLDOGS 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.1
SEAGULLS 1.2 5.4 6.6 8.9
