Ben Jolley in action for Williamstown. 68892 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By MICHAEL ESPOSITO
BEN Jolley was the obvious replacement for Brett Johnson as Williamstown captain.
Not as obvious will be how he successfully he will be able to gel with his fellow midfielders.
Williamstown’s run of top four finishes in the past six years has been due in no small part to a consistent and cohesive engine room, which at its core featured Jolley, Johnson and Ben Davies.
All but Jolley left the club at the end of last season, ensuring the Seagulls will have a new-look midfield.
“Change is always challenging,” Jolley said. “The last four years have almost exclusively been with Ben and Brett, it’s going to be a process that hopefully we can sort out during the practice games and get a bit of a feel of how myself and (new recruits) Jamie (McNamara) and Wally (James Wall) all play together.
“It will probably take at least the first three or four rounds before we become fully comfortable with how each other plays. It’s something that I look forward to, building that relationship both on and off the field.”
Apart from head coach Peter German, the coaching panel has changed as well. The new panel includes Brett Henderson, Mathew Inness, Marcus Drum and Andrew Mirams.
“There’s a fair bit of change with the coaching staff so we have no choice but to go about things a bit differently. But that would have been the result whether we had new coaches or not,” Jolley said.
“We did manage to play off in a grand final (against Port Melbourne) but didn’t get the desired result so change was going to be inevitable in that sense as well.”
The Seagulls will head to Tasmania on Thursday for a pre-season camp. Players will stay at Burnie Football Club, where German began his coaching career in 1995.
Players will be complete a hike through the Tasmanian wilderness, a surf lifesaving carnival, learning sessions, and a scratch match against the Burnie Dockers, in which most players on the list will get a run.
“At the camp we will put a few different structures in place and put KPI’s in place that will hopefully see the season improve,” Jolley said.
Returning to Burbank Oval, after the ground was offline due to a major redevelopment last year, will be a boost to the Seagulls.
“The advantage is yet to be determined because we haven’t played there in 12 months. It will almost be like an away game to begin with because we won’t be used to our surroundings but in terms of the club being able to have a home base and a home training base will just be fantastic for everyone concerned,” Jolley said.
