Williamstown had to survive a standing count at three quarter-time of the 12-point win over Essendon in an epic VFL preliminary final at North Port Oval on Sunday to advance to its first grand final since 2011.
The Seagulls burst out to a 27-point lead at the 13-minute mark of the third term before momentum swung wildly late in the quarter, when the Bombers rattled off four consecutive goals to take an unlikely lead at the last change.
Even Seagulls coach Andy Collins could see the game was close to slipping out of his side’s control when he addressed the team at the three quarter-time huddle.
“You could see they had the momentum,” he said. “It showed real character to be down at three quarter-time and to bounce back the way we did.”
Sometimes you need a bit of luck to go your way in finals and Williamstown undoubtedly got the breaks in the last quarter. But the Seagulls also made their own luck.
They regained the lead at the seven-minute mark after Essendon’s Daniel Coghlan and Josh Freezer collided mid-air in a marking contest and the ball spilled to Leigh Masters for a goal.
It was the start of a run of four Seagulls goals,. with the last also coming through a stroke of luck when the bouncing ball took a wicked turn out of the reach of Bombers defender Tayte Pears and into Sam Critchley’s hands for an open goal.
The football gods were smiling on the Seagulls in that last quarter, but Collins preferred to laud the work of his experienced players.
“Our leadership was really strong out there today,” he said. “Ben Jolley, Nick Meese, Sean Tighe, Mitch Banner, Willie Wheeler really stood up. It’s a credit to those boys.”
Whatever Collins asked of his team, they delivered and the Seagulls’ ability to change on the fly was impressive.
Positional changes were met with hungry responses from players, while changes in tempo and style to suit certain situations were quickly adopted by all 18 on the ground.
That may be the main benefit of having a stand-alone side in a competition full of teams with AFL alignments, as Collins has more time to build synergy between coaches and players.
“It’s really important the players trust their coach and I have to trust my players,” he said. “We’ve been able to flip the team around and try to find the jigsaw puzzle to get the job done.”
Nick Meese was tireless worker in the ruck for Seagulls, but received valuable assistance on a hot day from Sean Tighe.
Ben Jolley lived up to his status as the clearance king, while Cam Lockwood was damaging across half-forward and then at half-back after Ben Bese broke his collarbone.
Masters finished with three goals, while there were multiples for Tighe, Lockwood and Mitch Banner.
But it was the Seagulls defence which stood up at the big moments late in the game, to set up a mouth-watering grand final meeting with Box Hill at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
The Seagulls will be going for their first flag since 2003, while the Hawks are aiming up for their second in three years.
Meanwhile, Williamstown claimed its third straight AFL Victoria development league title, beating Box Hill Hawks in golden-point thriller at North Port Oval on Saturday. Jake Owen kicked the winning behind.
