Heroes of Williamstown’s 1969 VFA division 2 premiership team returned on Thursday night to share their love of the club and re-live a bit of their glory year with the current crop of players.
Seagulls coach Andrew Collins said it was a fantastic opportunity for his players to connect with legends of bygone eras after they missed out on attending the club’s hall of fame dinner due to having a match the following day.
“It was more about sharing the experiences of them being involved with the footy club,” Collins said.
“They were saying what a great place the footy club is and talked about how wonderful it was to play with their teammates.”
The bulk of Williamstown’s current team will have the chance to do the same in a touch under 50 years time, having won a premiership only two years ago.
They also have a chance to create even more history this season, so it’s business as usual.
After a slow start, the Seagulls are starting to become feared once more, having strung three percentage-boosting victories in a row, including Sunday’s runaway 55-point win over Richmond at Burbank Oval.
Willie Wheeler capped a best-on-ground performance for the Seagulls with three goals.
The Seagulls spread the goals around with 12 individual goalkickers, including three to Sam Dunell and two each to 100-gamer Adam Marcon and youngsters Lachlan Schultz and Mitch Norton.
“We’ve been playing better footy,” Collins said.
“Definitely Port Melbourne are setting a high standard, which is a real credit to them as a stand-alone footy team.
“Northern Blues and Box Hill Hawks are two hot teams, so if you want to be a strong team in the VFL, you’ve got to be capable of playing against a professional AFL team.
“It’s a great challenge, but that’s the beauty of it.”
Williamstown will get another shot at an AFL-aligned club when they host Geelong Cats in their next match at Burbank Oval on June 4.
In the meantime, all eyes will be on Williamstown quartet Brett Bewley, Josh Newman, Michael Gibbons and Leigh Masters, who are part of the VFL state squad to face the Western Australian Football League at North Port Oval on Saturday.
“They all deserve it,” Collins said.
“They’ve been in great form and three of them are very draftable players.
“These are all 22-year-olds and then you have Leigh Masters who is the veteran of it.”
Masters, a courageous half-forward flanker, and Gibbons, working as a midfielder-forward, will be representing the Big V for a second time if they make the cut.
It will be a first state cap for half-back flanker Newman, a new recruit from Frankston, and Bewley, an inside and outside midfielder, if selected. The squad of 27 will likely be trimmed down to 22 by VFL coach Justin Plapp and the selection panel tomorrow night.
