Ed Carr has broken into the senior side and is playing good footy for the Seagulls. 67884_06 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WILLIAMSTOWN Football Club prides itself on recruiting the best TAC Cup talent overlooked in the AFL draft.
But it’s also one of the toughest clubs to break into the senior side, given more than half the side consists of Western Bulldogs players.
Competition for the few remaining is understandably cut-throat for VFL-listed players, and with seasoned performers such as captain Brett Johnson, Ben Davies, Ben Jolley and Brett Goodes among the best players in the VFL competition, supply is naturally going to outweigh demand.
Most first-year players, regardless of their natural talent, need to bide their time in the reserves before getting a crack at the seniors.
Along with several second-year players, these youngsters are part of what the club has dubbed, the Liam Picken Academy, named after the tenacious tagger, who was recruited to the Bulldogs after plying his trade at Williamstown for four years.
He played for two years in Williamstown’s reserves before playing a senior game for the Seagulls, and is a reminder that the AFL dream is not necessarily over if you’re not drafted in your teens.
“He’s proof that if you just keep at it and keep working, young blokes can make it,” said Ed Carr, a second-year player from Gippsland, who in recent weeks has become a regular fixture in the senior side.
He played nine senior games last season, but as he explained, nothing should be taken for granted at this level. “My form was good early (last year), but it caught up with me and dropped off, and you could just tell from a lack of pre-season I just wasn’t up to VFL standard, but having a pre-season this year, with the amount of talent in the team, it’s still taken me up until round 10 before I got a game,” he said.
“It’s not about getting big loads of possessions, it’s about doing your job, attacking the footy and being effective with your disposal. You’ve just got to be training as hard as possible to keep your form up and keep your spot.”
Carr was joined at Williamstown by Gippsland Power team-mate and good friend Nick Sing.
Sing said Williamstown was the only VFL club that showed real interest in recruiting him, and when he found out the Seagulls were also chasing Carr, the decision became easy for both.
It was also Williamstown’s holistic approach to its players which appealed to Sing and Carr. The club set the two up with a house (they live together), and helped Carr get a job. During pre-season, the two learned they were being made a part of the leadership group.
“It was a bit off a shock,” Sing said. “Our second year at the club, we’re still trying to find our feet basically, and they said they’re targeting us as new leaders, and I thought I suppose it’s a bit of a feather in the cap.”
Carr said the leadership role made him a more team-oriented footballer by necessity. “It takes your mind off yourself, and your’re not as individual about your footy and you’re not thinking about yourself anymore, you’re always thinking about the team, which I think is a good idea, especially if your form’s a bit down.”
“Being in the leadership group, it means you’re learning to be a leader from the older guys in the leadership group as well, and then you can pass it on to young guys. Because we’re still young, we have a really good relationship with first-year players.”
While several first and second year players still harbour a desire to play AFL football, Carr said no one was treating Williamstown purely as a potential springboard.
The club has sought to educate all its players, including the Bulldogs players, about its culture and history, so whenever they put on a blue and gold guernsey, they do so with pride.
“You start to realise that it could happen to one of us, but it’s not going to happen to everyone,” Carr said.
“It could happen and that’s what everyone wants to do, but what we’re here for is to play for Willi and win that flag which is eluding us at the moment. But it’s deep within everyone to make it to the next level so everyone’s working towards it.”
Williamstown coach Peter German sat down with Seagulls and Bulldogs players at the start of the year to explain the history of the club.
Willliamstown leadership consultant and life member Bruce Davis, who also came up with the chants that are sung at the end of the “Stand and Deliver” theme song, also spoke to the boys about the club’s proud culture.
“We’ve sort of been working on the relationships between Williamstown and the Western Bulldogs. Because there are so many of those blokes coming back, and you usually only have seven or eight players playing for Williamstown each week, you’ve got to bring our culture and get them to embrace our culture,” Carr said.
First year player Jack Frost, who the club has high hopes for, said the brief history lesson has helped him make the transition from Sandringham Dragons.
“Being a first year player, I came in and saw that and I had no idea about anything and obviously now I do and the Bulldogs certainly have a better idea,” he said.
