By LIAM TWOMEY
FEW VFL clubs could say they have been busier than Williamstown this off-season. The Seagulls ended their alignment with the Western Bulldogs and will compete in this year’s VFL competition as a standalone side.
They appointed new coach Andrew Collins, who joined the club from West Adelaide in the SANFL.
A total of 34 new players were signed, sealed and delivered in a massive off-season recruiting spree and just to top it all off, the club is also celebrating its 150th anniversary.
After months of planning and preparation, the Seagulls will finally kick off their season this weekend.
Collins, who coached VFL sides Sandringham and Coburg prior to his stint at West Adelaide, said he has enjoyed his time at the Seagulls since joining the club in October.
“It has been seven years since I have coached VFL football,” he said.
“The VFL has really improved in that time. The AFL football clubs have really lifted the standard of VFL football and I’ve had to adapt to that.
“From a personal perspective, to come back to Williamstown has been amazing. It really is one of the great clubs in Australian footy. It is fantastic to come to such a well run and well established club.”
With so many new faces at Williamstown, one of the challenges throughout the pre-season has been getting the playing group to gel.
The Seagulls were defeated in their first two practice games against Essendon and Werribee before producing their best performance of the pre-season, beating Casey by 39 points.
Collins said he expected the upward spiral of results to continue as the group got more accustomed to playing together.
“It has been a great coaching challenge,” he said.
“Obviously I think we will get better as the year goes on.
“Our practice game form has continually got better over the three weeks and we are really pleased with the way the group has come together.
“We narrowed our senior squad down and the form of the players that played on the weekend (against Casey) was really good.
“It was really pleasing for individuals to get into some really good form and then as a team to get into some really good form prior to round one.
“We realise that we are going to be a club on an upward spiral, hopefully all year.”
Williamstown’s amazing recruiting run began just days after Collins joined the club with former Port Adelaide player Mitch Banner one of the first big names to sign on.
He was later joined by Sean Tighe, Adam Marcon, David Fahey, Ben Richmond, Ryan Ferguson, Ben Davies, Brad Mangan, Scott Clouston and Kane Lambert, just to name a few.
“We definitely targeted some specific types,” Collins explained.
“We wanted mature players that were going to be strong leaders within our footy club.
“Ryan Ferguson is our oldest player on our list and he is my assistant coach. He is in charge of the defensive unit. Not only was I getting an unbelievable footballer, four time best and fairest in the last six years at West Adelaide and captain, but I am also getting an assistant coach. Ben Davies was targeted in the same way as was Peter Faulks and Scott Clouston.”
There won’t be much time to ease into the season for the Seagulls who will take on last year’s premiers, the Box Hill Hawks in their first match of the year.
Williamstown will then meet the Northern Blues before coming up against their former aligned club, the Footscray Bulldogs.
“I would be disappointed if we don’t win more games that we lose,” Collins said on his expectations for the season.
“Hopefully there is a really strong home ground advantage that we will have at Williamstown.
“There has been a lot of excitement, being the 150th anniversary of the football club, and with so many past players being around the footy club, it is just amazing.
“The decision the board made to standalone has really pulled the whole Williamstown footy club community back to Williamstown.”
