WILLIAMSTOWN won a topsy-turvy affair against Northern Blues by 14 points at Visy Park on Saturday to open its Victorian Football League account for the season.
Such was the turbulent nature of the game, the Seagulls were seemingly in command at half-time, staring an imposing 23-point deficit at three-quarter-time and celebrating victory at full-time after running the game out better in the hot conditions.
Seagulls coach Peter German told the Weekly that inconsistencies in his side’s performance were due to the plethora of youngsters still finding their feet at the level.
“Everyone still thinks we’re the Williamstown of old,” he said. “What we’ve got is a heap of kids playing.
“When you’ve got a lot of young boys playing – I think we only had six players from our grand final side of last year – you’re going to have performances that go up and down.”
The third term was particularly puzzling for the Seagulls fans, who saw a 14-point half-time lead evaporate on the back of a six-goals-to-nil third-term blitz from the Blues.
“For whatever reason, we just dropped our guard, dropped our workrate. Northern Blues took their chances and really put us under the pump,” German said.
The Seagulls showed tremendous courage to pull victory out of the fire.
They booted the last six goals of the game to kick-start their season.
“We felt that we were able to just address a few areas, mainly without workrate,” German said. “We got the game back on our terms, and to finish off the way we did was pleasing.”
The full-of-beans Nathan Djerrkura had a big say on the result. The onballer was regularly first on the scene when a hard ball had to be won and had a big impact at crucial times. “I felt that he won some pretty important contested balls that ultimately set up goals for us,” German said.
“He was really influential, especially when the chips were down.”
Steven Witkowski underlined his potential with a starring role across half-back.
His ability to read the play resulted in two valuable goals when he ventured forward.
Four-goal star Ayce Cordy will be in the calculations for a call-up to the Western Bulldogs following a complete performance on the forward line and in the ruck. Livewire Andrew Hooper was just as lethal in front of goal with three majors.
The Seagulls head up the coast for an Easter Sunday bout with Geelong at the Torquay Football Ground.
A supporter bus has been organised to leave the Seagulls’ Nest at 10.30am. Go to williamstownfc.com.au for details.
SCORES:
Seniors: Northern Blues 9.16 (70) lt Williamstown 12.12 (84). Williamstown – Goals: Cordy 4, Hooper 3, Witkowski 2, Campbell, Goodes, Gilbee. Best: Djerrkura, Witkowski, Cordy, McNamara, Campbell, Jolley.
Development: Northern Blues 8.12 (60) lt Williamstown 16.12 (108). Williamstown – Goals: Conway 4, Mead, Hill 3, Georgiadis 2, Hoghton, Gray, Cravino, McHarg. Best: Carr, Smith, Hector, Cravino, McHarg, Conway.
