WILLIAMSTOWN are the mudlark masters of the Victorian Football League.
While being covered in mud head to toe is not a pretty sight, the Seagulls aren’t complaining, rather using it to their advantage and making the most of the boggy conditions at Burbank Oval.
They are playing the ground and its conditions to perfection with Saturday’s 66-point win over Sandringham a case in point as they made it five wins in a row at the ground.
Click on the image below for our gallery of the big game.
“Certainly playing in those conditions the past few weeks was a bit of an edge for us,” Seagulls football manager Chris Dixon told the Weekly.
“Our boys have got used to the slog, which is probably a bit of a concern coming into games that we’ll be playing on grounds with pretty good decks. But it’s certainly given us an advantage on the day and we play it pretty well.”
The contested ball was key with over 100 stoppages recorded for the game.
Throw into the mix a six-goal breeze towards one end and the team with the better defensive mechanisms running into it was always going to emerge the victor.
“It was a strategic game, using the wind to our advantage and setting up pretty strong defensively going into it,” Dixon said.
“I thought we defended pretty well going into the breeze.”
The Seagulls had the wind in the third quarter and piled on the pain with an eight-goal term.
They found an unlikely hero in tagger Stephen McCallum.
The youngster was set the task of negating Zebras speedster Brett Peake and accomplished that with a handy bonus of six goals of his own.
“It was a funny one,” Dixon said. “We just gave him the job of running with Brett Peake all day and as it happened, Peake started on half-back, which meant he started as a forward.
“When you’re running hot, you’re running hot and for him to kick six and, more importantly, nullify Peake’s influence on the game, it was a win for us.”
Nick Georgiadis didn’t let his opportunity slip either.
Playing in just his second game, he showed an appetite for the contest to be named among the best. “He’s one that we would’ve liked to have got more senior football into, but he’s had a couple of niggling hamstring injuries throughout the year,” Dixon said.
“He’s finally got his chance in the last couple of games and he’s just a real tough, tenacious footballer and everything he does, he does at 100per cent pace.”
Jarrod Grant, Justin Sherman and James Wall also had strong games.
The Seagulls kept their slim double chance hopes alive with the win.
They will have to beat Geelong in the final home-and-away game on the road at Simonds Stadium on Saturday and hope western suburbs neighbours Werribee Tigers are beaten by Collingwood to sneak into the top four.
At the very least, the Seagulls can’t drop below sixth place on the ladder, meaning they have earned the right to a home final.
That, however, could be subject to a Football Victoria ground inspection.
“We’ve sewn up a home final, but whether it’s played at Williamstown is a different question,” Dixon said.
“If that opportunity came and the ground came up all right, we’d love the chance to play at Williamstown.”
