Tara Murray
Each week during football season, Megan Williamson makes the trip up and back from Swan Hill to Williamstown multiple times.
While some would step away from playing in the Victorian Football League women’s due to that commitment, Williamson’s love of the club and the sport keep bringing her back.
On Thursday night, Williamson claimed her second Seagulls best and fairest medal, finishing tied with Emily Eaves.
The count went down to the wire.
“It went down to the final votes in our final in our prelim,” Williamson said. “It was lovely to share it with Emily Eaves as well.
“I don’t think there’s anyone more deserving than her.
“Williamstown is such a lovely club, so to be associated with any award that has your name and has the Williamstown name on it is special, something I hold in such high regard.
“It’s nice to know that my form isn’t dropping as I get older too.”
Williamson entered the count in front as it headed into finals, with Eaves claiming the club’s best finals player.
Eaves tied the votes heading into the preliminary final, before they polled the same votes in the final round.
Williamson said the final few votes were nerve wracking and she struggled to keep up as she realised she would have to make a speech.
She said she’d been happy with how her season had turned out.
“There’s always an element of disappointment when you lose a prelim, you kind of forget about your individual performances,” she said.
“You wish there was a better result at the end of it. I kind of hadn’t thought too much about my individual season.
“The thing I was most proud of was I gave it everything that I had, there wasn’t much left in the tank by the end.
“Proud that I left everything out there, but I wasn’t expecting the best and fairest at the end.”
After winning the 2019 medal, Williamson had a bit of time away from Williamstown and moved away from Melbourne.
She said it’s such a big commitment for her to play each season.
“I live in Swan Hill and I work full time here,” she said. “I travel down on a Wednesday for our main training session and then come back on a weekend.
“Down to Melbourne on a Wednesday, back to Swan Hill on a Thursday and back down to Melbourne on Friday and back home on Saturday.
“Certainly super busy. I just love the club so much and no one in their right mind drives four hours to training unless they think it’s the greatest team in the world.
“It’s the club and it’s the people. Two of my greatest friends brought me back to the club as well in Eliza Straford and Erin Meade.”
Williamson was full of praise for Eaves and her game.
“She is incredible,” she said. “The best part of her is that football doesn’t define the type of person she is and we’re incredibly lucky to have her on the field.
“Shé s to talented and we’re always in awe of the things she can do. Beast on the field and then off it, sunshine.
“She was our vice captain… There was a lot of respect for her. She’s the glue that holds the whole team together.”
Williamson said there was plenty of hunger in the group following the disappointment of falling just short of a grand final.
She said it was quite emotional afterwards and it feels like the one we let slip.
“It makes me nervous for how hard pre-season is going to be,” Williamson said. “It was probably our line in the sand season that we don’t lose finals any more.
“We’ve just got to win this next one.”
